Comments on: I Am Legend

By: Brad

Brad — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:29:40 +0000

I liked the movie, but found one strong objectionable point. In the scene where Smith’s character is explaining the infection and casualty rate of the KV virus, he says that 10% of the 6 billion people on Earth “survive”. This leaves 600 million people. He then goes on to say that out of the remaining 600 million, only 1%, are completely immune. He then says this leaves 12 million “survivors” and 588 million “zombies”, but 1% of 600 million is 6 million, not 12. Obviously the writers aren’t math or engineering majors, but how hard is it to pull out a pocket calculator and check the numbers? I’m surprised that more readers haven’t noticed this mistake given the type of readers Discover Magazine attracts.

By: Frank

Frank — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 22:58:41 +0000

It’s pretty sad that most of us cannot except the fact that religion is a part of the spirituality of mankind, whether we like it or not. So why is it strange as some here have injected, that this movie injected just a small fraction of it’s time to it. After all Will Smiths role completely objected to it’s existence. Isn’t that enough for you atheist out there?

A movie like people, individuals are going to be flawed, that’s life. A cynical depressing movie like this feeds the flock of doomsday follower’s.
Unfortunately, after 9/11 we all seem to become believers that the Human race will never be able to endure and survive it’s faults. For myself
I don’t believe this and I hope just one of these days Hollywood can make a movie as good as this one, but one that can inspire us with hope and give us reasons everyday to go on and inspire others and make this world a better place to live. But this is only I dream I have…

By: Haplo

Haplo — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:25:47 +0000

Come on guys! The film SUCKED!

When you have a movie based on a book, you HAVE to compare it, see how it stands up against the novel. And in that light, the movie happens by chance to share the name of the novel and the protagonist. And that’s where the similarities end.

The book is a masterpiece of the horror-sci-fi genre, and this film just shows that we all ought to know: hollywood can’t make decenf films. Hollywood can’t produce half-decent actors.

Will Smith a formidable actor? Mr. BA: no ofense, but you’re a hell of a scientist. As an astronomer you gave us all lectures. I have learned a lot from your website and blog. As a movie critic… stick to the stars that are on the sky

By: RoninC

RoninC — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 02:18:49 +0000

Will Smith is a great actor and I found the movie entertaining. However the story was not believable and the ending was poor. Read All of Yesterdays Tomorrows. Similiar idea but better story.

By: Robert Carnegie

Robert Carnegie — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:09:28 +0000

I believe I heard Richard Matheson – that’s the book author? – talking somewhere on British radio lately, and about film adaptations of [I Am Legend] : I think he basically said he doesn’t care what they do with it, takes no interest. Well, it was a long time ago. I presume he gets a cut, but who knows? He may have sold the film licence outright?

By: Rob S

Rob S — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:44:53 +0000

I went into some detail about how bad the science was :
http://wordsfromrob.com/2007/12/22/i-am-legend-critique/

By: Rob S

Rob S — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:43:38 +0000

I went into some detail about how bad the science was:
http://wordsfromrob.com/2007/12/22/i-am-legend-critique/

By: Carl

Carl — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:26:12 +0000

Phil, I’m pretty sure you didn’t watch silent movie, so when you say there was ‘almost no soundtrack’, you really mean ‘almost no MUSIC’. There was very much a soundtrack, one that a team of folks would have worked very hard on to help you feel the tension you did. To dismiss them with a comment like that is quite insulting.

(And yes, I am a professional sound editor/mixer for Film & TV)

By: Stark

Stark — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 22:41:14 +0000

I felt the same way about the ending, I said the very same thing to my brother after the movie. God would have been fine, if they imprinted it all the way through.

By: Michael J. Narlock

Michael J. Narlock — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 22:02:23 +0000

Phil,

Definitely read the book. The book and movie share some commonalities, but overall I think the book was executed in a much more compelling way. That being said, I thought the movie, except for the aforementioned insertion of the religious aspects, was amazing. I’d never been much of a Will Smith fan, but this time out he certainly flexed his acting chops.

Still, try the book.

See you in May!

By: LeeTheAgent

LeeTheAgent — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:11:07 +0000

Read the book… its possibly one of the greatest horror novels ever written… I don’t recall anything about God in it… I haven’t seen the movie, but the ending is beautiful… almost a skeptical ending!

By: David Roberts

David Roberts — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:08:49 +0000

Way back
# Michael Lonerganon 27 Dec 2007 at 12:48 am

I’ll probably wait til DVD. Speaking of which, I indulged and bought a 50 movie pack of Sci-Fi Classics today, with such gems as They Came From Beyond Space, Battle of The Worlds, Queen of the Amazons, Atomic Brain, and what looks to be totally awesome, Voyage The The Planet of Prehistoric Women. Movies from a time when spaceships were, well, two dinner plates glued together and hung on a string!

I have this set and I love it. Most of the “Space”Movies are old Italian neo classics with rocket ships built, no not built, they were actually model kits I had as a kid. They bring a tear to my eye.

By: Antonio

Antonio — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:54:33 +0000

Last man on earth is a very good movie. Very few to do with the book, but very good.
The one with Vincent Price is almost faithfull to the book. I love it.
I don’t think you know about it because it’s an italian movie and in b/w.

By: Ethan Meadow

Ethan Meadow — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:31:54 +0000

I Am Legend Fan Site

By: Walabio

Walabio — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:06:17 +0000

For some reason, the link to the InternetArchive does not work. To get to the movie, try this:

http://www.archive.org/details/the-last-man-on-earth

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:07:37 +0000

I try to go into movies based on my favorite books with an open mind. They did deviate quite a bit from the original Matheson novel when making this movie. In fact, there were whole subplots left out entirely! Looking at it from a purely theatrical standpoint though, I wasn’t completely disappointed. It was quite a bit better than the previous two movie versions of this novel in my opinion. For anyone who hasn’t read the book, I highly highly recommend it. Richard Matheson is one of my favorite authors of all time and “I Am Legend” is one of his very best novels.

By: Walabio

Walabio — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:07:35 +0000

The Last Man on Earth is in the public Domain. One can download it from the InternetArchive:

http://archive.org/details/the-last-man-on-earth

By: k

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 21:55:19 +0000

Ha, I have the book but probably won’t see the movie so I can’t tell you how far it deviates. I know that the Charlton Heston version ain’t even close so…?

By: tdr

tdr — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:59:28 +0000

Phil,

Those who recommend Last Man on Earth know what they’re talking about. It’s very much worth purchasing the DVD. Endings can make or break a movie and the ending in Last Man on Earth makes that movie a superior work of literary filmmaking. It’s also what makes the movie worth watching more than once, whereas I Am Legend’s retreat into a tacked-on happy ending makes the movie good for one viewing only. On the other hand, I Am Legend is much better sequel material than Last Man on Earth. The adventures of the Children of Neville fighting the Dark Seekers and bringing them back into the light. It’s got post-apocalyptic adventure written all over it.

By: Lance

Lance — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:10:33 +0000

Skeptigator,

Whadaya mean …there’s no Santa Claus?

By: Lance

Lance — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:08:55 +0000

Barton Paul Levenson wants to have his faith and eat it too.

By: Barton Paul Levenson

Barton Paul Levenson — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:58:29 +0000

Cyde Weys writes:

[[religious people are illogical]]

Yeah. Think about William of Ockham, Roger Bacon, C.S. Lewis… what a bunch of illogical dummies!

By: Skeptigator

Skeptigator — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:51:42 +0000

Soylent Green is people, well thanx for ruining the ending for me. Geez, do you tell 5 year olds there’s no santa just to watch them cry?

By: flak

flak — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:34:49 +0000

A solid movie, and enjoyable for what it was, but I felt it missed its shot to be a truly great movie that you remembered as such. The ending felt very tacked on, and it explains a lot to see the proof that is was indeed changed that other BABloggees have provided. As another poster noted, it messed up the tone to have Smith’s character launch into a anti-religious missive (and a good one) one second and then have the character seemingly change by the end of the movie… scant hours later in movie time and at the most critical of times. Also, very good catch by ZB, they obviously left some sort of subplot regarding the monsters retaining some humanity and feeling unresolved… and I have a feeling the original ending resolves it. Hopefully the director can someday release a director’s cut that retains the original ending on to DVD so we can judge it for what it was before some studio hack screwed it up.

By: Skeptigator

Skeptigator — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:33:17 +0000

I also enjoyed the movie but make no mistake it strayed wildly from the book and not just the ending as has often been mentioned.

I agree with BA that the movie does an excellent job showing the despair, silence and loneliness that one would feel (and more importantly the book portrayed) but the whole underlying story is significantly changed and the whole point of the book is not even conveyed primarily through the change of the ending but whole roles within the movie have been altered.

I wish I could say more here but I don’t want BA censoring me (just giving you a hard time).

If you want my opinion you can check out my blog post with MAJOR SPOILERS in it.

http://skeptigator.com/2007/12/27/i-may-be-a-legend-but-the-movie-wasnt/