Wow! What an incredible, compelling and intense film! I was blown away by how shockingly good this was, and was especially surprised at how creepy and suspenseful it remained throughout. I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. Francis Lawrence does a phenomenal job with the direction. Everything feels incredibly realistic and the abandoned New York City landscape is unmistakably eerie. And he knows how to establish tension as well, using very little nondiegetic sound and keeping things quiet and low-key - making the scares all the more effective. The production value on this film is just exceptional. However, the reason this film works so well is because of its star - Will Smith. This is one of his best performances ever, the kind of work that would likely garner him an Oscar nomination in any other kind of film project. He brings an incredible amount of depth and soul to the character and makes his mental deterioration fascinating to watch. There is one sequence in particular that is quite heartbreaking - near the end of the film when Smith realizes how alone in the world he really is. Because of the strength of his performance and the stunning direction, this film proves to be a massive success.

A-

---

I'm not going to lie, as a current resident of New York City, I felt a little apprehensive about walking home in the dark after leaving the theater The reaction to the movie was very good overall, and people cheered when various nearby landscapes were shown onscreen. There were also quite a few gasps and screams during the jump sequences.

I read the book, loved it. This is not an adaptation of what I read. They jacked the name and ran to NYC. Besides the name of the lead character there is nothing similar about the two. Huge letdown. C-/D+

Best movie of the year so far. Kind of like a creepy Cast Away. Interesting story, loved all of the tension. Will Smith also gives a great performance. Gotta say, I jumped like 7 times during this movie. It's dang creepy.

Grade: A-

I'm really wondering what the budget was on this, the sets were amazing! The zompires were OK, could have used some better effects though. Not too big of a complaint though.

First hour = very, very good
Last 40 minutes = very, very not good

Pretty much agree with Dark Shape....it goes off the tracks a bit once *spoiler*

Nonetheless it was still better then I was anticipating after the mix reaction, the first 2/3 or so of the film were very well done. Smith did a wonderful job I'd say, hit a lot of different emotions throughout the film convincingly. Had a problem with the last part of the film and how they went with a infected boss type like in a video game, there was no need for that. Still enjoyed it, very solid blockbuster as long as you aren't attached to the book you'll probably enjoy the movie more then you'll dislike it.

Grade - B

BJs Grade:

C-

Starts out great and slowly dies. Never read the book but I have no doubt that it is much better overall. Smiths acting was great though, I expect some buzz around him not sure he'll pick up the nom. though.

Wow I've never seen a BJ post like that before

I think the thing that has me most worried about the film is that all the reviewers refer to it as a zombie flick. I know you're all gonna say "oh, what's the difference" but the realistic approach to the vampires in the book is one of the reasons why it's so great. They're not just generic nocturnal creatures. Oh well.

they are most definitely more like zombies, and the CGI compared to even live free or die hard is terrible.

there is a first time for everything

So, did they get rid of all the stuff where Neville is trying to come up with a cure for them? Where he determines the scientific cause for vampirisim? Hell, do they even have bits of him killing them during the day with stakes?

I hope they kept that as well, hell even The Omega Man kept those aspects largely intact.

They are zombies that cant go out in the sunlight, thats all, the book sounds way better

It isn't that bad, really.

I'm trying to decide if I should swallow my pride and go and see this alone tonight, or wait until next weekend when my friends are done finals. Hmm....

Indeed, for me is was mostly just a big disappointment even with my low expectations.

See it, im relying on your review on whether to see it or not since we both read the book.

Really awesome beginning. Really awful ending. The quality dropped harshly once he met Ana and the kid, but by that point I was already getting a little bored with just having Will Smith. So I thought two others would make it great again for the final stretch, but they somehow ruined the movie for the remainder of it's time. The movie had some really great moments, but overall the execution was less than stellar.

out of

This was by far the biggest disapointment of the year for me. I went in with such high expectations. Thinking this was going to be THE winter blockbuster. It had Will Smith, a cool Sci-Fi premise, great trailers, all of them leading me to believe this movie was going to be great. Nope.

The pacing starts off slow with Smith walking around a deserted NYC. I thought that there would be like 20 min of this and then the movie would get going, but that's all there is. No big action set pieces, no money shots, just Will Smith looking for a cure. Now if I had known that this is more of a thought provoking kind of movie going in, then I would be writing a different review right now. But for an "event" movie, it left me wanting so much more.

C-

You're not judging the movie, you're judging your expectations of the movie. You might want to re-evaluate, because that's really not fair. No Country for Old Men isn't a bad movie because you go in expecting Halloween.

Somebody told me the meaning of "I Am Legend" in the book, and a revelation Neville has in regard to the creatures, and it just blew my mind. I can't believe they didn't include that stuff.

Well most people go to movies based on the trailers and TV spots that they see. And when all they show action shot after action shot, you think there would be some damn action in the movie. Am I wrong? Can you imagine if after seeing all the trailers and hype around Transformers, and then the movie was some slow, boring POS like Cast Away. If that's your movie fine, but don't build it up to something it's not. I think most people seeing this today or this weekend are going in with the mindset of a Big Willie action blockbuster, and most of them will leave very disappointed.

Did they lie to you? It's not like the pulled a Dimension and filmed shots solely for the TV spots. Everything you saw is in the movie.

I Am Legend wasn't advertised like that at all. As a matter of fact the only action shots they do show have come in the most recent TV spots and even then, the action shots (freaky looking white people - I haven't seen the film - chasing him) don't come until the very end of each one. It's TV spots have been nothing like Transformers or any kind of film like that.

I saw it in IMAX so the best part of the movie was the seven minute Dark Knight prologue. The movie is pretty good, although I had low expectations and haven't read the book. Smith gives a good performance and the city shots are amazing.

- B+