Thats what I thought too, I think it was intentional and showed that Will Smith's character will always think of them as heartless non-cognitive monsters.
I don't think that's true, I think he kind of figured it out at the end, because he tried to talk them down before pulling the pin. Their humanity wasn't coming back though, they were still too enraged to do more than try to kill what they saw as a threat wrapped in tasty tasty meat. They also had no survival instinct when riled up; they died in squads storming the house and the car. They had enough animal cunning to manage to set the trap and such, but that was it.
I finally got around to watching this. The movie doesn't really share anything with the novel, aside from the basic premise. I liked it for what it was, though I found it a bit irritating that getting 'infected' automatically made your bones to have the consistency of steel, and made you strong enough to rip apart metal.
Bashing through really fucking thick plexiglass in Neville's basement, and gaining entry to the house by ripping open those steel covers he had for windows, not to mention that one bugger punching and ripping his way through the roof. I mean, what the hell?
I was wondering why he never made a failsafe system in his lab that could kill any vampire specimens he had.
It's not like it's hard to do, all you need are some UV lights set up everywhere and with a flick of a switch the whole lab is vampire free.
Wow, I feel like I need to read the book after this.
Intelligence among the zombpires, the boss zombpire looking for his lost love, I missed all of it. To me it was just a very emo zombie movie, and I actually complained that "they put in a boss zombie" since I considered him irrelevant to the plot (sort of like in land of the dead). Definitely the most interesting zombie movie I have seen, I had a few complaints like the fact that he didn't have a single truly zombie proof place in his home, that he killed his dog instead of keeping it alive to try to cure it, but I have come to accept that kind of thing in most movies I see.
Wow, I feel like I need to read the book after this.
Intelligence among the zombpires, the boss zombpire looking for his lost love, I missed all of it. To me it was just a very emo zombie movie, and I actually complained that "they put in a boss zombie" since I considered him irrelevant to the plot (sort of like in land of the dead). Definitely the most interesting zombie movie I have seen, I had a few complaints like the fact that he didn't have a single truly zombie proof place in his home,
On security:
I went back and forth on this one. His home actually was reasonably zombie-proof, it probably would have held up to an attack by multiple zombies. Unfortunately, I'm not sure just how possible it is for one man to create a space (that he will come and go from) that can withstand an attack from those kinds of numbers. For instance, you can have all the UV lights you want, but if enough of them work to destroy them and they're willing to take losses they will still get through and win.
that he killed his dog instead of keeping it alive to try to cure it, but I have come to accept that kind of thing in most movies I see.
On Sam:
Another thing that at first bothered me, but eventually I explained to myself. He has no idea if being infected "hurts," if the victim remembers that pain even if he does cure it, and if he will ever cure it. Given that, I'm not so sure he'd have wanted to do that to Sam.
Wow, I feel like I need to read the book after this.
Intelligence among the zombpires, the boss zombpire looking for his lost love, I missed all of it. To me it was just a very emo zombie movie, and I actually complained that "they put in a boss zombie" since I considered him irrelevant to the plot (sort of like in land of the dead). Definitely the most interesting zombie movie I have seen, I had a few complaints like the fact that he didn't have a single truly zombie proof place in his home, that he killed his dog instead of keeping it alive to try to cure it, but I have come to accept that kind of thing in most movies I see.
about a week after seeing this twice I rented 'The Omega Man' on one hand it makes I am Legend seem pretty damn good. Though You have to love how great Heston pulls of the 'guy going insane because he has noone to talk to' angle. Better than Will Smith IMO, but that's about probly the only edge I'd give omega man over Legend
It also didn't occur to me until seeing I am legend a second time that the scene with Smith reciting shrek is pretty similar to the woodstock scene in The Omega Man
Speaking of the trap, there was no real reason Neville should have gotten away at all. Sure, they took out the dogs, but there was nothing stopping the zombie that sent them. He could have waltzed right out and killed them both.
But, you usually have to let go of logic to an extent with movies.
It's scarier that the Leader Zombie didn't go out and just kill Neville himself because it shows just how much more intelligent he is than Neville thought they were.
There's also a newspaper clipping or something like that visible at some point that points out the zombie dogs can go out at dusk, while the zombie master had to wait until night to go out
Wow, I feel like I need to read the book after this.
Intelligence among the zombpires, the boss zombpire looking for his lost love, I missed all of it. To me it was just a very emo zombie movie, and I actually complained that "they put in a boss zombie" since I considered him irrelevant to the plot (sort of like in land of the dead). Definitely the most interesting zombie movie I have seen, I had a few complaints like the fact that he didn't have a single truly zombie proof place in his home,
On security:
I went back and forth on this one. His home actually was reasonably zombie-proof, it probably would have held up to an attack by multiple zombies. Unfortunately, I'm not sure just how possible it is for one man to create a space (that he will come and go from) that can withstand an attack from those kinds of numbers. For instance, you can have all the UV lights you want, but if enough of them work to destroy them and they're willing to take losses they will still get through and win.
that he killed his dog instead of keeping it alive to try to cure it, but I have come to accept that kind of thing in most movies I see.
On Sam:
Another thing that at first bothered me, but eventually I explained to myself. He has no idea if being infected "hurts," if the victim remembers that pain even if he does cure it, and if he will ever cure it. Given that, I'm not so sure he'd have wanted to do that to Sam.
On both these topics:
As for security, yeah, he had a bunch of UV lights outside, and the zombires toppled them in the swarm. Someone else mentioned the steel shutter being torn by a zombie. I think I said it earlier in the thread, but I was under the impression that debris from the explosion tore through it. It shook the house pretty hard.
For Samantha, he did try his best potential cure. Maybe he could have worked more, but between his injury, the best candidate not doing anything, and the fact that his only/best friend now wants to kill him I don't think he was up for it.
No. The book was a 1954 release so there wasn't much television or whatever to quote along with. Robert did enjoy classical music and a good drink though.
Oh and on the security part
I liked how they showed the vampires taking out his defenses. That was one of the key elements of the book. The vampires always knew where he was and as time wore on they found ways to do more and more damage to his defenses. Every day Robert would have to wake up and repair what they dismantled the previous night while trying to coax him out of his home. I personally thought that was one of the most frightening elements in the story. Not only was he alone all day, but he was surrounded all night.
As far as Sam goes his choice was hardly unreasonable. I'd feel a little it bummed about the fact that I broke my dogs neck a day before I found the cure though.
Security-wise, surely it must have been possible to make a room zombie-proof. Iron-reinforced door in a basement, or really anywhere with solid walls and floor/roof. His outer defences were a nice idea, but rather naive as they were certainly never going to stop the zombpires, only kill a few of them.
As far as Sam goes his choice was hardly unreasonable. I'd feel a little it bummed about the fact that I broke my dogs neck a day before I found the cure though.
Security-wise, surely it must have been possible to make a room zombie-proof. Iron-reinforced door in a basement, or really anywhere with solid walls and floor/roof. His outer defences were a nice idea, but rather naive as they were certainly never going to stop the zombpires, only kill a few of them.
But meh, I am nitpicking.
Again about his defenses.
I don't think he ever intended on having a large scale invasion of his residence. Or at least he knew from what he saw during the initial outbreak that his home would be unable to sustain a full force attack. I guess we're also to assume that the vampires would have continued throughout the night attacking from all angles. So he could take a few wanderers out but the entire pack was more than his defenses could ever manage. As we saw the vampires were actually ripping through the foundation of his home. So while the defenses on obvious targets were nice, he'd need an entire home made of steel.
Wow, I feel like I need to read the book after this.
Intelligence among the zombpires, the boss zombpire looking for his lost love, I missed all of it. To me it was just a very emo zombie movie, and I actually complained that "they put in a boss zombie" since I considered him irrelevant to the plot (sort of like in land of the dead). Definitely the most interesting zombie movie I have seen, I had a few complaints like the fact that he didn't have a single truly zombie proof place in his home,
On security:
I went back and forth on this one. His home actually was reasonably zombie-proof, it probably would have held up to an attack by multiple zombies. Unfortunately, I'm not sure just how possible it is for one man to create a space (that he will come and go from) that can withstand an attack from those kinds of numbers. For instance, you can have all the UV lights you want, but if enough of them work to destroy them and they're willing to take losses they will still get through and win.
that he killed his dog instead of keeping it alive to try to cure it, but I have come to accept that kind of thing in most movies I see.
On Sam:
Another thing that at first bothered me, but eventually I explained to myself. He has no idea if being infected "hurts," if the victim remembers that pain even if he does cure it, and if he will ever cure it. Given that, I'm not so sure he'd have wanted to do that to Sam.
On both these topics:
As for security, yeah, he had a bunch of UV lights outside, and the zombires toppled them in the swarm. Someone else mentioned the steel shutter being torn by a zombie. I think I said it earlier in the thread, but I was under the impression that debris from the explosion tore through it. It shook the house pretty hard.
For Samantha, he did try his best potential cure. Maybe he could have worked more, but between his injury, the best candidate not doing anything, and the fact that his only/best friend now wants to kill him I don't think he was up for it.
Re: Defenses
IIRC the steel shutters had been bent at the middle, and there were bloody handprints at those places, as if they'd been forced open. Also, the guy breaking the roof with his bare hands? The lead zombie breaking through the thick plexiglass with his face, without breaking the his bones? The creatures in the movie wouldn't need to be so far physically superior in order to be scary. The creepiness and superior numbers alone would've done the trick. Although, then they might've had to forgo the feel-good ending and use the one from the book.
IIRC the steel shutters had been bent at the middle, and there were bloody handprints at those places, as if they'd been forced open. Also, the guy breaking the roof with his bare hands? The lead zombie breaking through the thick plexiglass with his face, without breaking the his bones? The creatures in the movie wouldn't need to be so far physically superior in order to be scary. The creepiness and superior numbers alone would've done the trick. Although, then they might've had to forgo the feel-good ending and use the one from the book.
Hmmm, I hadn't noticed the handprints. I'd just figured the explosion had torn some of it and the zombires had finished the job and cut themselves doing so. You're right about breaking the plexiglass. They should have started hitting it with steel bars or something. You know, show a little tool use/intelligence.
I couldn't help wondering what an MMO based on I Am Legend would be like. You'd be one of the Immune, of course. There could be a time cycle, in the day you hunt Lions and Deer and such, and at night the OHMYGODTOUGH monsters come out. It's stupid, I know, it could -never- work fully. I just think it'd be interesting to walk around an overgrown New York, some of that foliage was simply stunning.
On Sam:
I think that for Neville, killing Sam was something he'd planned out. He knew she wasn't totally immune, and he mos likely had a plan of action on what to do in case she was infected.
I couldn't help wondering what an MMO based on I Am Legend would be like. You'd be one of the Immune, of course. There could be a time cycle, in the day you hunt Lions and Deer and such, and at night the OHMYGODTOUGH monsters come out. It's stupid, I know, it could -never- work fully. I just think it'd be interesting to walk around an overgrown New York, some of that foliage was simply stunning.
On Sam:
I think that for Neville, killing Sam was something he'd planned out. He knew she wasn't totally immune, and he mos likely had a plan of action on what to do in case she was infected.
It would make a better single-player game than MMO, but you might have something there.
I couldn't help wondering what an MMO based on I Am Legend would be like. You'd be one of the Immune, of course. There could be a time cycle, in the day you hunt Lions and Deer and such, and at night the OHMYGODTOUGH monsters come out. It's stupid, I know, it could -never- work fully. I just think it'd be interesting to walk around an overgrown New York, some of that foliage was simply stunning.
On Sam:
I think that for Neville, killing Sam was something he'd planned out. He knew she wasn't totally immune, and he mos likely had a plan of action on what to do in case she was infected.
It would make a better single-player game than MMO, but you might have something there.
It could be a great MMO if the players were the Infected.
Well, I was thinking that if players were Infected, there'd be a sort of shift in power towards those players, the Immune could have guns, but that doesn't help much.
If th concept was adapted to a single player game, an open world and combat sysem similar to GTA would be fun, I'm not saying you pick up Zombpire hookers, but, there'd be the third person camera and the ease of lots of diffrent combat styles.
Well, not in this particular setting, but I do agree that a zombie apocalypse MMO would be great.
The key in that sort of game would have to be the ability to be killed or become a zombie at some point without losing character progress.
Basically set it up so that you don't lose XP, gear value, or quest completion status if your character dies. You immediately get to make a new character with similar power levels whose first quest is to snag your old character's journal (and maybe gear) and therefore take over his/her quest progress. The dead character could then possibly become a zombie (and fulfill the PvP requirement nicely).
By making characters mortal without penalizing the player, I think there would be a lot of unique MMO potential.
I couldn't help wondering what an MMO based on I Am Legend would be like. You'd be one of the Immune, of course. There could be a time cycle, in the day you hunt Lions and Deer and such, and at night the OHMYGODTOUGH monsters come out. It's stupid, I know, it could -never- work fully. I just think it'd be interesting to walk around an overgrown New York, some of that foliage was simply stunning.
On Sam:
I think that for Neville, killing Sam was something he'd planned out. He knew she wasn't totally immune, and he mos likely had a plan of action on what to do in case she was infected.
It would make a better single-player game than MMO, but you might have something there.
It could be a great MMO if the players were the Infected.
Sorry to necropost here, but I just wanted to say to anyone who hasn't seen the alt version to at least rent it. It is amazing how changing 10 minutes can completely change the entire tone and turn it from an utter piece of shit into a decent movie.
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HedgethornAssociate Professor of Historical Hobby HorsesIn the Lions' DenRegistered Userregular
edited April 2008
Do you care to spoiler the alternate version, or at least hint at what has changed? I want to know roughly what new material I'm getting for the $4 rental.
The mutants don't completely wreck the place after breaking into the house; Rather, the lead mutant (Who was seen once when Neville captures one of the females, and later when he releases dogs to attack after the trap has been sprung) approaches the glass and smears a butterfly pattern onto the wall.
Neville realizes what they've come for, and he turns over the female. The horde of mutants then leave quietly, and Neville and the others get to the car and drive away, and an alternate version of Neville's transmission is heard as their vehicle is seen driving off.
In the alternate version, the mutants don't completely wreck the place after breaking into the house; Rather, the lead mutant (Who was seen once when Neville captures one of the females, and later when he releases dogs to attack after the trap has been sprung) approaches the glass and smears a butterfly pattern onto the wall.
Neville realizes what they've come for, and he turns over the female. The horde of mutants then leave quietly, and Neville and the others get to the car and drive away, and an alternate version of Neville's transmission is heard as their vehicle is seen driving off.
The presentation and music of it was pretty impressive, and it actually played on the signs of intelligence that one of the mutants had exhibited earlier, as opposed to them simply running rampant and acting like mindless animals.
There were also several little bits during the movie that basically hinted that the monsters were intelligent and that Neville was basically murdering them that were cut in the theatrical version. When you watch it all together it makes a lot more sense than the original cut, as you can see various things that are building up to that theme.
For example:
Neville's bulletin board with all the faces of the zombies he's tried the cure on. When the girl first comes to his house, she looks over it with a holy shit look on her face, and says "so all of them died?". Later, when Neville is handing over the female zombie, he looks back at the wall with an "oh shit what have I done" look.
Despite all of that, I feel like it's a little hard to empathize that much, as the infected did sort of eat the rest of the immune population.
Also, I am angry because I bought I Am Legend on DVD and didn't realize it was the version with the alternate ending. :x
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MichaelLCIn what furnace was thy brain?ChicagoRegistered Userregular
edited April 2008
About the mutants being intelligent, I was annoyed at Neville when he was talking about the alpha mutant who looked at Neville when he bagged the girl.
Neville said something about, "Lost all signs of humanity, just animals now" To me, willing to risk yourself (the mutant) to see your attacker (Neville) is proof of intelligence.
Despite all of that, I feel like it's a little hard to empathize that much, as the infected did sort of eat the rest of the immune population.
Also, I am angry because I bought I Am Legend on DVD and didn't realize it was the version with the alternate ending. :x
Well, that's the thing, we never actually see the infected eat or attack anyone aside from Neville, and Neville has been on Manhattan since the outbreak of the plague (which had all the uninfected evacuated from it). So how much of the story he told is actually true and how much is just his perception of things is certainly up to question. The woman certainly believes there are packets of uninfected left around, and being that she's been driving around outside the city for a while rather than just sitting around on an island she has more credibility in that matter than Neville does.
Also, any version with the alternate ending should either have the original on disc (blu-ray) or on a separate disc in the package, the theatre version was the only one released as a single package. Unless you meant you got the version without the alternate ending.
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VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
edited April 2008
the alternate ending is FAR worse than the original. it makes no sense at all.
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It was him they were really after, not the other two. They would have kept coming if they knew he was still alive. At least that's what I tell myself.
It's not like it's hard to do, all you need are some UV lights set up everywhere and with a flick of a switch the whole lab is vampire free.
But I guess he had to go all Jesus on us.
On security:
On Sam:
Read the book. It's a very different story.
It also didn't occur to me until seeing I am legend a second time that the scene with Smith reciting shrek is pretty similar to the woodstock scene in The Omega Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJsK5fq5xWA
was there a scene like that in the book too?
There's also a newspaper clipping or something like that visible at some point that points out the zombie dogs can go out at dusk, while the zombie master had to wait until night to go out
For Samantha, he did try his best potential cure. Maybe he could have worked more, but between his injury, the best candidate not doing anything, and the fact that his only/best friend now wants to kill him I don't think he was up for it.
As a film without any regard for the source material it's a pretty good movie.
No. The book was a 1954 release so there wasn't much television or whatever to quote along with. Robert did enjoy classical music and a good drink though.
Oh and on the security part
I like that the meaning of the title is the exact opposite in the book to the movie meaning.
the trap:
the end:
I was impressed by big Willy's acting. The scene where he went after sam but was to afraid to call her was perfectly executed.
https://medium.com/@alascii
Security-wise, surely it must have been possible to make a room zombie-proof. Iron-reinforced door in a basement, or really anywhere with solid walls and floor/roof. His outer defences were a nice idea, but rather naive as they were certainly never going to stop the zombpires, only kill a few of them.
But meh, I am nitpicking.
Again about his defenses.
Re: Defenses
On Sam:
It would make a better single-player game than MMO, but you might have something there.
It could be a great MMO if the players were the Infected.
One of the laws of physics. Or if it is not, it should be.
If th concept was adapted to a single player game, an open world and combat sysem similar to GTA would be fun, I'm not saying you pick up Zombpire hookers, but, there'd be the third person camera and the ease of lots of diffrent combat styles.
The key in that sort of game would have to be the ability to be killed or become a zombie at some point without losing character progress.
Basically set it up so that you don't lose XP, gear value, or quest completion status if your character dies. You immediately get to make a new character with similar power levels whose first quest is to snag your old character's journal (and maybe gear) and therefore take over his/her quest progress. The dead character could then possibly become a zombie (and fulfill the PvP requirement nicely).
By making characters mortal without penalizing the player, I think there would be a lot of unique MMO potential.
As far as we know, he only used traps to capture test subjects. He didn't go around setting random traps.
Stubbs Online?
Neville realizes what they've come for, and he turns over the female. The horde of mutants then leave quietly, and Neville and the others get to the car and drive away, and an alternate version of Neville's transmission is heard as their vehicle is seen driving off.
That is still pretty horrible.
The presentation and music of it was pretty impressive, and it actually played on the signs of intelligence that one of the mutants had exhibited earlier, as opposed to them simply running rampant and acting like mindless animals.
For example:
Also, I am angry because I bought I Am Legend on DVD and didn't realize it was the version with the alternate ending. :x
Neville said something about, "Lost all signs of humanity, just animals now" To me, willing to risk yourself (the mutant) to see your attacker (Neville) is proof of intelligence.
Also, any version with the alternate ending should either have the original on disc (blu-ray) or on a separate disc in the package, the theatre version was the only one released as a single package. Unless you meant you got the version without the alternate ending.
that, at all, did not work for me.
ultimately it doesn't really matter, I love the movie and bought the movie for the first half or so... after that it becomes a lot less interesting.