I Am Legend (DVD)

The movie opens in 2009, with Dr. Alice Crippen (Emma Thompson) announcing the discovery of a cure for cancer, unaware that her vaccine also causes rabies. Fast-forward three years, and we find New York City in complete chaos. The healthy few are being evacuated, while the infected are being left behind to morph into ghouls. Although virologist Robert Neville (Smith) has been given a clean bill of health, he gallantly opts to stay in the city to work on an antidote in the lab in the basement of his brownstone.

So, after he tearfully bids adieu to his wife (Salli Richardson) and daughter (Willow Smith), he divides his time between research and blowing away the occasional nocturnal creature he encounters after dark. Not surprisingly, Will Smith comes across as quite the macho charmer in his familiar role as the hero having to save the planet.

I Am Legend is actually at its best early on, while Will is solo and captured starkly against the breathtaking backdrop of the vast, urban wasteland. Unfortunately, the second-rate special effects leave a lot to be desired, so the arrival of the cheesy mansters he has to wrestle with fails to measure up to the tension built in anticipation.

Nonetheless, it's got a great performance by Smith and just enough edge-of-your-seat entertainment to remain recommended, even if the cinematic house of cards collapses during the third act.

Fantastic Sci-fi set a few years in the future. Robert Neville (Will Smith) thinks he is the last man alive in New York or even on Earth without a virus that turns you into a mutant vampire like creature that can only venture out at night.
His only companion seems to be his dog Sam, as he struggles to find a cure that can save the human race.
Top notch special effects and acting, a must see film.

Overview

Director: Francis Lawrence
Writers (WGA): Mark Protosevich (screenplay) and
Akiva Goldsman (screenplay) ...

Release Date: 26 December 2007 (UK) more view trailer
Genre: Action / Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller more
Tagline: The last man on earth is not alone

I Am Legend is a 2007 American post-apocalyptic science fiction horror film directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith. It is the third film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend, following 1964's The Last Man on Earth and 1971's The Omega Man. Smith plays Robert Neville, possibly Earth's only survivor of a man-made virus. He works to create a cure, but is stalked by nocturnal mutant survivors of the plague.

Warner Bros. Pictures began developing I Am Legend in 1994, and various actors and directors have been attached to the project, though it never entered production due to budgetary concerns. Production began in 2006 in New York City, filming mainly on location in the city, including a $5 million scene at the Brooklyn Bridge, the most expensive scene ever filmed in the city at the time. Warner Bros. launched a tie-in comic and an online multiplayer game on Second Life as part of its marketing campaign.

Plot

A genetically reengineered measles virus called Krippen Virus or KV, created as a cancer cure (by a doctor in a cameo by Emma Thompson), rapidly spreads and wipes out the population of the world by the end of 2009, leaving military virologist Robert Neville (Will Smith) the last human survivor in New York City and possibly the world.

The virus killed 90% of the people on the planet, roughly 5.4 billion. Less than 1% of humans are immune, leaving roughly 12 million people unaffected. The remaining 588 million people were infected, but did not die; they instead exhibited early symptoms of rabies and then lost all normal human behavior, degenerating into a primal state driven by hunger and blind rage. Neville is watched by these "Infected" people. The Infected are painfully affected by UV radiation, so they avoid sunlight and hide in the dark underground, and in buildings (in groups called "hives" by Neville), swarming out at night. Dogs and rats are also susceptible to the virus. By 2012, Neville has not seen another normal human being since the virus' release three years earlier, and suspects that the infected have succeeded in killing the remainder of the survivors. Neville finds himself outnumbered by the infected and running out of time as he seeks a cure.

POST SYNOPSIS

Very enjoyable film. However it falls along lines we have seen many times before, but in fairness the original book was out first.

Not just all action either some mild story and some emotional moments.
Will Smith was great as always.

Definitely worth a watch

**** 4 STARS

I am not going to write a lot about this film, you will find story spoilers everywhere. However I must admit I first thought it was going to be just another remake of omega, but I was wrong. Although having a loose connection it was just a ride throughout the film with more than a few dips and turns along the way. It had all the elements that kept me watching from tense gripping scenes to anticipation and then plumbed the depths of dark sadness.

Will is definitely getting better, and I would highly recommend this film to anyone. If you are a guy this will bowl her over.

One man and his dog subsist in a near future New York where a manmade virus has killed most of the world's population and transformed others into ravening monsters. Will Smith stars in this latest adaptation of Richard Matheson's classic novel
The movies have given us some classic visions of a world in which human civilisation has been destroyed, and a fair share of them are based on, or inspired by, just one novel: Richard Matheson's 'I Am Legend'.
Published in 1954, the book has been explicitly adapted as 1964's The Last Man On Earth and 1971's The Omega Man. And now we have a film that borrows the original title, even if it excises the novel's reasoning for it. This version is very much 'I Am Legend' for the 9/11 age. Will Smith takes the role previously played by Vincent Price and Charlton Heston.

Where the previous films relied wholly on inventive shooting, this new version is able to depopulate the world and ravage the big city with the aid of CGI. Although the digital effects have a few ropey moments, they enable director Francis Lawrence (Constantine) and his collaborators to create a chilling vision of a Manhattan populated by only one healthy human.

The post-apocalyptic city is first introduced with a lack of thriving city noises: no cars, no horns, no yelling, just birds. Times Square is a meadow, ivy twines its way up the walls, plastic sheeting flaps on hastily quarantined buildings, and the bridges connecting Manhattan to the boroughs are all destroyed.

We find out why in flashback, as Dr Robert Neville (Smith), a lone figure in this 2012 Manhattan, reminisces back to the end of the previous decade. The virus, 'KV', was accidentally created from a genetically engineered cure for cancer. It spread to humans, became airborne, and Manhattan was decreed a quarantine zone. Neville rushed to get his wife (Richardson) and daughter Marley (Willow Smith, Will Smith's daughter) out before the bridges were blown.

In the present, Neville - who is miraculously immune - experiments on rats, and occasionally on the infected remains of humanity. We learn that the virus killed 4.5 billion straight away. Then 588 million 'dark seekers' were created, those infected who avoid the light but hunt for live flesh by night and have consumed most of the remaining healthy humans.

The dark seekers are not unlike 'the infected' of 28 Days Later, as Danny Boyle and Alex Garland drew very much from Matheson's story (as well as from Romero's zombie films, which were also in part inspired by Matheson).

Unlike the monsters of 28 Days Later, these folks are digitally improved - they're bald, loud and very formidable, fast and agile. Dash Mihok (Hollywoodland) is unrecognisable as the nastiest of the lot, exhibiting leadership and organisational skills, and thus demonstrating they are not just mindless beasts. It's all looking very bleak for Neville, who's only company for most of the film is his loyal Alsatian Sam (an animal who really should get a Best Supporting Animal Oscar for a great turn).

Verdict
A film that blends a blockbustery bluster with a gaunt apocalyptic sobriety to good effect that is only compromised by its latter stages.

In this movie Will Smith plays the role of Robert Neville, the only man left alive in Manhattan after a cure for cancer was revealed to have side-effects in the form of a virus which almost completely wipes out everyone. The majority of those who were not affected by the virus either became mutants or were killed by them. Will Smith has immunity to the virus but is desperately trying to find the cure to it after being made aware of a colony of some survivors.
The beginning sets the scene of a desolated Manhattan, which is visually stunning and expertly created. He plays the part very well, and his canine companion, Sam, is also brilliant in the movie, there is a huge element of sadness later in the movie when Sam's role comes to an end.
It's a great storyline, the scenery and special effects are brilliant but a very disappointing ending and very short. The beginning takes a while to reveal the full story and then when everything is finally rolling it all ends very suddenly and more importantly disappointingly.

This is by no means a bad movie, but it could have lasted a bit longer and have a more attractive ending. As it is, it's a decent movie but not the classic it could perhaps have been.

This is a great film if you like a horror/ thriller movie! Will Smith is wonderful. This is well worth watching if you have time to spare!

Will Smith is the last man on earth in the third movie adaptation of Richard Matheson's classic 1954 vampire novel. Set in a devastated, deserted Manhattan - Ground Zero for a viral plague that's turned humans into ghouls - I Am Legend sees Smith deliver a surprisingly moving performance as he wanders empty New York streets going slowly ga-ga. Some cartoonish CGI and a mangled screenplay that misses the novel's point are downsides but the apocalyptic vision brings definite chills.

In 2012 precocious scientists engineer a cancer cure. It's Nobel Prizes all round until they discover an irritating side effect: it's turning mankind into CGI ghouls. 1001 days later, New York's deserted, overgrown with weeds, populated by wild gazelles and ravenous zombie/vampires (zompires, perhaps?). It's also home to one man and his dog, virologist Robert Neville (Smith) the sole survivor of the global pandemic who's searching for a cure. Holding the movie on his own, Smith does an apocalyptic version of Tom Hanks in Castaway. He's lonely and slightly loopy: begging shop window mannequins to talk to him, playing Bob Marley on his i-Pod (Three Little Birds) and fighting running battles with the creatures that hide in the shadows.

"STUNNING DISASTER PORN"

Meanwhile, flashbacks to the epidemic let director Francis Lawrence (Constantine) capture the social meltdown in a terrifying blur of whooping sirens and martial law. The movie's villains can't quite match the stunning disaster porn, the chalky CGI creatures too awkwardly digital to scare. As Neville starts to lose the battle against them, Smith bravely mines dark emotional depths until the screenplay's sanitised ending undercuts all his hard work. Rewriting Matheson's ambiguous novel - which slyly suggested its hero might be the real monster - I Am Legend merrily destroys New York but doesn't have the bottle to tarnish its star's squeaky-clean rep.

OVERALL, YET AGAIN WILL SMITH HAS STARRED IN ANOTHER AMAZING AND THRILL FITTING FILM!
BUY IT AND YOU WILL NOT GET DISSAPOINTED!

10/10 !!!!!!

In I AM LEGEND, Will Smith joins the ranks of Vincent Price (in 1964's THE LAST MAN ON EARTH) and Charlton Heston (in 1971's OMEGA MAN) as the star of an adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name. Often surprising in its focus on loneliness and loss, this thoughtful, eerie, and restrained sci-fi horror film provides a parade of startling visuals, but never allows special effects to overcome the human element. Smith, in a strong performance very different from his usual persona, is Robert Neville, the lone survivor in a New York City where streets are overgrown and deer gambol among deserted automobiles. Following an epidemic, the Earth's population has been turned into an army of nocturnal zombies. Immune to the virus, military scientist Neville searches for a cure in his Washington Square townhouse. Haunted by visions of his family leaving quarantined Manhattan two years prior, he drives through the city with his German Shepherd, Sam, by day and barricades his home from the monsters nightly. But when Anna (Alice Braga)--another immune stranger-finds him, they will have to fight the onslaught twice as hard. Akiva Goldsman and Mark Protosevich's emotionally-charged script showcases the charisma of Smith, who commands the screen alone for most of the picture (aside Abbey, a talented German Shepherd). Director Francis Lawrence (CONSTANTINE) uses music minimally, wisely allowing the eerie cityscapes to remain mostly silent. The set pieces, including an overgrown, deserted Times Square and a lion hunting a deer in the Flatrion District, are goosebump-inducing moments of stark beauty. Though some may question the rendering of the monsters in CGI instead of using actors, it does allow them to be frighteningly acrobatic. A chilling and effective adaptation of a horror classic, I AM LEGEND is also a thought-provoking piece of Hollywood filmmaking. I Am Legend overcomes questionable special effects and succeeds largely on the strength of Will Smith's mesmerizing performance.

I am a great fan of will and love all his films This was brought to go with all the others. A real good performance all round with a great twist in the end.

My favourite movie so far
I always liked Will Smith anyway but hes so great in this movie !
hes such a amazing actor & well done worth every penny !
Recommended !

Thanks

Well i expected more from this film after all the reviews but it failed to deliver .lacking in action and i got bored 3/4 the way through with such a bad ending "wont be watching again"

This film is different to other films. It's a modern take on the classic zombie horror type or infected movies. Will Smith plays an excellent starring role. There's cute bits, scary bits, clever bits and much more. I loved the modern technology used in the film and the overall idea of the film. Shows a great relationship between man and his best friend. Will Smith is forced survive for years with just his dog for company. The dog played a fantastic role, but the relationship between the dog and Will Smith is amazing, as a dog lover I was very moved by the whole dog/human realationship. The way the film showed how a person reacts and changes to total solitude is fantastic. Made me think - What if?!
Very clever storyline.

OUTSTANDING FILM, BRILLIANT SPECIAL EFFECTS AND VERY REAL...EVERYONE SHOULD OWN A COPY

I BROUGHT IT BECAUSE ID SEEN IT ON SKY AND DECIDED IT WAS A FILM I WANTED TO OWN

BRILLIANT ACTING BY WILL SMITH, AS WITH ALL HIS FILMS

Amazing film, brilliant story line, great acting - as usual and terrific graphics!

Made me cry when his dog died...

I definitely recommend this film!

I enjoyed this film. I was genuinely moved at some of it (will not say what otherwise will spoil it). Will Smith is a great choice to carry a film with just him and a dog. I was shocked by the ending, it wasn't what I expected to happen which is a good thing. It wasn't too scary that I couldn't watch it by myself (yes I am a wimp)I would watch this film again.

Love the story line. Great plot with gripping scenes! Could watch again and again! Well recommended!

In my humble opinion not one of Will Smiths best movies. It's very slow to get going and if you like buddy films of the, ''man and his best friend'' type you will love this.

I though it had a very predictable ending which I also thought was poor but the specail effects were good.

I personally would not recommend it but that again is only my opinion.

Hope this helps in some way.

Regards.

Welcome to my first ever review! i have never been one to drone on and on so lets get straight to it! I bought this movie as many of my friends told me it was a must see! Also other Ebay reviewers gave it glowing reports! Sorry I was very dissapointed. I found it unconvincing and the ending!!**?? This must rank amonst the very worst movie endings of all time!! If you love Will Smith I guess you will still love this film however if you just love good films you would be better off putting your fiver on something else! Thanks for reading this one and please give a positive vote for adding some balance to the debate! Cheers.

Wicked film! Once again will smith has you on the edge on your seat in this action packed gripping film made me jump a few times and his dog Sam aka Samantha aww she's soooo sweet and it made me cry when she changes ;0(

Definatley one to add to your collection But the ending was quick and leaves you thinking will there be another be a number 2 ;0)

Ebay advised me not to pay for this item or reply to any communication from this seller. I had already decided that the seller was not trustworthy. I had asked him for certain details which he failed to provide. I chose not to send payment. This seller did not have paypal account.

I brought this film firstly because it looked very good in the previews and secondly because will smith is a very good actor and movie star.
This film is just brilliant, but there is something about it that annoys me but im not going to say anything else, because they will give away the film and i dont want to do that if you have not seen it.

Are you a fan of Will Smith ? Are you a fan of sci-fi? If the answers to either of those questions are yes you will enjoy this dvd ; if however the answers are no this is not the film for you! Will Smith plays the eponymous hero of this re-make and very unusually for him plays the introspective role as opposed to the more extrovert larger than life characters that he is better known for; especially the more comedic and blockbusting MIB which some may want to wrongly compare with this film. This maybe considered a little slow for some people but the scenes of NYC turned into a neo jungle and other dramatic scenes i do not want to spoil more than make up for a potentially perceived slow pace tempo.Told in flash back I thoroughly enjoyed this product and recommend it to any of the many Will Smith and sci fi fans out there.