Ratings:
*Acting: 4 out of 5 brains
*Writing/Dialogue: 5 out of 5 brains
*Make-up/Gore: 4 out of 5 brains
*Special Effects: 3.5 out of 5 brains
*Set Designs: 5 out of 5 brains
*Overall Rating: 4.25 out of 5 brains
*Average Rating: 4.3 out of 5 brains
Introduction:
I Am Legend is a
post-apocalyptic film that was directed by Francis Lawrence and released in
2007. I Am Legend is not your typical
zombie movie; some may argue that is not a zombie movie at all! There are no
zombies searching to eat your brains out and scaring the rest of the city.
Instead, just like we have seen in 28
Days Later, an epidemic occurs. In I
Am Legend, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville, lives isolated in New York
City. All of the citizens of the city had left or died and he remained
searching for a cure to the virus that infected the whole city. This relates to
what we watched in 28 Days Later,
when Jim woke up alone in the hospital to find all of London isolated and dead.
You decide: Do you think I Am Legend should
be called a zombie film?
Plot Synopsis:
I Am Legend, begins by showing Robert driving around desolate NYC
with his companion (dog), Sam. Robert is searching NYC for signs of life and to
observe how the virus has affected the hosts and the city. The film continues
on, showing Robert’s daily life and routine scouring the whole city for
answers. There are also flashbacks included that show the chaos that occurred when
everyone was evacuating the city. We are also able to see Robert’s wife and
daughter and how they were able to evacuate. As his wife and daughter were
evacuating, their helicopter ended up crashing and they were killed. These memories
continued to haunt Robert throughout the film. This event fueled his fire for
his research on finding a cure for the virus. Eventually, Robert finds what is
known as a “hive,” where the infected hosts reside. He used this location to
his advantage to set up a trap to capture a female host. Once she is captured,
a male host known as the “Alpha Male,” emerged from the building to see Robert
with the female host. The next day, Robert sees one of the mannequins from the
video store in front of Grand Central Station. As he comes closer to it, he is
ensnared in a trap. Being ensnared in a trap showed Robert that the infected
hosts are intelligent. During his escape from the trap, Sam, was bitten by an
infected creature. Robert knew Sam would later become infected with the virus,
so he is forced to strangle her to death. As the film continues on, a woman and
young boy (Anna and Ethan), find Robert. Robert shares with Anna his idea for a
cure and she wants to help. Robert then discovers his last attempt at a
treatment, worked. He found the cure! Unfortunately, a group of the infected
followed Anna and Ethan to Robert’s house and attack. Robert is able to shut
Anna and Ethan in a coal chute and then takes a grenade on the infected people
and kills himself in the process. The movie concludes with Anna and Ethan
making it to a refugee camp greeting the military officers with the cure.
Overall Thoughts and Ratings:
Overall, I think the film was really good. I really enjoyed how
the movie played out and how the script was written. It was easy to connect to
Robert and how he was able to bounce back from all of the chaos and despair
that occurred in his life, to be able to be so determined to find a cure. The
make-up that the infected hosts had was done very well and made them different
from the typical rotting zombie. They do not look like they are rotting; they
look like translucent humans ready to feast on the next human that they meet. I
really enjoyed the set designs throughout the film and how the director was
able to create a post-apocalyptic NYC. Showing how desolate and run down the
cars and buildings looked really helped the viewer believe just how the
apocalypse can affect a city.
Concluding Thoughts and Ideas:
I Am Legend was
very different compared to the films that we have watched in class. It really
embodied the idea of the isolation that comes with the apocalypse. In the film,
we are able to see Robert develop his new norm of life in isolation. In
previous films that we have watched in class: Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later; we see
how the characters adapt to this new isolation that they find in the cities
that they live in. Within each of these three movies, characters band together
as the apocalypse takes over and they have to make their way through the movie
adapting to this new way of life which resembled what Robert accomplished in I Am Legend. I believe that I Am Legend closely resembles 28 Days Later, because both movies do
not include the stereotypical zombies. They include a different breed of zombie
that occurred from the viruses that affected the cities in the films. In my
opinion, I think this movie does embody a certain type of zombie canon. One may
disagree with me since the zombies in the film were not searching for brains
and that they were also intelligent. I think that this film embodies a new type
of zombie since the infected hosts were dead and were searching to kill humans.
They embody the generalization of zombies just not the stereotypes.
Movie Information:
I watched the film through Amazon Prime, so unfortunately I
paid $3.99 for it; but, it was worth it!
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