After seeing the film on Saturday, I was going to jump in here and write up some thoughts, but never got around to it... finally am, and I'm hoping to be at least somewhat coherent in my ramblings...
First off, I have not read the book, but have seen The Omega Man. Thank God its not like that movie. The only thing with that one that would have been good to carry over, but done in a better way, is the "Dark Seekers" not being fully CGI in this one, making them real actors, or at least more realistic CGI... I kept thinking of the Mummy films every time I saw them on screen. The other part with the dark seekers is that I think the movie could have been a lot better if their story had been fleshed out more. If I remember correctly, Smith pretty much states flat out that he thought they were nothing more than nearly unintelligent zombies, but the way the movie plays out, he realizes that not right, but then nothing else is mentioned about that. The movie was only an hour and 40 minutes long. I think they could have spent an extra 20 minutes explaining more about the dark seekers and what the heck really IS going on with them. Maybe the filmmakers were concerned with that making the story go by too slowly, but personally, I would have liked to seen more info on the reality of the dark seekers, especially after Smith's character realized there was more to them than he had previously thought/seen.
Overall however, I liked IAL. From what has been said here, it sounds like it diverged quite a bit from the book, but quite often, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Since I haven't read the book, I'm not going to bother saying anything else about that topic.
I agree that the scene with Shrek was intended to help the audience understand just how long Smith's character has been alone, but I did the same thing that most of the rest of the audience did, laughed a little at first, but I'm not sure how many in the audience really picked up on what it was really trying to convey; how you started to feel the pain of his loneliness, but how he has gotten used to it in an odd way, and is kind of annoyed at the interlopers now trying to change things. Personally though, I think they could have left that out. People have gotten too used to seeing Smith do some sort of comic relief in films, and I think too many saw that scene as only that, they didn't really pay attention to what the scene was all about, so it didn't have the impact it should have.
On the other hand, I think everyone there got the impact of the last scene with the woman mannequin. I thought Smith did a really good job in that one.
The ending was, well... what it was. I pretty much guessed it was going to happen like that as things were unfolding, but whatever. It was nothing earth shattering. Maybe they needed M. Night to come in to write the ending, I dunno, but while it wasn't amazing, I was OK with it.
2 things though that no one has mentioned so far here;
1. The dog... What a well trained, very intelligent dog!! Seeing the way she and Smith interacted was quite impressive.
2. There was a billboard I saw in the background in one of the scenes that might be foreshadowing a future project. It was the Batman symbol (current "Dark Knight" look), with the superman symbol superimposed over top, with a release date of some time in 2010 (I can't remember the exact date). Was it coincidence that there was a trailer for The Dark Knight shown before I Am Legend and the appearance of that "fake" (??) billboard in the movie? Could this be a teaser for a Batman vs. Superman film?
First off, I have not read the book, but have seen The Omega Man. Thank God its not like that movie. The only thing with that one that would have been good to carry over, but done in a better way, is the "Dark Seekers" not being fully CGI in this one, making them real actors, or at least more realistic CGI... I kept thinking of the Mummy films every time I saw them on screen. The other part with the dark seekers is that I think the movie could have been a lot better if their story had been fleshed out more. If I remember correctly, Smith pretty much states flat out that he thought they were nothing more than nearly unintelligent zombies, but the way the movie plays out, he realizes that not right, but then nothing else is mentioned about that. The movie was only an hour and 40 minutes long. I think they could have spent an extra 20 minutes explaining more about the dark seekers and what the heck really IS going on with them. Maybe the filmmakers were concerned with that making the story go by too slowly, but personally, I would have liked to seen more info on the reality of the dark seekers, especially after Smith's character realized there was more to them than he had previously thought/seen.
Overall however, I liked IAL. From what has been said here, it sounds like it diverged quite a bit from the book, but quite often, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Since I haven't read the book, I'm not going to bother saying anything else about that topic.
I agree that the scene with Shrek was intended to help the audience understand just how long Smith's character has been alone, but I did the same thing that most of the rest of the audience did, laughed a little at first, but I'm not sure how many in the audience really picked up on what it was really trying to convey; how you started to feel the pain of his loneliness, but how he has gotten used to it in an odd way, and is kind of annoyed at the interlopers now trying to change things. Personally though, I think they could have left that out. People have gotten too used to seeing Smith do some sort of comic relief in films, and I think too many saw that scene as only that, they didn't really pay attention to what the scene was all about, so it didn't have the impact it should have.
On the other hand, I think everyone there got the impact of the last scene with the woman mannequin. I thought Smith did a really good job in that one.
The ending was, well... what it was. I pretty much guessed it was going to happen like that as things were unfolding, but whatever. It was nothing earth shattering. Maybe they needed M. Night to come in to write the ending, I dunno, but while it wasn't amazing, I was OK with it.
2 things though that no one has mentioned so far here;
1. The dog... What a well trained, very intelligent dog!! Seeing the way she and Smith interacted was quite impressive.
WARNING: "spoiler!!" spoilers below
The obvious closeness that was supposed to be felt between them in the film, but especially how well they were able to show that in Smith's acting with her, made her death just that much worse.
2. There was a billboard I saw in the background in one of the scenes that might be foreshadowing a future project. It was the Batman symbol (current "Dark Knight" look), with the superman symbol superimposed over top, with a release date of some time in 2010 (I can't remember the exact date). Was it coincidence that there was a trailer for The Dark Knight shown before I Am Legend and the appearance of that "fake" (??) billboard in the movie? Could this be a teaser for a Batman vs. Superman film?
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The Divide by Zero Foundation - Where the real world ends... and mine begins
The Divide by Zero Foundation - Where the real world ends... and mine begins