Review of Reviews

Review Links:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/13/AR2007121302232.html

http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?id=7468

http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/12/14/movies/14lege.html

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117935602.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

http://screenrant.com/review-i-am-legend-imax-vic-1185/

Jordan De Jonge

Film Studies 

Mr. Vanderark

1/28/09

Review of Reviews: I Am Legend

I chose to put I Am Legend in my top ten list of movies because I think it is a great movie. Will Smith seems to fit his role perfectly. He is very affected by the way the role plays out. He is a smart doctor with a lot of street smarts. He knows what to do in every situation. The fact that a human is a hero for the world makes it a good story. Robert Neville's (Will Smith) dog becomes someone that he can talk to. He has a very tight relationship with the dog. When Neville meets the lady and her child it really motivates him and helps him get through. The film combines a great story with an even better actor and that is what makes the movie so good.

Desson Thomson, “Not quite a living 'legend'.” Washington Post 14 December 2007

Desson Thomson's values in this film:

• ● Acting:  Desson says that Smith does a great job and is the perfect actor for this movie. He has made good movies of the same genre before and can do it again. Thomsom says “Smith the actor and “Robert Neville the character are pretty much the same presence.” This quote tells you that Smith must make a good actor for this movie because the character and him are nearly the same.
• ● Mutants:  Desson also says that although the mutant characters are “compelling” for their speed and aggression, they are too much. He doesn't think that they belong in this big of a film. He says that they belong in a video game because they are unrealistic. 
• ● Relation to the Book (Richard Matheson's 1954 dark Novel):  Desson thinks that near the middle of the movie we start to drift away from it. We loose interest because there is too much “cuddliness” incorporated in Smith's character. There needs to be less of this and more of the sense of a “vampire drama”. 

Stephen Carty, “I Am Legend” Eye For Film

Carty's views on “I Am Legend”:

• ● Will Smith:  Carty says that Will Smith is a great actor. Carty compliments Smith on how far his career has come. He compares this movie to Castaway starring Tom Hanks. He thinks that Smith's and Hanks' characters are very much alike in the fact that they are always on the screen alone. The movie excels in the Smith to dog relationship. Carty says Smith is top-notch and Sam (the dog) is the dog we all wish that we had.
• ● Effects:  Stephen Carty says “The effects used to render New York uninhabited are breathtaking.” He explains how amazing it is that Francis Lawrence (the director) could work with what they have to make a beautiful city look so abandoned and deserted. He turns it into an “overgrown wasteland.” 
• ● Action:  Carty is not very impressed with how much mindless action was added to the movie. Between halfway through and the end he says that they took it too far. He mentions when the “dark seekers” start climbing walls and taking up a lot more screen time is when this movie starts to turn into just another action flick.

A.O. Scott, “Man About Town, and Very Alone” New York Times 14 December 2007

Scott's opinion on “I Am Legend”:

• ● Acting:  A.O. Scott likes the acting in this movie. He says that Will Smith tops everyone that has played his part in earlier versions of the movie. This movie is among the best of Smith's movies and his irresistible charm is proven. He says good things about Smith, “It is the charismatic force of his personality that makes his character's radical solitude scary and fascinating, as well as strangely appealing.” 
• ● Special Effects:  Scott loves the effects in this movie. The director, Francis Lawrence, did a great job at making New York into a “distressed and depopulated” place. He makes it look so real. Decay has set in and weeds poke up through the streets which are lined on both sides with abandoned cars.
• ● Writing:  Scott compliments the writers of the film. He says that it covers some very deep questions about the collapse and persistence of human civilization.
• ● Negative Side:  The only thing that Scott mentions in his review is that the mutants (people affected by the virus) remind him a lot of those same types of creatures in the movie “28 Days Later” and its sequel “28 Weeks Later.” The computer-generated imagery causes us to loose attention because it is similar to other films in this section.

• Todd McCarthy “I Am Legend” New U.S. Release 7 December 2007
• Todd's views of “I Am Legend”:
• ● Effects:  The effects in this movie are hard to beat. The director draws you in so much that you wonder what else might lurk out there. The part that Robert Neville (Smith) locks up every door and window and sleeps curled up in a bathtub with his dog and rifle is frightening. The creatures infected with the virus are the only bad part of the effects. They get old fast and hard to believe even in context. 
• ● Best Scene:  “One of the best scenes is the prolonged, agonizing close up of Neville dealing with his dog after it's been contaminated.” This scene makes you think. You wonder what you would do in his situation and how much courage it took to do what he had to do.
• Vic Holtreman “Review: I Am Legend” Screen Rant 15 December 2007
  

Vic's comments:

• ● Experience:  Vic says that the movie does a very good job at making you experience what the actor, Will Smith is going through. The movie makes you feel as if you were in it and you were a part of the experience.

● Purpose:  Holtreman points out that Smith's character goes through life every day focused on survival. He and his dog are always out during the day looking for food and more supplies. He knows that he has to stay physically fit in order to survive so they show him working out in his house.

● Ending:  “And slowly the film shifts gears into something that by the end, is a typical action/monster movie.” He says, like every other reviewer that the film turns into just another movie that is not much different than the horror ones we have all seen before.

Concluding Thoughts:

  There are a lot of good reviews out there about this movie. All of the reviewers have a lot of the same to say about “I Am Legend”. They compliment Will Smith and his acting role in the film. They also say that his career has come a long way. They all agree that the negative side of the film is that it turns into just another horror movie in the end. They also agree on how great the director did on the special effects of the city. Turning Manhattan into a deserted wasteland is hard to do. I think that the movie is good. Before reading these reviews, I never noticed that the movie kind of died off in the end. I can realize it now because I looked deeper into it. I will definitely watch this movie again with the expanded knowledge I have.