I knew it.
Warning: Do not read this if you intend to watch I Am Legend. I put off watching I Am Legend because anyone could tell just by looking at the poster that something terrible would happen to the dog. I could bear to see Will Smith die onscreen, even if it’s impossible to dislike Will Smith or wish him ill, but I cannot watch an animal come to a tragic end. Omegaman, the earlier film adaptation of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, was constantly showing on TV when I was a kid, but I don’t recall if there was a dog there; all I remember is a scene in which Charlton Heston is chopping and frying onions. (My childhood memories are littered with Charlton Heston movies—Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, and during Lent, The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur; it was as if movies were legally compelled to cast Heston as the savior.)
But I read a good review of I Am Legend, and I figured that if there’s anyone who can carry a movie all by himself (besides Russell Crowe) it’s Big Willie. Besides, it was time for my first trip to the cinema in 2008. Never mind that I’ve yet to see a movie written by Akiva Goldsman that didn’t make me want to throw things at the screen.
I Am Legend is not exactly terrible, just flat—like a can of Coke that’s been opened and left on a table for hours. No fizz. Will could make it on sheer presence, but he works hard and is effective at conveying the loneliness and terror of a man who’s been alone way too long. But director Francis Lawrence and screenwriter Goldsman fail to give the material shape or rhythm; the fate of humanity is at stake, and we don’t feel a thing. The scenes of an empty New York City with deer running alongside cars abandoned on the streets and Times Square choked with weeds are impressive, but not nearly as eerie as the sight of empty London streets in 28 Days Later. When the monsters attack it’s not even scary. Then suddenly it’s over and you can hear the audience go, “Eh?”
And my worst fear was realized. Sabi ko na nga ba eh.
I decided that if I were the last person in New York, my cats and I would hole up at the Metropolitan Museum.
David Markson has a novel called Wittgenstein’s Mistress in which the narrator believes she is the last person on earth.
“In the beginning, sometimes I left messages in the street. Somebody is living in the Louvre, certain of the messages would say. Or in the National Gallery. Naturally they could only say that when I was in Paris or in London. Somebody is living in the Metropolitan Museum, being what they would say when I was still in New York. Nobody came, of course. Eventually I stopped leaving the messages.”
My favorite apocalyptic tale involving a boy and a dog is Harlan Ellison’s A Boy And His Dog. It was made into a movie with Don Johnson, which I’ve never seen, which I’m told is a good thing.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
January 13th, 2008 at 03:04
talaga
u did not like the movie
i thought it was not bad, pero yah i agree with you na sa ibang scene ung emotions mo heightened tapos ganun lang pala
but, kakatakot talaga ah!
dami na pirated, malinaw pa!
January 13th, 2008 at 05:27
Yeah, watched it. Good thing, i didn’t fall bait to IMAX theatre for 400 bucks just to see Sam, the dog, experiencing mercy killing. By the way, i came 8:15pm, from which the movie has already started 15 minutes ago. Sometimes, time would save you from major disappointment.
So, I was able to watch it at SM Megamall. On time. And well, there was Sam (again, i’m so used to my name being used in Hollywood flicks time and time again, they love the name for the movies)…Will’s dog.
Remember I commented on the post “When was the last time you cry at the movies?” Yes, i cry when a dog, a cat, or any animal dies or get victimized. With the human lead, the scriptwriter could do anything to him/her. I always say, that’s his/her fate.
I knew, from the very beginning that something would happen to Sam. I don’t want to remember that part. Coz right after that incident, i saw Sam again as a pup. Made me feel good a bit…and while Will was putting Sam to sleep, he was singing Three Little Birds by Bob Marley. I love that song. I think, most Sams love the song. LOL.
And well, it’s all worth it coz Will Smith died, too. I mean, just fair. “Don’t worry about a thing , ‘Cause ev’ry little thing gonna be alright” Ãœ
January 13th, 2008 at 11:17
Talaga lang? A good review of “I Am Legend”? That movie has been making the rounds in the DVD stalls in Quiapo since early December, about a month prior to its commercial run marketed as DVD copy ‘daw’. Just a wild guess: the ‘reviewer’ is probably one of those ‘dibidi’ (accent on the last syllable) sellers, in an attempt to jack sales up. Alas, the pirated movie buying public just bit into it, at isa na nga ako sa mga ‘nabiktima’ (wow, dibidi copy na, Will Smith movie pa!). I was comfortable with an actor like Mr. Smith solely running about 70% of this movie & he can carry it well though. Then suddenly a nameless female ‘bida’ comes in from nowhere & the plot just plummets like a ball abruptly withheld in mid-air helpless from the pull of gravity. Just down, down, down.
January 13th, 2008 at 14:49
there was no doggie on The Last Man on Earth too (vincent price), the first film adaptation of I Am Legend.
January 13th, 2008 at 20:04
The Omega Man was one of the eeriest movies of my childhoold (of course, along with the Wednesday Night Thriller staples). I remember watching it in the afternoons on channel 9. The white eyes and afros of the fomerly African American ‘Others’ (I vividly remember the girl.). And Charlton Heston jogging through the deserted city streets. Katakot talaga. The last good reincarnation of this theme is still 28 Days Later (‘What were they infected with? Rage… Nayko!).
January 14th, 2008 at 03:23
I HATE WILL SMITH!!!!!
January 15th, 2008 at 07:22
I was with a bunch of co-workers when I shouted: I’ve watched I am Legend, Terrific! Bravo! Magnificent!
And they asked, what happened? what happened?
And I said, do you really wanna know?
Sure.
Up to the last part?
Go ahead..
WILL SMITH DIED. and they all froze in terror.
January 16th, 2008 at 00:48
awww… the doggy died… that clinches it for me… im not going to watch this movie. I had to put a dog down once because she was sick and couldn’t walk anymore, and i remember sobbing at the vet’s while my dog was staring at me as she passed away… the memory of it still makes me cry.
February 8th, 2008 at 22:15
i have watched a portion of the film on my way to school. I take public transpo and it surprised me why they’re showing the film since it’s still shown in theaters. I was so bitin. Glad you made a review on that, I’m planning to buy the pirated version, and see it myself.
Sorry OMB.