I Am Legend

[LegoDoom 0]

I didn't like how Neville seemed like he lost all hope that anyone was alive when talking to Anna. This was a guy who had been trying to find a cure and sent out a broadcast every day for the last three years. You'd figure he'd have a little more hope.

To say that Neville's struggles go unrewarded seem a little shortsighted.

I understand what you mean, in that his struggles were likely rewarded with finding the cure. But I was referring more from the viewer's perspective, that it was hard to follow only one character for 70 minutes and not have that character survive. In retrospect, I realize it made the story more compelling and less Hollywoodish, but it was hard to accept immediately.

I thought his dog dying trying to save him was much worse than him dying trying to save a couple hundred million people.

[Jason Harris 31]

On to other matters. There were a couple of lapses of reason. The trap at the museum made no sense. The Dark Seekers had been presented as mindless, so being smart enough to rig the cabling, as well as knowing that Freddie was the particular mannequin to use, was silly. Hell, if they were that smart, Big Willy Style's home should have been overrun a couple of year's earlier.

I thought Neville said that he didn't notice any more human characteristics in the dark seekers anymore. Obviously, a human characteristic is thought, but I didn't take it to mean that the dark seekers were mindless.

My memory is the scene in which Neville recorded that the darkseekers weren't exhibiting human characteristics immediately preceded the scene with Freddie. Even if I mistook that to mean mindless, it seemed to preclude the ability to set up an elaborate trap: moving a mannequin to a puddle of water, setting a cable with a slipknot into that puddle, running that cable to a Hummer over the side of a bridge.

I enjoyed the movie but I thought they waffled between how much thought the darkseekers were capable of/

I thought his dog dying trying to save him was much worse than him dying trying to save a couple hundred million people.

That was heart wrenching, having to kill his one companion of three years.

Based on his suicidal actions at the pier, as well as how he responded to Anna and Ethan, losing Sam seemed to be the final moment of hopelessness for him.

[mack 44]

I'm agreeing with Salming as his dog was the last straw of his humanity. I mean yeah, the guy had dedicated all the time for a cure before and after the outbreak, but losing his dog was his last semblance of hope. It was his family's dog and last connection to them, as well as being the last thing that grounded him to his humanity.

[LegoDoom 0]

Normally I would agree with both of you, but he was yelling that everybody was dead and there was no more hope to a woman and kid that also survived. Seemed kind of stupid to me.

[mack 44]

To me that was his true scientific moment. Mathematically it would appear most, if not all, were dead and there was no way there could have been a group of them at a compound. Plus I'm assuming that since this was all his project that he knew of the supposed compound and something that happened to it, but that may have just been him being cynical.

[Jason Harris 31]

I agree with what Lego is saying. In some ways, the movie made it seem like we had only watched three or four days of his life, so his "loss of reality" seemed to come to suddenly.

Looking back at it, the signs are there, but it was like they came the day after he was acting normal. Yelling and shooting at Freddie for leaving the store; telling another mannequin that he would really appreciate if she said something; trying to commit suicide via the darkseekers; and acting suspicious of Anna.

Again, the first day of the movie he seemed fine, then three days later he was acting disoriented. Maybe it was supposed to be three months later, but it didn't come across that way.

[mack 44]

I think the story/film just didn't allot the time needed to show a lengthy slide to losing faith and his sanity. I think they tried to hint at it with the "oh cute lol" video store interaction, but I can't imagine how long he'd been teetering on the edge, waiting for something to finally set it off. I'm surprised no one's mentioned the obvious sex need, I mean they even hinted at that in Omega Man.

[LegoDoom 0]

I took his interaction with the dog and the mannequins as to something to keep him sane. Geez, I do the same thing with my dog if i go a few hours without talking to someone.

I could buy it if time had elapsed before he saw the mannequin on the street, but if it was the next day he just seemed to methodical to be someone that was going crazy.

[mack 44]

That's what I'm saying though, he's had to do this interaction for who knows how long. I don't want to take away from his relationship with a dog because I think everyone would be that close, but the mannequins just seemed to show that it was one of those things he needed to do to maintain his semblance of society.

I don't know, there are some very smart people who have the most fragile psyches with stuff and end up all OCD. Not saying he was, but I can see the strain of his work finally cracking him. I mean he was trying to save countless people before but now he was doing it to redeem himself as well.

[BK 0]

Anybody remember or figure out how long he was alone?

[Patrick67 1]

around 3 years from what I recall. It was said at some point by himself, possibly when Anna showed up.

[patr0510 0]

I agree with what Lego is saying. In some ways, the movie made it seem like we had only watched three or four days of his life, so his "loss of reality" seemed to come to suddenly.

Looking back at it, the signs are there, but it was like they came the day after he was acting normal. Yelling and shooting at Freddie for leaving the store; telling another mannequin that he would really appreciate if she said something; trying to commit suicide via the darkseekers; and acting suspicious of Anna.

Again, the first day of the movie he seemed fine, then three days later he was acting disoriented. Maybe it was supposed to be three months later, but it didn't come across that way.

When he's at the movie store he say's he's almost all the way through the G's. But, when Anna and Ethan come, he has Shrek. So that would show it was a long period of time, unless ofcourse he had it at his house before, for his kid.

[Archangel#16 1]

I agree with what Lego is saying. In some ways, the movie made it seem like we had only watched three or four days of his life, so his "loss of reality" seemed to come to suddenly.

Looking back at it, the signs are there, but it was like they came the day after he was acting normal. Yelling and shooting at Freddie for leaving the store; telling another mannequin that he would really appreciate if she said something; trying to commit suicide via the darkseekers; and acting suspicious of Anna.

Again, the first day of the movie he seemed fine, then three days later he was acting disoriented. Maybe it was supposed to be three months later, but it didn't come across that way.

When he's at the movie store he say's he's almost all the way through the G's. But, when Anna and Ethan come, he has Shrek. So that would show it was a long period of time, unless ofcourse he had it at his house before, for his kid.

I would say that he already had Shrek because when he started to quote the movie, I think he might have been thinking about how his child would watch it.

[Patrick67 1]

Yeah He knew Shrek by heart, probably because of it's connection to his kid.

In terms of his day's, it seemed to me like they were in succesion.

[Jason Harris 31]

I'm going off my memory, but I believe the chronology was:

Day One: Sam chases the deer into building. The hive is discovered. Neville barely survives being chased, but returns to set trap. Alpha Male nearly comes outside to glare at Neville. Neville gives serum to woman darkseeker. A few hours later, the darkseeker tries to attack Neville from the gurney. Neville dejectedly records the events and mentions the darkseekers appear to be exhibiting less signs of humanity.

Day Two: Neville is driving and notices someone standing in front of the museum. Neville discovers it's Freddie and loses his cool that Freddie left the video store. Neville shoots the windows, then returns to look at Freddie, whereupon he was trapped. Neville escapse, darkness approaches and the Alpha Male releases his hounds. As the sun fades, the hounds chase after Neville and Sam, akthough no other darkseeker joins them at such a great opportunity. Sam has been bitten and Neville has to kill her.

When you start to consider what he must have been thinking, that he's the last human and the species will die with him unless he finds a cure, it's understandable that he would start to slip. I just think the movie should have shown a slow burn versus what seemed to be overnight change of personality, Maybe they should have shown a changing of the seasons, with Neville seeming a little less secure in each scene. Maybe show one of his earlier darkseeker experiments, then show a later scene with fifty more pictures on the wall.

[chikinpotpie 132]

But you have to keep in mind that all of this happened three years after the evacuation. So, it had been a gradual descent into madness for him that culminated in the situation outside of Grand Central. Imagine if you believed that you were the last "man" alive and were used to seeing certain things in certain places for the last three years. Then all of a sudden, WHAT?, something has been moved. That would rattle your bird cage a bit.

[Jason Harris 31]

Okay, I could see that.

[thefelixculpa 0]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned in here, but the thing that bugged me the most about the movie was the "vampires" being portrayed as mindless zombies... In the book they were able to communicate with Neville.

Also was kind of bummed out that the ending was not even remotely similar to the book's ending...I can understand when movies need to change some things around, but they basically just took the title "I am Legend" and gave it an entirely different meaning than the book gave it. In the book, "I am Legend" is referring to the role reversal of Neville becomming the person who kills the vampires who are trying to form a new colony, and their perception of him as the monster that we would feel vampires are.

I guess a lot of you probably already read the book, but I just feel like sharing a summary of it I saw posted.

"The story takes place between January 1976 and January 1979 in Southern California. The novel opens with the monotony and horror of the daily life of the protagonist, Robert Neville. Neville is apparently the only survivor of an apocalypse caused by a pandemic of bacteria, the symptoms of which are similar to vampirism. He spends every day repairing his house, boarding up windows, stringing and hanging garlic, disposing of vampires' corpses on his lawn and going out to gather any additional supplies needed for hunting and killing more vampires.

Much of the story is devoted to Neville's struggles to understand the plague that has infected everyone around him, and the novel details the progress of his discoveries.

One day, a dog appears in the neighborhood. Neville spends weeks trying to win its trust and domesticate it. He eventually traps the terrified dog and wins it over, but it dies from the vampire infection a week later.

As the story progresses, it is revealed that some infected people have discovered a means to hold the disease at bay. However, the "still living" people appear no different from the true vampire during the day while both are immobilized in sleep. Thus, along with the vampires, Neville kills the still living people. He becomes a source of terror to the still living, since he can go around in daylight (which they can only do for a short length of time using a special pill) and kill them while they sleep.

They send a still living woman named Ruth to spy on Neville, and they replicate Neville's relationship with the dog. Ruth, terrified of Neville at first sight, goes against her role of spying on him and runs away. Rather than spend weeks trying to win her over, he attacks her and drags her back to his house. Eventually Neville performs a blood test on her, revealing her true nature to him right before she knocks him out with a mallet. Ruth leaves a note telling him about the group of people like her, explaining that she was sent to spy and how monstrous he appears to them. Months later, the still living people attack, injuring Neville, but taking him alive so that he can be executed in front of everyone in the new society (which Neville finds very primitive).

Before he can be executed, Ruth provides him with an envelope of pills. Neville takes the pills to commit suicide before the still living execute him. As he dies he reflects on how the new society of the living infected regards him as a monster. Just as vampires were regarded as legendary monsters that preyed on the vulnerable humans in their beds, Neville has become a mythical figure that kills both vampires and the infected living while they are sleeping. He becomes a legend as the vampires once were, hence the title "I Am Legend".

[kovalchuk71 212]

Neville was one of the original creators of the Virus correct?

[Jason Harris 31]

I don't think so. I believe it was the doctor (Emma Thompson) at the beginning of the film who thought she had discovered the cure for cancer. Instead, it mutated into the virus.

[Ultimus 0]

In regards to a sequel, unless they alter the ending in this.... which would confuse the average movie goer that just "saw" the movie in the theater... I think a sequel would be a direct to DVD cheesy movie release that really is just a zombie flick trying to cure people etc...

I would like to see a prequel though...

How long was it since the time they first introduced the "cure" to the time the first outbreak happened? We know the island was sealed off for 3 years.... but how long before that was the events taking place a year or two?

The movie could be that, then the escalation to the the evacuation, then the following events as more and more people turn and he sets up his "camp".

This movie could have been a really great trilogy.... perhaps it was originally intended to do so, maybe Smith didn't want to do three? Who knows. I've heard that they did change the ending at the last minute?

Edit,

Aintitcoolnews.com

I Am Legend 2 Rights Sealed Up

Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com

January 3, 2008

With Will Smith's I Am Legend having earned a massive $332.1 million worldwide since opening on December 14, ShockTillYouDrop.com reports that Warner Bros. is looking ahead to a possible follow-up to the Francis Lawrence-directed film. According to the site, the book's author, Richard Matheson, has signed off on sequel rights.

[LegoDoom 0]

I think it could be more than a zombie flick if they expand on level of dark seekers civilizations. Obviously, they have some kind of thought and organization.

Still, I agree that a "prequel" would probably be the best idea.

[Jason Harris 31]

Has anyone else seen the alternate ending? I just watched it tonight and it's closer to the book's ending, although still off somewhat.

I'd be more descriptive but I don't want to give away the ending for those who haven't seen it.