Josh's email to me (edited for relevancy):
I'm getting really sick and tired of movies that not only use one brand of vehicle throughout, but go out of their way to shoot the vehicles so they look glamorous and wonderful. I just watched 15 minutes of commercials, I don't need more in the movie. Is this where Hollywood is now? Aren't there any directors out there who refuse to do blatant product placement? Would the great directors of yesteryear do this? Would Hitchcock or Welles?My response email:
In this movie, every car driven is a Ford. The first 10 minutes of the movie are a Ford commercial, and a kind of stupid one at that but I'll get to that in a minute. Both trucks shown later in the movie are Ford's. There's a shot toward the end of the movie that basically starts centered and zoomed in on the blue oval and zooms out from there.
Do you notice things like this or is it just me? It doesn't so much piss me off that Ford is doing this. What pisses me off, is the director sacrificing his integrity and selling out like that. It seriously detracts from the movie for me.
If you are going to go this far to sell out, why not go all the way. In this case, I would have put a line in for Will Smith to say when he finds the Mustang and says: "Oh yeah... Ford's all the way baby! Have you driven a Ford lately?" or something...
I give the movie a netflix 3-star "Liked it" rating, with means it was "eh" and frustrating at times but worth watching. It's one of my favorite premises so that helped. I loved 28 Days Later (but hated 28 Weeks Later)
I thought the CGI characters in the movie detracted from it. I really think the 'scary' vampire things would have been more scary had they actually been played by... actors. A novel idea I know. They made the typical hollywood scary-thing-scream sounds and looked like Gollum in a tool video. Can't the sound people in hollywood make a non-Lord of the Rings sound for scary things?
Empty New York looked great and there were some little touches they made in the environment that I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved that he had THE painting of Van Gogh's Starry Night hanging in his place and other famous paintings around in his apartment, like he rescued/stole them from the museum.
Okay, things I didn't get, like, or understand:
1. The Dark-Whatever-They-Called-Them thing ripping through the ceiling on the inside of his house. Why was he doing that? Was it to let the other ones in? or was he trying to get out?
2. why, Why, WHY would they have Will 'hunting' with the mustang? And what the hell was he trying to do? Run them over? That part was STOOOOOOOOPID. Obviously, he didn't catch any. Not the Prince's 'freshest' idea. It was obviously just a part of the movie to show of the mustang, which... never made another appearance.
3. Why were there deer on the island in the first place? did they swim? I can let this one go I guess...
4. How did latina chica (who's accent got stronger as the movie went on) get from Manhattan to Vermont in that Ford truck, when they blew up all the bridges?
5. The shiny Ford truck she was driving was obviously a different one then Will was trying to kill himself in right? So if that's true, you mean to tell me, that this chick, found and mounted a FREAKING safari rack on the top and stocked it full of survival gear? Riiiiiiiight.
6. So Will had electricity, yet at the beginning they showed Honda (I guess Ford doesn't make generators) generators in his kitchen powering stuff. Were they powering the entire house? Puh-lease... And there's no way there's still be power, without humans. Or WATER for that matter. But, i guess I can let that go too...
7. Don't you think they should have shown that Will had wired Enola- Gay sized bombs up all over the front yard of his house? I was kind of like "Where did that come from?"
8. When Latina Chica saved Will from the Dark-whatever-they-called- thems, how did she do it? Why didn't they show that? She apparently used a "Sun Spell" and was also able to move 200 lb Will Smith, all by herself into her car (apparently the tricked out Ford that was identical to Will's)
Argh! So frustrating!
Very nice review. I like your thought. I'm am especially with you on the all the product placement in movies lately. It's completely lame. One of the worst ones I've seen lately was in Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer. Mr. Fantastic summons his new flying machine via remote control and when it gets to them it has Dodge logos emblazoned on the seats. Then Johnny Flame boy (whatever his name is) looks at Mr. Fantastic and asks, "Hemi?" To which Mr. Fantastic replies, "Of course." This one little scene kinda ruined the whole movie for me. We're supposed to believe that a super-brilliant scientist uses the same engine to power his ultra-cool flying machine that Dodge uses to power their cars? Right! Car engines easily transform into better-than-jet engines.So, what do you think? Do you agree with Josh and I? Did you like the movie? Were there other things we missed? Have you read the book? Thoughts on that? If anyone ever reads my blog again after I went postless so long, I'd like your opinions.
As for all the other things about I Am Legend, I guess I was so caught up in being disappointed in how it didn't live up to the book that I forgot to notice all the reasons that it failed on its own (though I did think that trying to hunt from a mustang was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen).
My thoughts on the deer getting on the island as well as the woman getting off the island is that they must have gone through one of the many tunnels. I know they blew up the bridges, but they never said anything about the tunnels. I think you could effectively barricade a tunnel without having to blow it up, but then once most everyone died, the few survivors could have removed the barricades. In one scene they even showed the deer running into a tunnel (or maybe it was the subway--I don't remember). Of course, if it was tunnels, that then begs the question, "Aren't they controlled by the zombie things since it would be dark?" Who knows?
The other thing is that is wasn't just deer. Where the hell did the lions come from? Did they escape the zoo or something? Last time I checked, New York isn't exactly lion country. Is there a zoo in New York? Did they get this movie confused with Night at the Museum? (Note: After sending this email, I did check if there's a zoo on the island--there are three, but as far as I could find, none of them have lions.)
At the end, why didn't Will get in the safe, throw the grenade out right as the dark things broke the glass and then close the safe door? There was room for him in there, and grenades have a timed detonation so it would have worked. I guess he was just too dumb to think of that and then he wouldn't have been a "Legend."
Also, if he loved his dog so much, why not strap it down and keep testing on it like the dark-chick, or put it in a cage like one of the rats. Nope, gotta kill the dog at the first sign of monsterism so that Will's left all alone and the audience feels sorry for him.
The movie definitely had some problems, but I still liked it. Mostly cause I liked seeing empty new york--even if a few things looked super cg-ed (like any wide shots of the mustang driving around) and I like Will Smith.
Anyway, sorry for the long response. You should read the book. I'd like to
get your thoughts on that.
7 comments:
Loved it, hated the ending. Heroes don't kill themselves just for the sake of becoming a martyr. True heroism comes from fighting while trying to retain your own life unless there is no choice.
However, the chica did ask Will to come along, to which he responded, "No, they won't stop following me," or something to that effect. Also, maybe he was just so depressed at losing his dog, that he didn't care. Maybe he was crazy after being alone for so long. I mean, he was hitting on mannequins and crap.
As to product placement. Fantastic Four was pretty bad. But not nearly bad enough to make me dislike the movie. In I am Legend, the type of car he drives is meaningless to the story, so it had absolutely no affect on me.
The dark guy was ripping through the ceiling to let the others in. It seemed obvious to me.
Will was hunting in the Mustang for the same reason I used to hunt in a Toyota pickup. He, being a scientist and all, obviously was not well versed with the technique.
The chica got to Manhattan by boat. Wasn't that explained in the movie? I thought it was.
My guess is the chica found the truck with a rack already mounted and thought to herself, "Hey, I could really use that truck!"
As to power, you're right. However, I did watch a documentary the Hoover Dam plant would likely run for years if there was nobody left to run it. The movie is not too far into the future though. Maybe they are wind power (which would run until the bearings on the windmills seized). At any rate, he would have power until whatever fuel was being burned ran out (a few weeks at best?)... or maybe he had 50 generators around his house.
We knew that Will had his house rigged somehow. It showed him making preparations for a potential attack before going to bed early in the movie... to me it came as no surprise that he had bombs.
Finally, every movie maker has to make sacrifices resulting from time restraints or in order to keep the story moving.
And post finally, that kind of hair splitting and knitpicking just makes it impossible to enjoy virtually any movie. Better not to think about that stuff. I mean, look at Armageddon. Yeah, I hated it for all the malarchy they added to it, but the story behind the malarchy was enjoyable.
In response to Stu: (and let me say first that I totally respect your opinion and I love movies and talking about them. I don't know you at all and won't judge you based on your cinematic-taste ((Unless you start saying that 27 Dresses is your new fave movie))
: )
I assumed the guy was ripping through the ceiling for that reason,and maybe I'm just being dense but I would have liked a shot of the vampizombies (I just made that up) on the roof waiting to get in or something, connecting his action with an outcome.
The only reason he was hunting in the mustang, was to show the new mustang. That right there, detracted from the story for me. He, being a scientist, should know about animal behavior and that the deer would all scatter at the first sound of a big ol' Ford V8 ripping through the streets. The type of car didn't have an effect on the story, but the action of him driving it Will's character of a genius scientist, seem like kind of an idiot. It went against common sense.
I guess I missed the boat (ba-dum-bum) on how the chica got to Manhattan. That seems likely, I'll let that one go.
I still don't find it the least bit believeable that there are 2 new Ford Pickup trucks that are expedition-ready in Manhattan. AND that she had the keys to the other one. I could buy into it if they were lifted Jeeps and they were in Utah.
The problem is, I'm kind of a gearhead, so I notice vehicles all the time. This issue could have been fixed EXTREMELY simply by just putting her in a Ford Focus or an F-150 or something.
(Wanna know how big of a car dork I am? I noticed in Castaway, that the Jeep Cherokee he had before he got lost was a 1997 or later and it was supposed to take place in 1995. Me = Jeep nerd)
We knew Will had his house rigged with simple metal roll-down shutters and re-enforced doors but if I'm the director, it's as easy as putting a little visual, or even a line about the explosives.
I'll give em the benefit of the doubt on the power. I read the book that they based that documentary on, "the world without us." Really interesting book.
I didn't feel like I was nitpicking. I legitimately felt like there were big issues and that if I was the director I would have fixed them. I hatehateHATED Armageddon, as do I hate just about everything Michael Bay touches.
There are plenty of movies out there that I don't find such fault with that have similar apocalyptic plotlines. Children of Men was, in my opinion, near as perfect of a sci-fi movie as you're going to get. The original Dawn of the Dead comes to mind as well. Something crazy happens (Zombies) and humans react logically and humanly.
I think Hollywood has really taken a turn for the worse. Too many cooks in the kitchen is creating watered-down less-then-well thought-out movies just to make a buck. And even if Hitchcock or Scorsese was forced to use all Ford vehicles in their movies, they would have found a more clever and artful way to do so I bet. And I'm really tired of CGI Gollum characters.
All that being said, I love movies good and bad. I could probably write just as much on I Am Legend that I liked as what I didn't.
Stu, go see Cloverfield and let us know what you think. Clark and I disagree on that movie. (of course, I saw the whole thing and Clark left after 15 minutes)
Phew... that's all I got. it's quittin time.
I LOVE 27 Dresses! Just kidding. I don't even know what it is (er... I assume it's a movie, but aside from that).
I'll be honest with you. I hated Armedgeddon too. I wanted to like it because of the underlying story beneath all the unbelievable ka-ka they were throwing at me, but... I just couldn't let it go. So seriously, I totally understand where you're coming from.
Also, I used to hunt from a Toyota pickup because I thought it was fun. Not very practical however. Will Smith probably wasn't doing it for fun.
Man, you are really into your cars! I used to work at a shop, so I used to know them... not so much anymore. But good point on the Ford Focus. It being New York, there's likely to be a bunch of tree hugger cars.
And I guess I can agree with you that Hollywood is making us dumber. Every once in a while I'll see a really good movie (say... Something the Lord Made or Starship Troopers (yes, I loved that movie... it's a long story)), and I get embarrassed about all the trash Hollywood has made me love (Mr. & Mrs. Smith... doh!)
As to Cloverfield. I really liked it! I was not happy at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I actually liked it. Now that's a good movie when you change your mind about it after the fact.
Though I have to admit, I'm not nearly the movie buff you guys are. I can talk Star Wars philosophy, but that about as deep as I get ;)
Loved the Movie till the dog died and then it's like the movie died too. All the main characters died (Will & Puppy) why the crap am I supposed to like the movie when it ends. Cause the Latina Chic is still alive, I don't even care about her. I went to see the movie because Will Smith was in it and maybe because there were talk of some vampires (but nothing like the Cullens). Then they kill him off. Directors are jerks! (no offense to Clark, you aren't/won't be one.) Linda
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