I Am Legend
I Am Legend
2007 saw the third film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend find its way to the big screen. I Am Legend, released in 2007, used the novel's title unlike the Omega Man or The Last Man On Earth which came before it. Though like the previous two films the main characters profession was changed to that of a doctor rather than a factory worker like he was in the novel. The creatures in this film were also not the vampires that they were in The Last Man On Earth or in the novel, these creatures were more like the "plague" mutants from The Omega Man. This film is very much a product of the post 9/11 world, much like The Omega Man was very much a product of a post Vietnam war America.
I Am Legend was directed by Francis Lawrence, with a screenplay by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman. The screenplay is based on both Richard Matheson's original novel, but also on The Omega Man's screenplay written by John William and Joyce Corrington. The film was distributed by Warner Brothers, and was a box office success making $585.3 million against its large budget of $150 million. However I Am Legend received mixed reviews by the critics, and has just above average scores on film review sites like Rotten Tomatoes.
I Am Legend was directed by Francis Lawrence, with a screenplay by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman. The screenplay is based on both Richard Matheson's original novel, but also on The Omega Man's screenplay written by John William and Joyce Corrington. The film was distributed by Warner Brothers, and was a box office success making $585.3 million against its large budget of $150 million. However I Am Legend received mixed reviews by the critics, and has just above average scores on film review sites like Rotten Tomatoes.
I Am Legend stars Will Smith as Robert Neville, Alice Braga as Anna Montez, Charlie Tahan as Ethan (the young boy traveling with Anna), Dash Mihok as Alpha Male, and Joanna Numata as Alpha Female. Neville's family in flashback scenes are played by Salli Richardson as Zoe Neville (Neville's wife), and Willow Smith as Marley Neville (Neville's daughter). Willow Smith is Will Smith's daughter, and this was her first role in a feature film. The voices of the monsters, "darkseekers" or "hemocytes" were done by Mike Patton, the singer for Faith No More. Will Smith was great in this film, and well cast. He does a great job at portraying Neville and his loss of people skills, after he has spent over two years alone, thinking he might be the last man on earth. This is definitely one of his best roles, and he played it very believable.
Overall this is a pretty great film, and a decent film adaptation of the novel. This is however definitely a product of its time, with topics of terrorism, and Christian indoctrination finding their ways into the film. In The Omega Man Charlton Heston's version of Neville, didn't answer when a young kid asked him if he was god, and the at the end of the film the way he died harkened images of Christ, and it suggested that man and science is our savior, not some antiquated concept of religion, which was a pretty bold statement to make really. Then in I Am Legend, you have Will Smith's character saying that "God didn't do this, man did this", and that god has nothing to do with it, but then at the end of the film he "listens to God's calling" and it is through divine intervention that he protects Anna and gives her the cure to ensure that others may be saved, regressing to the fundamental Christian idea that only god can save us, rather than the Omega Man version where there is no god, and only science and man can save us. I think that is very telling of the time period that we were living in when these two films were released. In 1971, the US was in a post Vietnam era, where people were more free thinking, and progressive, and then in 2007 the US was in a post 9/11 era where the country after facing its first major foreign attack on domestic soil since Pearl Harbor in World War II, and Americans under the George W Bush regime were very much turning to conservative christian ideals and prayer to protect them from the "evil terrorists", and that fundamentalism was finding its way into films as well. But aside from the antiquated "listening to God's calling" crap and all, this was overall a pretty great film, it just fell apart in the third act. The other real flaw of this film is that some of the CGI effects just look pretty bad and are distracting from the film itself.
If I were to rank the three films based on the novel I Am Legend, it would be: 1. The Last Man On Earth, 2. The Omega Man, and 3. I Am Legend. All three films are great in their own way, and each brings something new to the story. I think with I Am Legend, Will Smith's performance is definitely worth seeing, I also think that there is some great story elements, like the relationship with Smith's character and his dog Samantha (Sam) are very touching. Some of the visuals are quite haunting, and effective. So I guess in conclusion, I Am Legend is an alright movie and worth watching, but it's flaws come close to outweighing its greater qualities. Not a must-see, but worth watching.
Overall this is a pretty great film, and a decent film adaptation of the novel. This is however definitely a product of its time, with topics of terrorism, and Christian indoctrination finding their ways into the film. In The Omega Man Charlton Heston's version of Neville, didn't answer when a young kid asked him if he was god, and the at the end of the film the way he died harkened images of Christ, and it suggested that man and science is our savior, not some antiquated concept of religion, which was a pretty bold statement to make really. Then in I Am Legend, you have Will Smith's character saying that "God didn't do this, man did this", and that god has nothing to do with it, but then at the end of the film he "listens to God's calling" and it is through divine intervention that he protects Anna and gives her the cure to ensure that others may be saved, regressing to the fundamental Christian idea that only god can save us, rather than the Omega Man version where there is no god, and only science and man can save us. I think that is very telling of the time period that we were living in when these two films were released. In 1971, the US was in a post Vietnam era, where people were more free thinking, and progressive, and then in 2007 the US was in a post 9/11 era where the country after facing its first major foreign attack on domestic soil since Pearl Harbor in World War II, and Americans under the George W Bush regime were very much turning to conservative christian ideals and prayer to protect them from the "evil terrorists", and that fundamentalism was finding its way into films as well. But aside from the antiquated "listening to God's calling" crap and all, this was overall a pretty great film, it just fell apart in the third act. The other real flaw of this film is that some of the CGI effects just look pretty bad and are distracting from the film itself.
If I were to rank the three films based on the novel I Am Legend, it would be: 1. The Last Man On Earth, 2. The Omega Man, and 3. I Am Legend. All three films are great in their own way, and each brings something new to the story. I think with I Am Legend, Will Smith's performance is definitely worth seeing, I also think that there is some great story elements, like the relationship with Smith's character and his dog Samantha (Sam) are very touching. Some of the visuals are quite haunting, and effective. So I guess in conclusion, I Am Legend is an alright movie and worth watching, but it's flaws come close to outweighing its greater qualities. Not a must-see, but worth watching.
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