It’s about to open, so we will all know soon, but I’m beginning to worry about I Am Legend. You would think: action movie + Will Smith = no brainer. In the ads, however, the weasels in marketing are pulling a fairly common con.
They flash about fifteen “excerpts” from reviewers that say things like “gripping!” and “exciting!” Except that the fifteen excerpts are not from separate reviews but the same three or four. And none of them are from Time. Rolling Stone or The New York Times or any reviewer you’ve ever heard of. One is Fox-TV, which could be any local reviewer from any Fox affiliate in the country.
Also, it seems like they may be marketing a different movie than the one they made. From what I’ve been told, it isn’t really a last-man-left-alive movie as much as it is a last-man-alive-fighting-off-vampires movie.
Reminds me of that movie from a couple years ago about “the most successful serial killer in history–who is still out there!” and it turned out to be an alligator.
I hope I’m wrong, ‘cuz Will is the best, but you have to watch out for the weasels. If they end up burning you, do all of us a favor and let the studios know what you think of their misleading marketing campaigns.
That’s a saying that both Rambo and Robert Neville can get behind. We’re still holding our breath for both of these projects and the new trailers for both of them sorta makes us think that they will turn out to be full of ass-kickery.
So without further ado, we bring you a few minutes of goodness.
By James Furbush | October 11th, 2007 | 12:21 pm PDT
Another year, another Will Smith blockbuster. This December he takes on the undead of New York in the adaptation of I Am Legend.
Despite the movie’s pedigree including Will Smith (hard to hate on him), the source material and even director Frank Lawrence (his debut Constantine is waaaaay more enjoyable than it has any right to be and we think that has something to do with the director himeself) we’re still having a hard time getting amped about this project.
Is it the location shift from San Francisco to New York? I dunno. Maybe it’s the lackluster promotional efforts. This new one sheet kinda leaves us limp and feeling depressed. Ho-hum.
I Am Legend will suck your blood on Dec. 14 at theaters everywhere.
Let’s be honest who doesn’t love vampires? Looks like we could have two cool vampire movies coming out, one a horror movie at the tail end of the summer and the other a survivor flick starring Will Smith coming out around Christmas.
The first is 30 Days of Night, starring Josh Hartnett, Melissa George and Ben Foster. Directed by David Slade, who crafted the creepy and intense thriller Hard Candy, this one takes place in an Alaskan town above the Artic Circle where it is nighttime for 30 days. Vampires come out at night, so you get the gist. Looks like the people will have to survive the month. Always important is the look of the vampires and it seems they did a fantastic job. Utterly scary.
Not to be out done, Will Smith is finally bringing the oft-delayed I Am Legend to the big screen. Directed by Francis Lawrence, and based upon the book of the same name by Richard Matheson, this is a heavily anticipated flick. For several years a script from Mark Protosevich had been floating around and it was really, really great. That script got ditched when Lawrence hopped on board. And unfortunately the new script was penned by the utterly urbane Akiva Goldsman.
But it’s got Will Smith and the source material is dynomite. The story centers around Robert Neville, the last man alive after the world succumbs to a vampire plague. The story is more about the survival of Neville and the lengths he goes to stay alive, scrounging for food, scavanging medicine from deserted hospitals.
Though there are vampires in Matheson’s novel, it’s not really about vampires and it’s not really a Will Smith action story. It’s considered the granddaddy of modern horror. We won’t give away much of the story since it’s a quick read and worth doing so before the film version comes out. Based upon the trailer, it seems the studio decided to make lots of alterations to the story. Hopefully, they’ll have kept enough of the book to make this one truly special. I highly doubt it though. Can you say I, Robot?
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