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DVD/Movie Reviews: "I Am Legend" on DVD
Published Title, "I Am Legend Comes to DVD"
Being one of the new reviewers for The Communicator is a sweet, sweet deal for me folks, and I'm going to tell you just how sweet it has been thus far. About two weeks ago I received a copy of I Am Legend on DVD the latest film starring Will Smith. I Am Legend is the third film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 science fiction novel of the very same name. Maybe you film buffs will have heard of them, The Omega Man (1971) and The Last Man on Earth (1964), Starring Charleton Heston and Vincent Price, respectively.
The 2007 adaption of Richard Matheson's Novel takes place in a city eerily familiar to all of us, and yet depicted in a way I doubt any of us could have believed possible. In a slowly decaying, virtually abandoned New York City, Will Smith plays U.S. Army Virologist Lt. Colonel Robert Neville. He is possibly the only healthy human being on Earth immune to a mutated virus that was created to cure cancer, but instead turned into the arbiter of humanity's near extinction. We see him as he works to maintain a tenuous grip on his sanity as he struggles to survive in an desolate abandoned city with his dog Samantha just long enough to develop a means to impart his immunity unto the mutated remains of the human race, and all other life affected by the disease. The only thing keeping him even close to sane amidst flashbacks to his life before the outbreak is the hope that one day he will be able to get an answer to his daily radio broadcast, "You are not alone."
If you've gotten used to science fiction horror films like Resident Evil, Dawn of the Dead, and the like, you'll be pleasantly surprised by this one the first time Will Smith has to go into a darkened room. I've seen very few men actually pull off looking legitimately afraid like that. If you saw this in theaters, you'll know that this movie isn't one that you'll mind receiving from Netflix. Thing is, I know some of you are really wondering if the alternate ending is worth getting this. For me, it put a certain part of the film into perspective for you to understand that maybe, just maybe not everyone Robert Neville encounters is a completely mindless monster. The bonus animated films are definitely worth checking out, if not to see how broadly this disease had affected the world. Orson Scott Card's contribution to those extras was probably the most vexing of them all. Folks, that all said, I now understand how this film could have made over $500 million dollars worldwide, and it'll just make more on DVD.
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