I Am Legend (2007)

Director:

Francis Lawrence

Writers (WGA):

Mark Protosevich (screenplay) and
Akiva Goldsman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

14 December 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The last man on earth is not alone

Plot:

Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure.

Plot Keywords:

Lab Rat | Civilization | Imaginary Friend | Plague | Vermont

Awards:

3 wins & 16 nominations

US Showtimes:

(register to personalize)

Cast

Will Smith	...	Robert Neville
Alice Braga	...	Anna
Charlie Tahan	...	Ethan
Salli Richardson	...	Zoe
Willow Smith	...	Marley
Darrell Foster	...	Mike - Military Escort
April Grace	...	TV Personality
Dash Mihok	...	Alpha Male
Joanna Numata	...	Alpha Female
Abby	...	Sam (as Abbey)
Kona	...	Sam
Samuel Glen	...	Military Driver - Jay
James Michael McCauley	...	Male Evacuee (as James McCauley)
Marin Ireland	...	Woman Evacuee
Pedro Mojica	...	Sergeant

Also Known As:

I Am Legend: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Finland:K-15 | South Africa:13V | Denmark:11 | Australia:M | Czech Republic:12 | Taiwan:PG-12 | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Austria:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Peru:14 | Venezuela:PG-13 | New Zealand:M | Australia:MA (DVD) | Malaysia:U | Sweden:15 | Germany:16 | Slovakia:12 | Argentina:16 | Ireland:15A | France:Unrated | Netherlands:12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43988) | Norway:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | South Korea:12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Hong Kong:IIB | Brazil:14 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The film was green-lit without a script.

Goofs:

Factual errors: All the flags shown hanging from various buildings in New York City are in perfect condition. These flags would have been torn and faded from three years of hanging in the weather.

Quotes:

[first lines]
TV Personality: The world of medicine has seen its share of miracle cures, from the polio vaccine to heart transplants. But all past achievements may pale in comparison to the work of Dr. Alice Krippin. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Dr. Alice Krippin: Not at all.
TV Personality: So, Dr. Krippin, give it to me in a nutshell.
Dr. Alice Krippin: Well, the premise is quite simple - um, take something designed by nature and reprogram it to make it work for the body rather than against it.
TV Personality: You're talking about a virus?
Dr. Alice Krippin: Indeed, yes. In this case the measles, um, virus which has been engineered at a genetic level to be helpful rather than harmful. Um, I find the best way to describe it is if you can... if you can imagine your body as a highway, and you picture the virus as a very fast car, um, being driven by a very bad man. Imagine the damage that car can cause. Then if you replace that man with a cop... the picture changes. And that's essentially what we've done.
TV Personality: And how many people have you treated so far?
Dr. Alice Krippin: Well, we've had ten thousand and nine clinical trials in humans so far.
TV Personality: And how many are cancer-free?
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Soundtrack:

Stir It Up

Unnecessary use of CGI.

I haven't read the book or seen any of the earlier movies based on it, so I didn't really know what to expect when I first sat down to watch this. The only thing I knew was what had been hinted in the trailers.

The first half of the movie is pretty good. The decaying city is beautifully visualized and it works great as kind of a supporting actor, in a movie that has very few. I'm a huge fan of post apocalyptic sci-fi stories, and because of that I do recommend anyone to watch the first half of this film solely because of the city.

The second half, on the other hand, is what makes this nothing but another ridiculous Hollywood-effect-shitfest.

As soon as the infected "monsters" show up in all their CGI glory, ALL the tension and suspense which has been greatly built up until this point, is immediately flushed down the drain.

WHY did they use CGI to create these creatures??

I can't help to imagine what this movie would have been like if they would have used real actors and makeup instead of these ridiculous computer generated humans. THAT would have been scary. The way they look now is just incredibly stupid and laughable, and it truly makes it difficult to take this film serious.

It's pretty obvious that Hollywood is under the impression that they can't sell a big movie without CGI. This is just stupid!! The way it is used to create the deserted city is exactly how it's supposed to be used. To create things/images that otherwise couldn't be created. But WHY, WHY, WHY would anyone choose to create CGI humans in a world full of actors and makeup artists!!?? Is it because it looks cooler/scarier? Well, it doesn't! It looks stupid!

As far as story goes, I would have wanted/needed at least another hour to feel even slightly satisfied. It feels as if they rushed the story and/or left things out in favor of action and effect shots.

Overall this movie had a lot of potential but sadly blew it big time.