I Am Legend (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)

The movie, I Am Legend starring Will Smith, is based somewhat loosely on Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name. Now, most people don't know who Richard Matheson is, but this is the writer who influenced both Stephen King and Dean Koontz where they were teenagers, not to mention thousands of other kids, myself included. This was the man who wrote some of the most famous Twilight Zone episodes of the sixties, especially Nightmare at Thirty Thousand Feet. This is the author of the famous horror novel, Hell House, which was also turned into a film. Flipping the coin over, Matheson is author of the famous romance novel, Bid Time Return, and this was also turned into a major motion picture, though most people know it as Somewhere In Time. There's also the novel and movie, What Dreams May Come. Richard Matheson is therefore one of the greatest writers of the last half of the Twentieth Century. Without him, we might not have had Stephen King and Dean Koontz writing such brilliant books. I Am Legend with Will Smith is the third adaptation of Matheson's novel, and Mr. Smith does a truly excellent job of portraying the lead character Robert Neville, capturing his aloneness and near insanity at being quite possibly the only human being alive. Neville was the military doctor experimenting with new drugs and viruses in the hope of finding a cure for cancer. What was discovered, however, wiped out most of the human population, while changing those still alive into flesh-eating zombies, or vampires, that move at a tremendous speed and seemed to be filled with an incurable amount of rage and violence. Because the creatures can't survive in the sunlight, Neville has control of the day when he and his German Shepard go out hunting for food and raiding the nearby DVD store. Neville is also still searching for a vaccine that will cure the symptoms of the virus. He uses zombies that he's captured, and the testing usually results in their deaths. The night, however, is totally controlled by the creatures, and Neville must always be home by dark in order to barricade himself inside his Washington Square apartment with its reinforced doors and window shutters. In time a confrontation is inevitable between Neville and the creatures, and this in turn eventually escalates into a full-blown battle at between life and death at the end. I had mixed feeling about the movie when I first saw it at the theater. When the Two-Disc Special Edition came out, I found myself enjoying the longer alternate version with a different ending. I think the director, Francis Lawrence, and the Special Effects people did a fabulous job of creating New York City a few years down the road after the plague has done its nasty work, showing the desolate streets with non-moving cars and trash lining the curbs and weeds growing out of the pavement. And, Will Smith, plays perfectly to this setting, creating a character that is near the end of his rope and talks to mannequins in the DVD store as a way of keeping himself from going crazy, then goes berserk when one of the mannequins shows up in a different location. Unlike a lot of viewers, I loved the creatures. The scene where Smith has to go into the basement of a bank to find his dog and runs into a group of them standing together in a group had me dropping popcorn all over my lap. I felt myself in the darkness with him as well as the strong fear that he was experiencing. This is definitely one of the best horror scenes done in the last few years. I believe the Two-Disc Special Edition with a longer version of the film and an alternate ending is the way to go. I do have to say that other than a different version of the movie, there isn't much else offered that I cared about. The makers of the DVD set could've done a feature on the long history of I Am Legend with an in-depth interview from Richard Matheson and a more detailed look at the making of the film. That will probably come in a later edition somewhere down the road. Anyway, this is a good, fun movie with some superb acting by Will Smith.

Great movie!!! Love watching it...

Solid movie 👍🏻

I Am Legend (2007) Drama, Science Fiction, Thriller, 101 minutes Directed by Francis Lawrence Starring Will Smith and Alice Braga Will Smith is one of the biggest box office draws, whether it's for action, comedy or drama. He has the charisma to pull off just about any role and is improving as a dramatic actor as he matures. I Am Legend contains some action, but it's a futuristic drama more than anything else. Smith is required to show considerable range. The movie makes this list because it shows how people adapt in extreme situations. Robert Neville (Smith) is possibly the last man alive after a cure for cancer turns people into aggressive zombie-like creatures who live in the dark. He's a scientist and appears to have a natural immunity to the virus. He's trying to develop a vaccine that will help these creatures recover their humanity. Imagine if you had an entire city to yourself. How would you spend your time? Neville has a routine. He wakes up at the same time each day, works out, and then systematically searches the buildings in the area for canned food and bottled water. This is vital for his survival. He also continues his research and tries out his vaccines on laboratory rats. In order to maintain the illusion that he's not alone, he watches recorded TV shows and talks to mannequins while he works his way through the inventory of a local video store. Every day at Noon, he waits at a predetermined location for any response to his radio messages offering hope and shelter to other survivors. New York is an abandoned city. Grass has reclaimed most of the land and Neville has to compete with lions when he goes hunting for dear. The early special effects are very convincing and we are drawn in to Neville's world. Some of the exposition is achieved through showing Neville's dreams and we discover that his wife and daughter were evacuated along with the other healthy people left in the city. His only friend now is Sam, his dog. Unlike Neville, Sam can be affected by contact with the creatures roaming the city. One of the saddest scenes in the movie comes after Sam is bitten by a creature carrying the virus. He injects her with serum in the hope that it will prevent her from transforming into a deadly version of his former companion. If you are an animal-lover, it's a hard scene to watch. I won't ruin the movie for those who haven't seen it. Is Neville really alone? Will he develop a cure? If he does, will it even be possible to capture the creatures and successfully administer the cure? The film raises a serious question; are humans the biggest threat to their own survival? The Blu-ray includes an alternate ending. Both endings are hopeful, but one is considerably more hopeful than the other. The Blu-ray presentation is just about perfect.

Good movie, rated it 4.6

Please Note: My review and ratings are based on the quality of the new 4K version of this film--images, sound, and extras and how these compare to the previously released Blu-ray version of the film. I am not rating the acting, direction, set design, etc. which can be found in other places, but instead I am helping you decide to upgrade to 4K or wait. The quality of 4K films, in comparison to the regular Blu-ray version, often depends upon two things: (1) the quality of the original that they have to work with; and (2) how much effort the people put into the project. Here they must have started with either the original film or a first-generation print of it. Being that the theatrical version was released in 2007, these are easier to locate than for older films. The upgrade from regular Blu-ray to 4K is very noticeable in a side-by-side comparison. Viewers will notice the improvements in 4K immediately. You will particularly appreciate the differences in the scenes shot outdoors in well-lit areas versus indoors or nighttime outdoor scenes. That's because details like seeing leaves on trees in the distance jump out in 4K in bright sunlight while darkened scenes fail to reveal details--it's simply too dark to see much in 4K or any other format. The other complicating factor is that HDR darkens dark colors and brightens light colors which makes darkened scenes darker still--too dark in 4K for some films in my opinion. However here the film looks great throughout much of it and should seriously be considered as an upgrade candidate, assuming you like the story which I do and many others do. In addition to sharp details, the color saturation is great, contrast is great, and the sound (Dolby DTS-HD digital) all are better than the Blu-ray version. My only negative is that several scenes were too dark in my opinion--partly due to HDR darkening darks too much and part due to the restorers efforts. For these scenes I actually preferred the standard Blu-ray version because it was brighter despite the drop in resolution. However you will notice an improvement in 4K over the standard Blu-ray for most scenes. The set includes the 4K version, Blu-ray version, free digital download, and a number of extras. I now have about 40 feature films and documentaries in 4K and have the Blu-ray versions of all as well. In general those movies or documentaries with a lot of outdoor scenes or well-lit indoor scenes (e.g., Bridge on the River Kwai, The Quick & The Dead, Predator, Planet Earth II, Flight of the Butterflies) will jump out the most as dramatically improved from the standard Blu-ray version. For other films you may have difficulty in seeing the difference. Many people are doing this conversion for the first time and did not do a painstaking restoration or had copies of copies of the film to do the restoration with and the results are less impressive (see my review of the boxed set of Jurassic films for details on the good and the bad within this one set). I am contacting some studios and restorers to caution them that HDR is turning some dark scenes simply too dark and they should take this into consideration during restoration.

Great movie

I didn’t expect to sob, but I did...hard. This film isn’t just post-apocalyptic action—it’s a story of love, loyalty, and unbearable loss. I named my rescue dog after her. Enough said.