Review : I am Legend

Despite harsh criticism from my peers regarding this movie, I insisted on going ahead to watch it anyway today . If only for one reason, it’s Will Smith. I have never missed any of his movies and I don’t intend to start now. Yes I admit, I have been a fan of this great man since his Fresh Prince of Bel Air days and it made me proud to see his accomplishments throughout the years, and secondly it’s a science fiction movie. Enough said. I’m sold!

With no knowledge about the book it was based on, I went to see the movie with no expectations, except a few which I will divulge later.

The story begins with a virus which has been genetically engineered by scientists as the cure for cancer and also the destruction of mankind. It centre’s around an ex-navy medical officer Lieutenant Robert Neville (played by Will Smith), which is immune to this ‘virus’ and to his knowledge, he is the last remaining person on earth.

For one thing, I need to give kudos to the graphics team of this movie for the amazing ‘realness’ of an empty New York city which also sent a chill down my spine. Being an ardent sci-fi fan, I could understand the fact that this is a ‘possible’ scenario, the whole wipe-out of the human race plot (which also been played in other numerous other sci-fi movies) But for some reason I never get tired of this plot. Probably because that is much possibility in that fact, and it might even happen overnight. It doesn’t necessarily need to be caused by an air-borne virus, but so many other possibilities, climate, tsunamis, nuclear war, earthquakes, the list goes on. It is a scenario every human need to be aware of.

Ok back to the movie, as Dr Robert Neville aptly puts it, there is only 5 billion people left on the planet but 588million turn into these night creatures which hunts the rest of the human population. Hence why he is the last remaining man (and dog) on earth, and as the movie progressed there were a few points I noted which could have been played out much more interestingly. Due to the lack of human interaction, we are pretty much left with only Will Smith for much of this movie in the beginning, I thought the movie could have done a little more with the backstory or elongating the flashbacks so we could have a deeper understanding of what actually happened. Instead we needed to draw our own weird conclusions. I was left questioning, so it’s a virus, which turns these people cancer-free, and suddenly they turn into morbid flesh eating zombies? Ermm….?? What's missing here?

Also, Will Smith is known to be a smart- ass wise cracker, and he does deliver his straight up humor in wonderful anecdotes, but I really wished he had more lines, even if it’s only talking to himself in his lab, or his dog, and wished he explained things that he does in detail, and why the tests he’s doing are failing. (Yeah I am that nerdy). Nevertheless I felt that Will Smith did manage to portray a tough but deeply psychologically wounded human being, with only his background in military to keep him grounded perhaps,(although he did lose his marbles when the unexpected happened)

Furthermore, I understood the fact that he is a scientist, but I don’t know what is his significance to this ‘virus ‘ research, who is he actually? Why did he feel it’s his ‘ground zero’? What did he do to cause any of this? Also I wished they had shown not just New York city, but other parts of the world as well because I was left wondering, is everyone else still alive across the bridge?

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, it was an emotional rollercoaster and the directors did manage to convey the horror of a person being ‘hunted’, I was truly terrified and almost screamed in some scenes , but without much backstory I did feel like I was a spectator to a ‘discovery channel’ styled documentary in some parts of the movie, but also ironically adds a lot of realism into it, lastly as a sci-fi fan (and also I’m biased when it comes to Will Smith) I give it a 7 out of 10, and I’m definitely going to read the book. ;P

The beginning of the end

The beginning of the end.

Sedar tak sedar. Dah masuk bulan terakhir dalam tahun 2007. Bulan penutup. Bulan disember....bulan yang menentukan segalanya.


Normally penghujung2 taon camni lah aku mule merenung balik apa yang telah berlaku pada diri aku. Cube mengingat kembali detik2 indah.. detik2 bahagia.. detik2 suka duka.. time inilah aku akan cube mengingati semuanya.

Kat bilik aku, benda yang paling aktif aku belek ialah kalender. Hehehe. Penoh corat coret dgn macam2. Sesape yang penah dtg bilik aku tahulah kan (ehem2 epy!) Hihihi. Iya, mmg aku suke belek kalender. Ntah ape yang aku tengokkan. Ntah ape yang aku cari. Aku pun tak tahu (Bukan motip kawin okek?) Hihihi.. !!



Sambil2 merenung tu, aku imbas kembali tahun2 sebelumnya.. aduh.. macam2 dah aku lalui zaman2 'roaring twenties ni' first love, heartbreak, second love, heartbreak lagi, friends come, friends go, work come...work go....family changes... family feuds! Family bonding...! *sigh* so many things happened.. dah tue rupenye aku ni... kesihatan pun dah tak se'fit' dulu2.. ihik ihik.. senang sgt dapat penyakit.. pelik jugak, dulu takde pon.



Oh well... so a new year is coming.... 2008 is coming.. full of promise, full of opportunities.. full of mystery...... Tadi masa tgh chat ngan ex-ITM mate aku, tibe2 dia sebot ' eh intan kite dah kenal almost 9 tahun kan intan?" Aku terkejut. CEPATNYA MASA! 9 tahun dah ke kite berkenalan...? Pergh.. cam fresh je dalam pala otak nie zaman2 study dulu.. those were my sweetest memories...seronok sgt.. duduk hostel with roommates..masing2 ade perangai masing2..and ntah macam mana kite boleh rapat skali sampai skrg.. amoi ko pon still termasuk dalam golongan ini okek? Ur still my fave dorm mate! Kepala yang paling gila skali kat ITM tu ko lahh... hahahaha...!! Miss u a lot!


So anyway...cukup lah nostalgia2 ni seme... it's time to look ahead ok guys.. kenangan2 pahit maung yang silam2 tuh silalah ketepikan ye.. simpan bawah bantal ke.. simpan dalam stor room ke.. atau buang jauh2 pun lagi bagus... things happen for a reason.. to make you better.. to make you stronger .. to make you wiser... tanpa itu semua.. tak mungkin kita pelajari erti kehidupan ye tak? (ala2 kate2 choo :P)

So tanamkan azam2 baru anda....tanamkan harapan2 baru anda...and let us be positive...for life is not living if without hope and wishing next year will be a good year for all of us.. amin.... *hugs* :)