Just saw "I Am Legend" with my boyfriend and we came out pretty mixed. The first 2 thirds were fabulous and I was in tears at one point (for which I got a lot of shit from my boyfriend later)... but the ending just felt insincere, preachy and I can't help but say I was a little offended. A movie based on a totally theologically-independent Science Fiction film (in which none of the latter half's happenings actually occured) somehow became a heavy-handed Christian message movie. It seems odd that I wouldn't have been "warned" about this by some group of crusading buddhists, jews, muslims or atheiests seeings as the church has done all it can to demand that a film with a supposedly atheist message (The Golden Compass) is out to destroy society as we know it simply by existing >_<;
Seriously... if films like the DaVinci Code and The Last Temptation of Christ incite moral outrage, why the hell do I have to keep watching stuff like this that's designed to make me feel uncomforatble that I'm not Christian "like everyone else"?
I'm perfectly capable of accepting religiousity in the characters... but when the theology invades the narrative of a supposedly secular film: it REALLY hurts the film for those of us who aren't buying what God's got to sell :/
That said, I paid my $10 for "The Passion of the Christ" and was moved by it. But I went in KNOWING it was a film about the Christian religion. I read "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" AND saw the films... and was fine because the religious messages only make themselves obvious to those whom they speak to personally. I don't mind THINKING about religion... I don't like having it crammed down my throat in the context of zombie movies :(
The Christianity issue aside. The whole thing "borrowed" a lot from Castaway and 28 Days Later... which were both better movies... but seeing New York that empty was pretty wicked and the "quiet" scenes were lovely (and there were more of them than most big-budget action flicks would have bothered with). Will Smith is a competant actor... the dog was amazing... and the sfx work was top notch. If only it had been a more courageous movie and at least attempted to tackle the moral issues and dichotomy between in "good" and "evil" presented in the novel...
Have you seen it?
What did you think?

