'I am legend' Issues

[pintsofguinness]

They could have made much more use of the zombie woman who was in the process of being cured. Would she have reverted to being a normal person again? Would she have remembered her time as a 'zombie'? Would she have been grateful to Smith, or despised him for experimenting on her?

She got blew up!

This links to a big issue which was only very fleetingly examined - Smith was carrying out experiments on humans, and had killed scores of them in the process. Wasn't there an ethical issue to be explored here?

WHAT?!

They weren't humans, they were zombies and he hadn't much of a choice had he?  Maybe he should have just let mankind be wiped out rather than try to save it?!
I don't see any ethical issue.
*shakes head*

[MW]

They could have made much more use of the zombie woman who was in the process of being cured. Would she have reverted to being a normal person again? Would she have remembered her time as a 'zombie'? Would she have been grateful to Smith, or despised him for experimenting on her?

She got blew up!

I know...I mean they could have written the story in way that allowed her to regain 'consiousness' and survive, at least for a while.

This links to a big issue which was only very fleetingly examined - Smith was carrying out experiments on humans, and had killed scores of them in the process. Wasn't there an ethical issue to be explored here?

WHAT?!

They weren't humans, they were zombies and he hadn't much of a choice had he?  Maybe he should have just let mankind be wiped out rather than try to save it?!
I don't see any ethical issue.
*shakes head*

He probably didn't have much choice, but they were definitely human, just infected and driven 'insane' by their infection - indeed the very fact he was looking for a cure shows that. There was a moment in the film where his rescuer looks at the photos of all those who have died in his lab which hints at the issue of whether it's acceptable for Smith to be doing what he is, but then skirts round it with the "God didn't do this, we did" comment in relation to the virus. I think it would've been a more interesting film if it had looked into these issues a little more rather than ending on the fairly syrupy (as far as a zombie film can be) 'God/fate' type ending.

[pintsofguinness]

God no MW it was long enough without going into all that.

[imtommygunn]

Some good points re the dog MW.

They were pretty much vampires but, based on movies, they seemed to have combined charcteristics of zombies / vampires.

Not sure about the ethical issues.If he didn't experiment like that mankind was f**ked irrespective of whether these things were perceived as human or not.

Would agree regarding the female - would have been good to see her come back to life etc. Also it'd have interesting to see more from the Brazilian bird - not just because she was fit - and see how Neville behaved round/developed relationships with humans after 3 years and no contact with anyone.

All in all like you say story had loads of potential but I don't think they used it at all!

[Main Street]

Is it not absurd that in a film about Zombies we are looking for reasons not to have to suspend disbelief?

At the trap scene I understood that there was still too much light for the Zombies to come out and attack Neville.

The dog/master relationship was solid.
The Dog was a real hero, loyal and brave way beyond his capabilities.
At the time I thought that he was trying to save the dog with the rat cure formula but didn´t believe that it would work and therefore held the dog in a nelson expecting it to go rabid.

[nrico2006]

Quote from: Tyrones own on January 05, 2008, 01:59:25 AM

     
Quote
must head to it next week - what's this scene with Mendez?  Will it embarrass me 


     No not at all, lets just say it's pleasant viewing


Then it might embarrass you Pints. My worst film moment was going to the movies to watch swordfish with my mum and sister. Good christ I was uncomfortable.

Try sitting watching Jarhead( Jake Gylenhall beating the monkey) with your future father in law beside you.

On the film, I was thinking about how Will Smith was experimenting on the zombies and had killed 'x' amount of them even though they were in his eyes humans with an infection.  But again, what was he to do if he wanted to find a cure?

It would have been interesting to have had the captured zombie included more after she was cured.  As mentioned, would she have behaved as normal, would she have remembered everything etc.

[whiskeysteve]

There is an explanation for why the zombies seemingly become 'smart'; setting traps, using zombie dogs, etc. This idea is from the original Matheson novel (SPOILERS AHEAD for those who wish to read it), where some of the 'vampires' eventually find a way to limit the crazed nature of the infection and form a primitive society. As they resemble the other crazed vampires Neville hunts and kills them during the day and they live in constant fear of him. Eventually they send one of their own women to 'spy' on Neville who is captured at the end for public execution, she shows compassion towards him by giving him pills to avoid the execution, assuring him she will do her best to influence a new 'humane' society.

Basically the idea is that the zombies have become civilisation and Neville has become the monster from their point of view (in the book he revels in hunting them mercilessly with no thought to finding a cure), which is an intriguing aspect of the novel. The film lets itself down by half introducing these issues then literally blowing them up at the end.

As for why Neville doesnt have the foresight to account for a situation where the dog becomes infected, I suppose the idea may be that after 4 solitary years he can't face up to the idea of losing his only companion and burys his head in the sand rather than face up to the possibility - at last the dog is bitten but he cant accept he has to put it down until it is clearly infected, his emotional distress clouding his reason. At that point in time in the film he is starting to become a bit unhinged anyway, the safemeasures he takes for himself are borne out of long routine.

All in all an intriguing if flawed film, in an underexplored genre

[pintsofguinness]

A rare good discussion on IMDB for anyone who cares enough
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/board/nest/93491002




Btw has anyone seen "We own the night"?
Any good? Worth going to?

I saw it a couple of months ago, pretty good, worth going to see especially
the scene with Eva Mendez the ending could have been a bit better though.
Anything that Robert Duvall is in is worth a look imo

must head to it next week - what's this scene with Mendez?  Will it embarrass me 

yup, I was embarrassed 
The rest of it couldn't live up to the first scenes but a good show.  I enjoyed it better than I am Legend.

btw I LOVED the way they done they car chase scene.  brillant!

[ONeill]

I enjoyed the film and thought it was good, but to be honest I thought they could have done more with what was a very good concept. Like many commenters here I thought there were a few odd questions posed.

The 'trap' scene being the main one. In all the other scenes, the 'zombies' are basically animals, crazed beings whose bloodlust in their one driving instinct. They attack like animals, don't appear to communicate by language, and are able to be caught be a fairly simple trap using blood - a trap which evidently Smith's character has set scores of times.

Yet one of the zombies sets a trap for Smith's character. And not only this, he appears to be keeping two 'rabid/zombie' dogs in a domesticated manner. So seemingly not only are the 'zombie' humans presumably able to keep 'pets', the zombie/rabid dogs are able to be kapt as 'pets' and follow orders rather than simple attacking all and sundry, including thier zombie 'master'. Then of course there's the fact the zombie man doesn't attack, just leaving it to his dogs, (even when the zombie dogs are clearly coming off second best). In all other scenes the zombie humans are carzed beings who just want to attack. It thought this scene fitted poorly with the resy of the film, and was just designed to show the dog's loyalty and Smith's dilemma once it was wounded.

Which brings me to the next odd scene - the dog's death. Why was Smith injecting it? Did he think he had something that might cure it? (the 'rate cure' perhaps?). Why, for someone who was so devoted to his dog, did he not keep a lethal injection or his gun on standby while nuring the dog - this would have prevented him from having to strangle the dog and given it a much more humane death. It would also have lessened the risk to him.

I thought the film ended abruptly and missed the chance to explore some interesting issues. They could have made much more use of the zombie woman who was in the process of being cured. Would she have reverted to being a normal person again? Would she have remembered her time as a 'zombie'? Would she have been grateful to Smith, or despised him for experimenting on her? This links to a big issue which was only very fleetingly examined - Smith was carrying out experiments on humans, and had killed scores of them in the process. Wasn't there an ethical issue to be explored here?

Excellent analysis. You could see throughout the film that Neville was wrestling with the ethical issues presented to us/him through flashbacks and violent reactions to situations including the breakfast scene with the woman and son.

However, the director didn't seem to want to verge on anything heavy and failed to explore much of the unexplained narrative.

I enjoyed it. Twas different.

[Main Street]

The trap scene had more to offer than a demonstration of the Dog's bravery and the subsequent scene of the dog dying.
The mutant lost a female, mutant felt loss, mutant observed trap, mutant copied the trap -  the hook and the bait. Mutant hadn't lost all intelligence. Hadn't resorted to totally savage animal behaviour but had capacity to recall aspects of intelligence or the capability to learn and adapt to circumstance with a more intelligent response and execution.

On the mutant dog attack when Neville was hooked. Neville had released himself and was escaping but it was not dark.
The simple explanation is that it wasn't dark enough for the Mutant but dark enough for the dogs. If it was dark enough for the Mutants then they would have attacked.

[CiKe]

four of us saw it last night. opinions ranged from just rubbish to total dung.