Saturday, December 15, 2007

I AM LEGEND




Action adventure

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Will Smith: Dr. Robert Neville, a brillant scientist
Alice Braga: Anna

REVIEW
It has all the requirements of a “blockbuster sci-fi” movie. There are elaborate special effects sequences, speeding cars and frightening scenes: two right up there on the top end of the scary scale where your neck hairs stand on end and your heart stops briefly, several others of the “saw it coming” sort.

But the thin story line provides no opportunity to develop beyond the repetitive daily routine of our hero until nearly three-quarters of the way through when a stranger appears. By that time it’s possible you’ve lost interest in the outcome. Speaking of which, the ending seems like something of an afterthought.

CLASSIFICATION
for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
 In the opening sequence Neville and Sam are driving around in a red Mustang. Neville opens the passenger side window and Sam sticks his head out (as dogs are prone to do). The scene shifts to inside the car and the window is closed.
 Neville is wearing a head-cam to provide streaming video while he checks some cages in his private lab. The view shown on the monitor does not always correspond to where he is looking.
 Posted on the door of a taxi cab is the current drop (the initial fare) of $2.50 but in 2009 when the cab was last used the fare would definitely reflect the higher inflated cost of gas of 663 a gallon (as posted on a sign at the gas station).
 During his daily recorded radio message Neville says he’s at the South Street Seaport every day at noon “when the sun is at its highest” but Sam’s long shadow belies that statement.
 Neville gets injured with the result he has a blood on the shoulders of his white T-shirt. The blood on the left-hand side looks like a splayed hand but it disappears from time to time only to reappear again before he leaves.
 Neville hurtles up a ramp in front of Grand Central Terminal, which has a wide swath of bright sunlight in front of it. He gets out of the car and walks toward the terminus but the bright patch is gone.
 Neville, Anna and the kid leave the dinner table loaded with dishes and things. While talking with Anna in the background you can see the table is completely cleared with only a small vase in the middle of it.
 When Neville and Anna return to the dinner table to pore over some papers it is devoid of anything at all.
 Neville makes no mention of any world-wide devastation of humanity when he tells Anna there were 6 billion people in the world in 2009. We passed the 6.6 billion mark in July 2007.
 Futhermore population growth based on a well-known formula projects the world population to be at least 7 billion in 2009.

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