Hey I'm Charl. I also write on dooyoo as Charby, so please read my reviews there too if you're a mem...
Hey I'm Charl. I also write on dooyoo as Charby, so please read my reviews there too if you're a member. Thanks for all rates and comments, and I try to return rates when I have the time.
Member since:01.03.2006
Reviews:81
Members who trust:28
Since I am home from University for a few days, my parents sent me to town the other day to buy the new series of House, as we are all obsessed with it and watch it together. Unfortunately, since the closure of Zavvi and Woolworths, there is only one shop in Newcastle that seems to sell House, and that is HMV. This normally wouldn't be a problem, since I buy most of my CDs and DVDs from this store anyway, but on this occasion it was highly annoying, as House Season 4 cost a shocking £35 and I had no other places to buy it cheaper. I instead decided to look for something else to buy, and stumbled upon HMV's current 4 DVDs for £20 offer, which had a surprisingly impressive array of movies to choose from. I picked up a handful of about 10 films, all of which I would be delighted to own, but after consulting my mother, I finally only bought four, one of which was I Am Legend. I wasn't overly happy about this, as it had never been a film that I had wanted to see, since all the trailers that I had seen last year
when it was on at the pictures made it look terrifying, and I'm not a fan of scary movies. I changed my mind, however, when I sat down to watch it with my parents last night, and absolutely loved it.
It is the year 2009, and Dr Alice Krippin (Emma Thompson) has achieved what scientists have been attempting for years: discover a cure for cancer. The cure is made by genetically altering the measles virus so that it does good rather than bad, and in clinical trials has had a 100% success rate. Unfortunately, the viral cure does have one pretty serious side effect: the virus mutates and causes all those infected by it to turn into mutant zombie vampire creatures, or to drop down dead. New York City is the virus's Ground Zero, and so the city evacuates all of the citizens who have not yet been infected. Only one man stays behind: Dr Robert Neville (Will Smith), a virologist, who makes it his life's work to find a cure for this disease and restore mankind to normal.
The first thing that must be said about this film is that the acting is outstanding, and by the acting, I mean Will Smith's acting, as I Am Legend is essentially a one man show. Robert Neville spends many years in the city, alone but for his dog Sam. Will Smith plays the character of a man slowly going mad with loneliness very well, and is always believable as a man who has lost everything but his drive to cure the half-humans of their mutated disease. Despite the cast list for the movie being fairly long, Will Smith is the only actor who is in every scene but one, and in most of these he is completely alone. Most of the rest of the cast is made of up the mutant humans, who are physically powerful and terrifying creatures, though these actors play their parts well enough.
Another thing that has to be commented on about this film is the extraordinary special effects. I was amazed to see Smith in a completely deserted Manhattan, with grass growing through the pavements, and deer and lions running riot through the city, as it all looked so realistic. The CGI used on the mutant humans is also very impressive, as whereas they still are technically humans and are played by them, their skin is grey and scaly and their faces are terrifyingly different, yet due to the good special effects they still look realistic and believable. The CGI used in this film made I Am Legend cinematically and visually fantastic, and although I enjoyed watching it on DVD I wish that I had gotten to see it at the cinema.
In conclusion, this film is absolutely brilliant and I would highly recommend it. Although I wasn't keen on watching it as I thought that it would be very scary, I found that while it was horrific in certain scenes, the rest of the time it had more of an action drama feel, and was more intense and exciting than it was scary. This film is a 15, and I reckon that anybody over that age would be fine with watching this, as would some people who are younger and can cope with a bit of fear in a film. I adored this film, and since I managed to get it for only £4.50 as part of the 4 for £20 offer and with 10% student discount, it definitely is fantastic value for a fantastic film.
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It seems strange to find a 1954 vampire novel in Millennium's "SF Masterworks" classic ... more
reprints series.I Am Legend, though, was a trailblazing and later much imitated story that reinvented the vampire myth as SF. Without losing the horror, it present...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
It seems strange to find a 1954 vampire novel in Millennium's "SF Masterworks" classic ... more
reprints series. I Am Legend, though, was a trailblazing and later much imitated story that reinvented the vampire myth as SF. Without losing the horror, it presen...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
It seems strange to find a 1954 vampire novel in Millennium's "SF Masterworks" classic ... more
reprints series.I Am Legend, though, was a trailblazing and later much imitated story that reinvented the vampire myth as SF. Without losing the horror, it present...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
It seems strange to find a 1954 vampire novel in Millennium's "SF Masterworks" classic ... more
reprints series. I Am Legend, though, was a trailblazing and later much imitated story that reinvented the vampire myth as SF. Without losing the horror, it presen...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
It seems strange to find a 1954 vampire novel in Millennium's "SF Masterworks" classic ... more
reprints series.I Am Legend, though, was a trailblazing and later much imitated story that reinvented the vampire myth as SF. Without losing the horror, it present...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Mar 12th, 2009
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