I Am Legend

[FLAME_ON]

I was reading the article about I Am Legend's major Brooklyn Bridge scene. (which you can find here or here) And it occurred to me that this is about the only news I've heard about this movie and it has supposedly wrapped filming (for a couple weeks now).
How's everyone feeling about the movie?

[Tuukka]

I'm looking forward to it. I didn't care that much for Constantine, but my problems were with the script. It was well directed. Smith is a good actor. This is a 150 million epic end-of-the-world vampire action movie.

Sounds cool to me.

I read an earlier draft of the script a year or so ago. It was quite good, and should make a fun movie. It didn't have that much to do with the original novel besides premise, but I don't care. I'll be happy as long as the movie works as a movie, which I think it has a good chance of doing.

[DareDevil]

Seems like a lot of recent high profile blockbusters have had expensive scenes with bridges, X-men 3, MI:3, FF, even the 1st Spider-man.

As for I Am Legend, the movie lost a lot of credibility when Johnny Depp dropped out, I'll wait for 1st trailer before I start to get excited.

[echo_bravo]

Ugh

Depp dropped out???

Wasnt aware of that.

[electriclite]

I'm kinda curious about the flick since one of my friends got to do PA work on the film for 2 weekends.


I just hope they don't make it some dumb action extravaganza like I Robot was.

[Tyler_Durden_208]

Originally posted by electriclite
I'm kinda curious about the flick since one of my friends got to do PA work on the film for 2 weekends.


I just hope they don't make it some dumb action extravaganza like I Robot was.

Well... Sorry, but from everything I've read so far, that's what this movie screams to me. I mean, I have no problem with that, I liked I, Robot, but on the other hand, I don't think I can stand a bastardization of one of my favorite books. (I think The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth adapted it successfully in their own ways.)

[thedudeman69]

I think this might underpeform. I mean a budget of 150? whoa.

[adamjohnson]

I piss on this movie.

Three adaptations, and not one is like the book. Bah!

[EVILxxx]

Fuck this movie and it's mutant zombies.

They are VAMPIRES.

[outsyder]

At least the other adaptations had the courtesy enough to use a different name then the book they were 'basing' it on.

Fucking Hollywood.

[EVILxxx]

Originally posted by outsyder
At least the other adaptations had the courtesy enough to use a different name then the book they were 'basing' it on.

Fucking Hollywood.

Excellent point. I wouldn't have such a problem with the movie had they not changed the original story so much yet keep the title. The novel is perfection, and now if they want to do a true adaption with the same title it will be dubbed a remake.

[DareDevil]

I wonder if Will Smith will say "OH HELLLL NA!!!!" ?

[Tuukka]

Originally posted by electriclite
I just hope they don't make it some dumb action extravaganza like I Robot was.

As far as action movies go, I Robot was much smarter than most.

On another note, I always thought it was weird how some people were upset that I Robot wasn't loyal to the book. I guess that most of them probably hadn't read the book and were unaware of the fact that it's essentially a collection of short stories. Expecting the movie to be a collection of short movies would have been just silly.

And even in the opening credits the filmmakers made very clear that the film was INSPIRED by the writings of Asimov. It didn't even pretend to be a loyal adaptation of the book.

But for a Hollywood action movie it was smart. And it was stylish, well directed, well acted, and thematically stayed in tune with Asimov's writings. And Sonny was a fucking awesome character both in terms of writing and execution. Sure it had some flaws, the main ones being the cartoony car chase and a motivation for the scientists death which wasn't really that logical (I've watched the film three times).

A seriously underrated movie, and one of the best action flicks of this decade.

And of course I am Legend is going to be "dumb" action extravanganza. It's an epic Will Smith actioner, what do you expect? You should expect plenty of ass-kicking and heroic action set pieces. That's what it's all about, and that's what I will go to see.

[Danger^Cart]

Originally posted by Tuukka
As far as action movies go, I Robot was much smarter than most.

Asimov would so totally punch you in the head.

[Silverload]

Originally posted by Tuukka
And of course I am Legend is going to be "dumb" action extravanganza. It's an epic Will Smith actioner, what do you expect? You should expect plenty of ass-kicking and heroic action set pieces. That's what it's all about, and that's what I will go to see.

I expect to see 'I am Legend', not a Will Smith action flick posing as 'I am Legend'.

[Tuukka]

Originally posted by Danger^Cart
Asimov would so totally punch you in the head.

So you think that Asimov would disagree with the idea that I Robot the movie is smarter than your average action movie? I don't think Asimov was such a big fan of the action genre in the first place, so he probably wouldn't have an opinion either way.

[Tuukka]

Originally posted by Silverload
I expect to see 'I am Legend', not a Will Smith action flick posing as 'I am Legend'.

Why would you expect to see something that you already know you are not gonna see? Why not instead expect to see something that you ARE gonna see?

When I went to see the LOTR flicks, they had changed a HUGE amount of stuff, and they had added 50 times more action than what the books had. But hey, ass kicking is fun. It didn't really bother me that the films were action movies, even if the books lacked action. It didn't bother me that the the storylines and characters were different, because they were good.

You could just as well say that Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy is not really Lord Of The Rings, but action-packed CGI monster movies posing as Lord Of The Rings.

But, the films were really fucking good. And to me that's what counts the most.

Really, quite a few classic movies have been adapted from books, and many of them have little to nothing to do with the books except for the the main premise. In that field even LOTR was relatively loyal. If absolutely necessary, I can collect a list of these and come up with a list of widely praised classic movies, that completely butchered the source material. Yet people don't seem to have problems with those, it's just the modern movies that somehow are supposed to follow the books. Isn't that a double-standard?

Also for example I Robot didn't even pretend to be an adaptation of the novel, where as LOTR did pretend to be an adaptation. So the criticism against LOTR should be much harder, yet it isn't. Granted there has been a lot of criticism, but generally people don't write the LOTR movies off because they are not loyal, yet people do exactly that with I Robot, and are planning on doing it with I Am Legend.

It doesn't in any way seem to me that I Am Legend would pretend to be an adaptation either. We'll see how they refer to the novel in the opening credits.

And here comes a newsflash for everyone:

This Will Smith movie is NOT a loyal adaptation of the book of the same name. It simply keeps the title and some story elements, but everything else has been changed.

Now that you know what kind of movie you are about see, then go see THAT movie. Don't go see a movie which doesn't even exist except in your own head.

BTW Silverload, I did a quick search and noticed that in November 2002 you stated that Minority Report was your favourite film of the year so far. Yeah the film is excellent, but it had nothing to do with Dick's original story except for the title and the general premise. It was a Tom Cruise action flick "posing" as Minority Report.

I also noticed that it was Electricite's favourite movie of 2002. Outsyder gave it 9.5/10. Dangercart gave it 9.5/10. So a lot of people in this thread who seem critical of I Am Legend really liked Minority Report.

How come it was ok for Minority Report to rape the original story, yet it's not ok for I Am Legend?

Yeah, I rule. Gotta love the search function.

[Tyler_Durden_208]

Minority Report also had the Beard behind it. And I, Robot at least had Alex Proyas.
However, I did quite enjoy Constantine, so I will be giving I Am Legend a chance. I just wish there would be faithful adaptation somewhere down the line. Cos it could make a very great, thought-provoking apocalyptic film with the right director.

[meccajay]

Originally posted by Tuukka
Sounds cool to me.

I read an earlier draft of the script a year or so ago. It was quite good, and should make a fun movie. It didn't have that much to do with the original novel besides premise, but I don't care. I'll be happy as long as the movie works as a movie, which I think it has a good chance of doing.

Agreed 100%!!

BTW, great job w/ the accurate comparison of this movie adaption, LOTR, and Minority Report... Where were you when I needed you in the upcoming horror movie-I Am Legend thread. Could have used your help

Oh and for all the fans of the original 'I Am Legend' novel.. Most folks never heard of it. That book is only classic amoung a small niche of horror fans...Just ask your coworkers. This adaptation will be what everyone will remember from now on...for better or worse.

So, as Tuukka mentioned. Let's all hope for the best...we shouldn't waste time expecting to see something we know we aren't going to see!

[Dead Halloween]

I haven't heard of this movie for a while, I was hoping it was canceled.

[castlesave]

Originally posted by DareDevil
I wonder if Will Smith will say "OH HELLLL NA!!!!" ?

"welcome to earf"

[Silverload]

Originally posted by Tuukka
BTW Silverload, I did a quick search and noticed that in November 2002 you stated that Minority Report was your favourite film of the year so far. Yeah the film is excellent, but it had nothing to do with Dick's original story except for the title and the general premise. It was a Tom Cruise action flick "posing" as Minority Report.

I also noticed that it was Electricite's favourite movie of 2002. Outsyder gave it 9.5/10. Dangercart gave it 9.5/10. So a lot of people in this thread who seem critical of I Am Legend really liked Minority Report.

How come it was ok for Minority Report to rape the original story, yet it's not ok for I Am Legend?

Yeah, I rule. Gotta love the search function.

The adaptations you point out work because those films still carry the same heart & spirit as the source material, they ask the same questions, and in the end are same story.

I can handle change, but what really pisses me off about this new ‘I am Legend’ movie is the complete and total deviation from everything the book stood for. Instead, this movie focuses only on the post-apocalyptic concept. It destroys the original story by removing the vampires from the greatest vampire story ever told; by replacing them with mindless mutants, having other human survivors, and a guaranteed changed ending (which also destroys the entire point of the title).

Would you have liked ‘I, Robot’ if the movie had giant talking lizards instead of robots? Would Minority Report been as good if it had nothing to do with pre-crime or “minority reports”, and instead focused entirely on the novelty of a man running from the law?

Originally posted by Tuukka
Why would you expect to see something that you already know you are not gonna see? Why not instead expect to see something that you ARE gonna see?

I'm not going to see this
Well, the only thing that would get my ass in the seat is if at least the vampires were back in play, and even then I’d be very dubious.

[outsyder]

Originally posted by Tuukka
I also noticed that it was Electricite's favourite movie of 2002. Outsyder gave it 9.5/10. Dangercart gave it 9.5/10. So a lot of people in this thread who seem critical of I Am Legend really liked Minority Report.

How come it was ok for Minority Report to rape the original story, yet it's not ok for I Am Legend?

It's kind of like The Shining. Both Dick and Spielberg are incredibly talented creators, and both did well with their creations. I found for the majority of the story Spielberg kept the spirit intact, and while Dick went another path at the end, both stories are amazing. Spielberg's use of visuals and recurring themes was another reason I rated the film so highly.

Much like Blade Runner (which wasn't even the name of the book Dick wrote), the film is completely different from the book, but I felt most of the spirit remained intact. With I Am Legend, the news of all these big budget scenes as well as action sequences making it sound more like the Dawn of the Dead remake kind of disappoint me. The book is not really an action flick, and more of a psychological one. The filmmaker is not a very experienced one, like Ridley Scott or Steven Spielberg were when they made their respective films, so I do not have the absolute confidence that the film will remain true to its origins. The news of a $150 million budget is also a bit distressing, as this film will be under a lot of pressure to earn back it's cost, which I believe means they will try to take the easy way out on a lot of things in order to give it more mass appeal, such as drawn out action scenes, and expensive CGI effects.

I could be proven wrong, but at this point I'm not that confident I will be.

[bigred760]

Will Smith has done very little wrong in his career and this sounds like one of his big summer blockbusters that has made him a household name. It sounds like a kickass ride and a movie's budget has never bothered me before, so I don't see why one particular scene should make me care more or less now. Bring the kickass sounding movie on.

[IronMonkey]

When it comes to to the odds of picking good projects, Will Smith seems to have a good sense - just like Tom Cruise does

Stallone and Bruce Willis (more so Sly) could learn from them.

[chinton]

As long as it will get people to read the original novel I'm happy.

[EVILxxx]

Originally posted by bigred760
Will Smith has done very little wrong in his career and this sounds like one of his big summer blockbusters that has made him a household name. It sounds like a kickass ride and a movie's budget has never bothered me before, so I don't see why one particular scene should make me care more or less now. Bring the kickass sounding movie on.

Like Outsyder said the book is not a kickass action novel. Fans of the book want a true adaptation or they want a movie with a different title.

[Rukas]

Originally posted by chinton
As long as it will get people to read the original novel I'm happy.

After reading this thread Ive decided to go pick the book up next week. So be happy ,

[Rukas]

Who cares about the title. Shakespear once wrote something about a rose, perhaps you remember it? I think it applies.

Personally, I think Vampires are a lot cooler than Zombies, so I for one wish they hadnt changed that; we've never gotten a massive Vampire action movie (Blade isnt really massive in scale as they are never out in the open). Ive always wanted a Dawn Of The Dead type movie with Vampires and when I heard about this project I hoped this would be it.

Sadly not. Personally Ill take it for what it is worth. If you want a story like in the book; read the book. This is a movie and a totally different creature and I hope it is good for what it is.

[Tagia_Romero]

Unfortunate that Depp dropped out. That takes away some of the selling factor for me.

[meccajay]

- So did Depp drop out, or was he ever really involved? Curious. Yes it would have been great to see him in this..especially if he was playing a baddie. I imagine it would have been along the lines of Denzel in Training Day...only with tons of blood.

- Will can open a movie like nobody's business, which will draw many many people to the book. Great book indeed, which will soon be out of the niche market and hopefully be loved by the masses. It's cool to think that after all these years people might be reading this book on the scale of Anne Rice or Stephen King's work. Good things!

- Maybe, just maybe, the movie, and the original book being repopularized will lead to an independant filmmaker making a "true" version for the big screen. or if the studio's don't bite, it could even be done by HBO.

- "Welcome to earf" Ok, so he's a military pilot with inner city origins, who was a NASA reject, and dated a striper. Ever seen some of our finest 'real' soldiers in Iraq interviewed? All walks my friend.

- Vampires vs Zombies. Originally I though the same thing...why change it? After thinking about it. I realized that all versions of this book, script or movie have a shared flaw...a pretty big flaw. And that is that Vampires are very smart. So smart that they totally ignore easy ways to kill Neville on purpose? It's like JamesBond villians..you've caught him, now just put a bullet in his brain! The book was written a long time ago, so it is forgiven.

Today, in this setting it would be impossible to believe that a world full of deadly vampires couldn't kill a single human. Regardless of security features and specialized weapons etc. Not believable! That might turn off moviegoers after week 1. I mentioned in the horror thread that the producers/writers may have realized this, and decided to make the change accordingly - In other words, Vampires are smart. Zombies are dumb. Vampires would wear protective gear and shoot 1,000 flaming arrows onto Neville's roof one night or poison his water supply(or shoot back..hello!) and the movie would be over in 10 minutes. Vampires are resourceful, indestructable, thinking beings. Could even Blade survive if he was the ONLY person left on earth against a city(or world) full of Vampires? Maybe, but not for long.

Zombies on the other hand can't think to put a plan together to kill there enemy. There strength is in numbers. Millions of them looking for just one thing - you!!! You'd have to be a pretty badass SOB to survive that. Although I will admit, Vampires are much much cooler! There's hope- In 28 Days Later, and the remake of Dawn Of The Dead, we got 'updated' new zombies...fast movers! Let's hope we get an even better zombie update here.

[The Heart Collector]

Originally posted by Tuukka
Why would you expect to see something that you already know you are not gonna see? Why not instead expect to see something that you ARE gonna see?

It's the principle of the thing. I know what I'm going to see is NOT "I Am Legend", and I am a little offended that it's being sold to me as "I Am Legend" because it is not, in fact, "I Am Legend".

Then, this is also typical Hollywood bullshit. Grab some source, turn it into an action flick with no resemblance to the source.

THEN, this basically means that there won't be an attempt to make a serious adaptation of "I Am Legend" for years.

In conclusion, stop defending this shit. If someone took James Joyce's Ulysses and made an adaptation that just *happens* to be about fishermen in north korea, I don't give a flaming fuck how good it would be, it's not fucking Ulysses and it has no business being called Ulysses.

[RandalGraves]

I can't wait for this flick...although I was bummed cause it was originally slated to star Schwarzengger, but I'm pretty happy with Will Smith in the lead. Can't wait to see a trailer!

[EVILxxx]

Vampires vs Zombies. Originally I though the same thing...why change it? After thinking about it. I realized that all versions of this book, script or movie have a shared flaw...a pretty big flaw. And that is that Vampires are very smart. So smart that they totally ignore easy ways to kill Neville on purpose? It's like JamesBond villians..you've caught him, now just put a bullet in his brain! The book was written a long time ago, so it is forgiven.

There were two types of vampires in the books. The more feral undead vampires with little reasoning power(the kind that waited for him at night) and the organized society of vampires.

[Tuukka]

Originally posted by The Heart Collector
It's the principle of the thing. I know what I'm going to see is NOT "I Am Legend", and I am a little offended that it's being sold to me as "I Am Legend" because it is not, in fact, "I Am Legend".

Then, this is also typical Hollywood bullshit. Grab some source, turn it into an action flick with no resemblance to the source.

THEN, this basically means that there won't be an attempt to make a serious adaptation of "I Am Legend" for years.

In conclusion, stop defending this shit. If someone took James Joyce's Ulysses and made an adaptation that just *happens* to be about fishermen in north korea, I don't give a flaming fuck how good it would be, it's not fucking Ulysses and it has no business being called Ulysses.

Sure, for several years after this movie nobody will try to do a film of the same name. But the book "I am Legend" has been around for 53 years. And so far nobody has made a serious adaptation of it. So I don't think the upcoming movie is the reason why nobody is making one. There is no serious adaptation simply because there hasn't been willingness to do one, it's not the fault of this movie. You're blaming this movie for something that wasn't gonna happen anyway.

And you have no reason to be offended, because in fact nobody is trying to sell this movie as Richard's Mathesons' "I am legend", they are selling it as it's own entity which shares the same name and a similar, but different premise. If they would pretend that it's direct adaptation of the novel, then you would have a reason to be offended. But like I said, that's not the case here. You act as if they would be trying to deceive you, but they are not doing such thing.

BTW, Ulysses is the original name for what we know as Odysseus, the hero of Odyssey. The story of Ulysses is thousands of years old, Joyce simply stole the name and made his own story around it. A story that is nothing like the original Ulysses. You could just as well argue that Joyce has no business calling his book Ulysses.

[Tuukka]

Originally posted by outsyder
It's kind of like The Shining. Both Dick and Spielberg are incredibly talented creators, and both did well with their creations. I found for the majority of the story Spielberg kept the spirit intact, and while Dick went another path at the end, both stories are amazing. Spielberg's use of visuals and recurring themes was another reason I rated the film so highly.

Much like Blade Runner (which wasn't even the name of the book Dick wrote), the film is completely different from the book, but I felt most of the spirit remained intact. With I Am Legend, the news of all these big budget scenes as well as action sequences making it sound more like the Dawn of the Dead remake kind of disappoint me. The book is not really an action flick, and more of a psychological one. The filmmaker is not a very experienced one, like Ridley Scott or Steven Spielberg were when they made their respective films, so I do not have the absolute confidence that the film will remain true to its origins. The news of a $150 million budget is also a bit distressing, as this film will be under a lot of pressure to earn back it's cost, which I believe means they will try to take the easy way out on a lot of things in order to give it more mass appeal, such as drawn out action scenes, and expensive CGI effects.

I could be proven wrong, but at this point I'm not that confident I will be.

Minority Report was a huge budget flick with drawn out action scenes and expensive CGI , adapted from a smaller scale psychological novel. And you were happy with that, yet you see those things as faults in this movie. And MR took the easy way out in order to have mass appeal, like giving a happy ending to the story.

That's not a very consistent argument in your part.

Sure Lawrence is not Spielberg, but I think it's too early to write him off as a hack. And Scott had made two films before Blade Runner, where as Lawrence has made one before this. There isn't such a big difference in experience.

[outsyder]

The Minority Report short story has a happy ending. It's a different happy ending, but nonetheless still a happy one. So I can't really see how the film 'took the easy way out' as they both end on a high note despite their different conclusions. It's simply not the same.

I'm just saying that the differences between what they are trying to do in the film version of I Am Legend seems very different from the book, where with Minority Report, it's the sort of book where it is easy to include action sequences between story elements. In I Am Legend, the book pretty much takes place at one location until of course, the end of the book. I Am Legend is not the kind of book I would really consider to be a big budget action flick.

[Tyler_Durden_208]

Originally posted by Tuukka
And Scott had made two films before Blade Runner, where as Lawrence has made one before this. There isn't such a big difference in experience.

Those films were The Duelists and Alien (pretty much THE best creature thriller ever). As much as I like Constantine, it doesn't really compare to either of those films, in my opinion.

[chinton]

Originally posted by Rukas
After reading this thread Ive decided to go pick the book up next week. So be happy ,

I think I'll do a jig.

[ozinoz]

I am anticipating this new version, but I really have to say that I am greatly disappointed in the choice of lead, Will Smith is a lippy (and I am going to use the N word here) - No-Talent. Have not seen one pic worth mentioning. The role calls for great gravitas, something Charlton Heston was able to pull off, in a similar vein to the Planet of the Apes. It is about isolation and desperation and revelation, not (c)rap singing, lippy attitude. It is a story of desolation and I don't think Will Smith can pull it off. If they had to travel down the PC path, maybe Jamie Fox on the back of his Collateral and Ray Charles roles.

Still, seeing as I aint funding it, guess my opinion is worth all of what you have paid for it.

Cheers