Today is a beautiful day.. or was… considering the time..

It was a Saturday! I finally got to sleep in and catch up on some very much needed rest. My voice had started to morph into the diva-ish voice of a frog and the week got better with more dust, presentations and a party on Friday. So yes I needed my rest!

Hence the morning began with a lovely sleep in, followed by a movie with my honey bun. We got to watch “I am Legend” at the new Golden Screen Cinemas at Pavillion KL. The nice thing about the cinema is that the parking is convenient. Get into the cinema parking area, find your spot, get out and head on directly into the lift straight into the cinema. NICE! No maze maneuvering within the mall to find the cinema.

Anyhoo… “I am Legend” was fun and I am glad I did a read up on it in the papers yesterday on how it was made. It made the movie a lot more interesting when you consider the other aspects about it, rather than just watching it for what it is.

The movie in itself was good and left me feeling nostalgic about other movies like Ultraviolet, Resident Evil and … hmm what other movies are there that have human-made virus that causes everyone to turn to either vampires/zombies. Like I said before the movie does have a bit of that feel. The only difference is that most of the movie, the sole survivor was alone.

Francis Lawrence, the director of the film and the film Constantine, took a very big challenge to make the film. The film in certain scenes had used real locations such as the famous Times Square in New York. The article I read, stated that Lawrence had to actually clear the entire street to make the movie. Nuts! Imagine clearing up an entire area, hopefully without sound and all, to make a movie that looks like you have the last man in the entire country.

Being a virologist, Smith’s character, Dr Robert Neville dedicated the rest of his life to finding the cure for the Krippin Virus. At one point ‘Krippin’ was seen as the miracle cure to cancer. Instead took on a terrible turn causing humans to become part vampire and only to be able to live in the dark and on blood to sustain themselves. It makes sense then as to why the ‘Darkseekers’ – so they were called, mostly bald thin and gangly – the looks of the symptoms of cancer patients.

Neville tries to regain back what humanity he has lost in his isolation with Sam, his German Shepard and also by setting up mannequins in various places that he frequently visits. Yes, he talks with the mannequins so that he does not feel entirely lonely. Given the length of the film, Lawrence did a great job of portraying the fear and loneliness that Smith can evoke on the screen for this character.

The whole of New York City has been evacuated and only Neville is left, to help look for any other non-infected humans who may need his help and shelter. Bit by bit, the viewers are given info through flashbacks as to how this predicament came about. Smith played his character well as he started to lose a bit of his sanity here and there due to his isolation from humans. He acted one scene very well when he started screaming at one of his ‘friend’ mannequins who had been to moved to another spot.

The film also questions about humanity and faith. Always a topic I enjoy to ponder about Neville states in the movie ‘God didn’t do this. We did!’ For a while I thought it was a Christian point of view he was making, but only later on did I realise it was more from and agnostic thought. The question of faith was more towards the end. Which I found a tad bit too rushed and did not make such a lasting impact.

The movie was fun and was hard to portray which is why I commend the director and actor on two fantastic jobs. Not forgetting everyone else in the credits of course . However, it left me wanting more in the end. You know at the end of a good movie, you have this satisfactory ‘aaaahhhh’ or it just leaves you asking more questions about it. I found myself not doing that so much with this one, but a lot more pondering on the dog! I love dogs yes, but I love the movie too.

I suppose it is because of how it is not a storyline that we have not heard of before or have not seen. Rather it is just like any other of the movies that are in the same genre as this – The possibilities of a disastrous and empty world.

Smith showed a beautiful comradeship with his one and only friend, Sam, his adorably loyal German Shephard. Samantha is played by Abbey, a 3 yeard old canine, which had made Smith a very patient man as he had to learn how to gain her trust. The dog is really adorable in the movie and I have a spoiler here.

Highlight the words in white.
Sam dies I was sooo upset when I found out. But not as upset when I found out how she had to die. She died in the arms of her owner. That had me bawling my eyes out!! It was so tragic… his only friend, man’s best friend too, had to go because some other darn dog bit her…sniff

**pictures are taken from WorstPreviews and for those who’d like to see non-typical onset pics, here **Link to other reviews : IGN and Rottentomatoes