My Thoughts About "I Am Legend"...
"I Am Legend"
Starring Will Smith
Non-Spoiler synopsis
"I Am Legend" is the story of a man who is alone in New York after an apocalyptic plague kills 90% of the world's population and turns the remaining 10% into semi-vampiric zombies. Despite the very "Blade II"-esque bad guys, his struggles are remarkably similar to the struggles of Tom Hanks' characters in both "Castaway" and "The Terminal." Food is not as desperate as in "Castaway," but Smith has to deal with a lack of human contact and the ensuing trend toward insanity. This particular problem is compounded by the fact that his current situation is a little bit insane. As Wilson the Volleyball is for Hanks, Smith's one anchor in all of this is his trusty companion, Sam, the German Shepherd that his daughter gave to him before she and his wife reluctantly evacuated from Manhattan Island leaving him there to "fix it."
Themes, Ethics, and appropriate audience
Most importantly, there is almost no foul language, there is no sexual content at all, there's no drug use, no smoking, and only cursory alcohol (Smith has a beer at dinner). The creatures could be very disturbing to young children, and someone who is especially sensitive might consider the rags that remain on their bodies to constitute "mild nudity," but even in that sense, it is difficult to say that this is a serious component of the movie and it is not used in a lewd, sexual or commentary way. The violence that is depicted is well handled and although the creatures are quite brutal, the movie neither dwells on the violence nor goes out of its way to show more than is necessary to get the point across. In a generation that has produced "Saving Private Ryan," "300," "We Were Soldiers," "Saw," and "See No Evil" I would classify the violence in this movie as mild. The gore is less significant than the "Die Hard" movies and probably on par with the first "Terminator." Most adults will not be offended, but I would not recommend this movie for children under 12, because of the chaotic violence and one or two VERY tense situations.
Even though I mention terror, this was neither a horror movie nor a zombie movie nor an action movie. This is a movie in which we as viewers are able to examine the motivation of a man who is trying to do the right thing, and the effects of long-term isolation. This movie also makes some comments about God and about His desire to use us and help us, even if we don't acknowledge Him at first. Though I cannot classify this movie as having a solidly Biblical theology, it doesn't pretend to, and it isn't something that couldn't be resolved with the Bible. The theology is fairly generic and it's not discussed in depth, but it at least points in the same direction as the Bible does, especially when Smith's family prays together over a meal and when they are separated by evacuation. Unfortunately, they don't specifically mention the Name of Christ, but they do pray to God and they end the prayer "...in Your name, Amen." Although I say that the theology is fairly generic, the theology is far more important to the story than in other movies, and the theology is far more similar to Biblical theology than most other movies. The ethics that are supported by Will Smith's character are definitely something that Christians can get behind. Smith's character demonstrates the desirability of faithfulness, dedication, perseverance, thoughtfulness, education, putting the welfare of the many above the welfare of the few, self-sacrifice, loyalty, and undying hope. To put it clearly, "I Am Legend" doesn't give the plan of salvation, but it presents a world view that Christians can certainly get behind.
Technical evaluation
(this includes information that will spoil the ending)
Writing
One of the most interesting aspects of this movie is the way that the story is told. Most of the people I've talked to about this movie were confused by a lack of information. Why does he have to stay in Manhattan? How was he connected to the KV virus? We don't get all the information right away and to some questions we never get an answer. There are many situations that are a little bit confusing until they are clarified by a corresponding flashback. While some viewers might be unsettled by this confusion and out-of-sequence information, I found it to be a clever additive to the overall purpose of the movie. The reason that we're wondering "what does he have to do with Manhattan?" is because he often wonders the same thing. In fact, we get a glimpse into how difficult this question in particular is for him with the introduction of the new characters, the woman and her son. When she asks him to leave he tells her word-for-word the same thing that he told his wife when she asked why he couldn't evacuate with them. When he asked himself why his family had died and he'd been allowed to live, all he had was that short sentence and his dedication to it, and that's all the information that we have too. Even when he'd forgotten why he made the choice that he did, and even after he'd forgotten what the sentence meant, he clung to that scrap of information and to his own dedication to it. We felt the same confusion that he did. "Legend" is one of the few movies that do a superb job of causing the viewer to become more than merely engrossed in the story. When Smith is lonesome, we feel lonesome with him; when he's confused, we feel confused with him; when he feels sad, we cry with him; when he feels terrified, I felt genuinely terrified. Horror movies will easily make me anxious because I know that they are either going to show something gross that I don't want to see, or something is about to jump out suddenly and give me a cheap scare. "Legend," however, was one of few movies that have made me feel more than merely anxious, but more as if I were in the same place as Smith and were actually in danger.
Acting
Smith's performance was in good form, as is usual for him. My favorite sequence was when he found "Frank" the mannequin out in the middle of the street. If he'd gone berserk, then I would not have believed that he was a real man dealing with real issues; I would have believed that he was just an actor trying to act crazy. On the other hand, he didn't act entirely rationally either. This was a very strange situation in which the viewer has to ask a range of questions including "is he hallucinating? Is this a creature that has learned to put on clothing to avoid the light? Has he finally lost it? Smith is talking to him, so did Smith put him there himself so that he could "rescue" Frank? Is he going to shoot his friend Frank?" On the one hand, Frank may only be a mannequin, but he's also a significant part of Smith's daily life. The misplacement of Frank rocks Smith's world in a way that he doesn't understand and we see that in his eyes and hear it in his voice quite clearly.
I also really appreciated the "conversation" that he has with the female mannequin after Sam dies. These few lines tell us a lot about Smith and what he's been through. Perhaps my favorite line in the movie comes when he asks the female mannequin "Please say 'Hello'." We can so clearly see and hear the grief over the loss of his last friend, and the memory of his family's death, coupled with the insatiable desire that we all have for human companionship, which has been denied to him.
The two dogs that worked together to play Sam did a truly superb job. I can't say that they really acted, but they certainly contributed to the relationship that Smith has with Sam.
Plot Holes
There are a plethora of situations in Legend that should not have been plot holes, but since they weren't handled thoroughly enough, they became holes through a lack of appropriate attention. These situations could still have been left unclear, but they should have at least "hung a lantern on it" so that the viewer knows that there isn't an answer.
Why does Smith flash his tac-light when he goes in after Sam? Wouldn't that attract more attention, as well as completely ruining his night-vision? It's possible that his intention was to reduce the duration of the light so that it might not attract as much attention as a solid beam, but even then, the creatures tend to stay away from light, so I'd imagine that having the light on the whole time would be better. It's also possible that flashing the light was a signal that Sam would recognize so that she would come find him. Since the script didn't address this, it becomes a plot hole, although it is one of the more minor plot holes in the movie.
If the creatures were so hungry, why were they not fighting over the carcass of the deer they had just killed?
Why does Smith inch backward on his butt instead of low-crawling or hobbling? He was obviously making much better speed when he low-crawled for a moment, especially if he'd used his good leg to push. Not to mention, that he did actually hobble to the truck WHILE CARRYING SAM!! If they wanted him to barely make it to the truck like he did, they should have had the truck farther away instead of him moving inexplicably slow.
Why doesn't Smith ever have an "Oh crap!" moment when he realizes that the creatures HAVEN'T lost all human cognitive ability? He makes a "behavioral observation" in his lab notes about how the creatures are now completely devoid of human behavior, but the fact that his observation isn't accurate is never dealt with. The inconsistency is left to fester like a splinter in the story.
Why doesn't a woman who has survived for 3 years realize that she needs to cover her tracks after she picks up Smith? This is possibly because her method of survival has been to run, instead of to hide. It's also possible that she didn't know that the creatures had started coming out slightly before the sun had set, instead of waiting for dusk to pass. Once again, this question isn't dealt with and weakens this critical deus ex machina.
Why is the Alpha Male so interested in Smith? If you look closely at the credits, there are entries for "Alpha Male" and "Alpha Female," which indicates that the Alpha Male was trying to get the Alpha Female back from Smith, but as with many other answers, the viewer isn't pointed in the direction of this answer. It was interesting that the Alpha Male risked the sunlight when Smith set the trap and captured the female, but this was answered in Smith's lab notes when he mentioned a lack of food. If the Alpha Male had been more easily recognizable (a facial scar is an old trick, but it would have helped), then we might have thought "Oh, that's the same guy who yelled at Smith when he caught the female!" In which case, the red herring of food shortage would still have been viable, but we would have had a reason to believe that it was nothing more than a red herring.
Why doesn't Smith throw the grenade and get in with the woman and her son? Everyone should know that all military grenades have a 3-5 second delay fuse. That's plenty of time to throw the grenade through the hole that the Alpha Male had made with his head and get into the fireplace thing. It was obviously an important part of the story that Smith die, but his death needed to be more believable.
CGI
Unfortunately, the CGI leaves much to be desired. Anyone can make something almost real, these days, and the CGI in Legend remains firmly in the "almost" category. For some reason, the creatures just don't look like they were once civilized human beings. Even the one creature the Smith manages to cure still doesn't look real when her skin goes back to normal. She does look slightly better after the cure, so the error may be in the way that my eye expects human skin to look, despite the fact that it's not normal human skin when they're still infected.
Starring Will Smith
Non-Spoiler synopsis
"I Am Legend" is the story of a man who is alone in New York after an apocalyptic plague kills 90% of the world's population and turns the remaining 10% into semi-vampiric zombies. Despite the very "Blade II"-esque bad guys, his struggles are remarkably similar to the struggles of Tom Hanks' characters in both "Castaway" and "The Terminal." Food is not as desperate as in "Castaway," but Smith has to deal with a lack of human contact and the ensuing trend toward insanity. This particular problem is compounded by the fact that his current situation is a little bit insane. As Wilson the Volleyball is for Hanks, Smith's one anchor in all of this is his trusty companion, Sam, the German Shepherd that his daughter gave to him before she and his wife reluctantly evacuated from Manhattan Island leaving him there to "fix it."
Themes, Ethics, and appropriate audience
Most importantly, there is almost no foul language, there is no sexual content at all, there's no drug use, no smoking, and only cursory alcohol (Smith has a beer at dinner). The creatures could be very disturbing to young children, and someone who is especially sensitive might consider the rags that remain on their bodies to constitute "mild nudity," but even in that sense, it is difficult to say that this is a serious component of the movie and it is not used in a lewd, sexual or commentary way. The violence that is depicted is well handled and although the creatures are quite brutal, the movie neither dwells on the violence nor goes out of its way to show more than is necessary to get the point across. In a generation that has produced "Saving Private Ryan," "300," "We Were Soldiers," "Saw," and "See No Evil" I would classify the violence in this movie as mild. The gore is less significant than the "Die Hard" movies and probably on par with the first "Terminator." Most adults will not be offended, but I would not recommend this movie for children under 12, because of the chaotic violence and one or two VERY tense situations.
Even though I mention terror, this was neither a horror movie nor a zombie movie nor an action movie. This is a movie in which we as viewers are able to examine the motivation of a man who is trying to do the right thing, and the effects of long-term isolation. This movie also makes some comments about God and about His desire to use us and help us, even if we don't acknowledge Him at first. Though I cannot classify this movie as having a solidly Biblical theology, it doesn't pretend to, and it isn't something that couldn't be resolved with the Bible. The theology is fairly generic and it's not discussed in depth, but it at least points in the same direction as the Bible does, especially when Smith's family prays together over a meal and when they are separated by evacuation. Unfortunately, they don't specifically mention the Name of Christ, but they do pray to God and they end the prayer "...in Your name, Amen." Although I say that the theology is fairly generic, the theology is far more important to the story than in other movies, and the theology is far more similar to Biblical theology than most other movies. The ethics that are supported by Will Smith's character are definitely something that Christians can get behind. Smith's character demonstrates the desirability of faithfulness, dedication, perseverance, thoughtfulness, education, putting the welfare of the many above the welfare of the few, self-sacrifice, loyalty, and undying hope. To put it clearly, "I Am Legend" doesn't give the plan of salvation, but it presents a world view that Christians can certainly get behind.
Technical evaluation
(this includes information that will spoil the ending)
Writing
One of the most interesting aspects of this movie is the way that the story is told. Most of the people I've talked to about this movie were confused by a lack of information. Why does he have to stay in Manhattan? How was he connected to the KV virus? We don't get all the information right away and to some questions we never get an answer. There are many situations that are a little bit confusing until they are clarified by a corresponding flashback. While some viewers might be unsettled by this confusion and out-of-sequence information, I found it to be a clever additive to the overall purpose of the movie. The reason that we're wondering "what does he have to do with Manhattan?" is because he often wonders the same thing. In fact, we get a glimpse into how difficult this question in particular is for him with the introduction of the new characters, the woman and her son. When she asks him to leave he tells her word-for-word the same thing that he told his wife when she asked why he couldn't evacuate with them. When he asked himself why his family had died and he'd been allowed to live, all he had was that short sentence and his dedication to it, and that's all the information that we have too. Even when he'd forgotten why he made the choice that he did, and even after he'd forgotten what the sentence meant, he clung to that scrap of information and to his own dedication to it. We felt the same confusion that he did. "Legend" is one of the few movies that do a superb job of causing the viewer to become more than merely engrossed in the story. When Smith is lonesome, we feel lonesome with him; when he's confused, we feel confused with him; when he feels sad, we cry with him; when he feels terrified, I felt genuinely terrified. Horror movies will easily make me anxious because I know that they are either going to show something gross that I don't want to see, or something is about to jump out suddenly and give me a cheap scare. "Legend," however, was one of few movies that have made me feel more than merely anxious, but more as if I were in the same place as Smith and were actually in danger.
Acting
Smith's performance was in good form, as is usual for him. My favorite sequence was when he found "Frank" the mannequin out in the middle of the street. If he'd gone berserk, then I would not have believed that he was a real man dealing with real issues; I would have believed that he was just an actor trying to act crazy. On the other hand, he didn't act entirely rationally either. This was a very strange situation in which the viewer has to ask a range of questions including "is he hallucinating? Is this a creature that has learned to put on clothing to avoid the light? Has he finally lost it? Smith is talking to him, so did Smith put him there himself so that he could "rescue" Frank? Is he going to shoot his friend Frank?" On the one hand, Frank may only be a mannequin, but he's also a significant part of Smith's daily life. The misplacement of Frank rocks Smith's world in a way that he doesn't understand and we see that in his eyes and hear it in his voice quite clearly.
I also really appreciated the "conversation" that he has with the female mannequin after Sam dies. These few lines tell us a lot about Smith and what he's been through. Perhaps my favorite line in the movie comes when he asks the female mannequin "Please say 'Hello'." We can so clearly see and hear the grief over the loss of his last friend, and the memory of his family's death, coupled with the insatiable desire that we all have for human companionship, which has been denied to him.
The two dogs that worked together to play Sam did a truly superb job. I can't say that they really acted, but they certainly contributed to the relationship that Smith has with Sam.
Plot Holes
There are a plethora of situations in Legend that should not have been plot holes, but since they weren't handled thoroughly enough, they became holes through a lack of appropriate attention. These situations could still have been left unclear, but they should have at least "hung a lantern on it" so that the viewer knows that there isn't an answer.
Why does Smith flash his tac-light when he goes in after Sam? Wouldn't that attract more attention, as well as completely ruining his night-vision? It's possible that his intention was to reduce the duration of the light so that it might not attract as much attention as a solid beam, but even then, the creatures tend to stay away from light, so I'd imagine that having the light on the whole time would be better. It's also possible that flashing the light was a signal that Sam would recognize so that she would come find him. Since the script didn't address this, it becomes a plot hole, although it is one of the more minor plot holes in the movie.
If the creatures were so hungry, why were they not fighting over the carcass of the deer they had just killed?
Why does Smith inch backward on his butt instead of low-crawling or hobbling? He was obviously making much better speed when he low-crawled for a moment, especially if he'd used his good leg to push. Not to mention, that he did actually hobble to the truck WHILE CARRYING SAM!! If they wanted him to barely make it to the truck like he did, they should have had the truck farther away instead of him moving inexplicably slow.
Why doesn't Smith ever have an "Oh crap!" moment when he realizes that the creatures HAVEN'T lost all human cognitive ability? He makes a "behavioral observation" in his lab notes about how the creatures are now completely devoid of human behavior, but the fact that his observation isn't accurate is never dealt with. The inconsistency is left to fester like a splinter in the story.
Why doesn't a woman who has survived for 3 years realize that she needs to cover her tracks after she picks up Smith? This is possibly because her method of survival has been to run, instead of to hide. It's also possible that she didn't know that the creatures had started coming out slightly before the sun had set, instead of waiting for dusk to pass. Once again, this question isn't dealt with and weakens this critical deus ex machina.
Why is the Alpha Male so interested in Smith? If you look closely at the credits, there are entries for "Alpha Male" and "Alpha Female," which indicates that the Alpha Male was trying to get the Alpha Female back from Smith, but as with many other answers, the viewer isn't pointed in the direction of this answer. It was interesting that the Alpha Male risked the sunlight when Smith set the trap and captured the female, but this was answered in Smith's lab notes when he mentioned a lack of food. If the Alpha Male had been more easily recognizable (a facial scar is an old trick, but it would have helped), then we might have thought "Oh, that's the same guy who yelled at Smith when he caught the female!" In which case, the red herring of food shortage would still have been viable, but we would have had a reason to believe that it was nothing more than a red herring.
Why doesn't Smith throw the grenade and get in with the woman and her son? Everyone should know that all military grenades have a 3-5 second delay fuse. That's plenty of time to throw the grenade through the hole that the Alpha Male had made with his head and get into the fireplace thing. It was obviously an important part of the story that Smith die, but his death needed to be more believable.
CGI
Unfortunately, the CGI leaves much to be desired. Anyone can make something almost real, these days, and the CGI in Legend remains firmly in the "almost" category. For some reason, the creatures just don't look like they were once civilized human beings. Even the one creature the Smith manages to cure still doesn't look real when her skin goes back to normal. She does look slightly better after the cure, so the error may be in the way that my eye expects human skin to look, despite the fact that it's not normal human skin when they're still infected.
posted by Matt at 12:34
1 Comments:
BTW, I think the lady did not know to cover their tracks because she was living the whole time on a red cross boat isolated from the KV infected humans. It was running out of supplies that forced them to the mainland.
Jacob
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