Overall, I liked the movie. It felt like something was missing, but I'm not sure what, so that's not a very good criticism. Ha.
It had lots of tension, lots of emotional impact, lots of weird screaming vampire-zombies. Will Smith's character once again manages to be The Perfect Man. He hunts, farms, traps zombies, military officer, genius scientist, loves his dog as an extension of his dead wife and daughter. Somehow the dog had to be revealed as a girl (Sam is Samantha), as she was dying and becoming a zombie/vampire dog, in order to drive that point home.
Of course, I couldn't be fully emotionally "in the scene" at that point because of the crying 8 year old behind me. "He's dreaming, right? Its just a dream? Why did the puppy have to diiieee??!?!?!" I was tempted to turn around and tell her the truth: the doggie died because your parents are too stupid to read ratings, it is all their fault the doggie is dead."
awwww....I feel sorry for the little girl in your blog. Poor little girl's mind is probably warped now. (*sigh*) kids are allowed to watch anything these days. Alvin and the Chipmunks is out - so it's not like they didn't have an alternative. But, back to Legend, ...I DID cry when the dog died. Poor dog. Got killed by hairless ugly dogs after he survived that stupid warehouse full of hairless ugly people.
ReplyDeleteYeah, kids that age should not watch this movie! Not that I was sheltered from scary movies. I remember being sent to bed when some bad horror movie was on (don't remember which), but it was because I had school the next day. My little brother who was like 3 got to stay up and watch it.
ReplyDeleteLesson: If you're going to fuck up your kids tiny mind, do it at home. Where he wouldn't disturb other moviegoers. Duh.
Agreed. I'm all for the parent doing what they think is right and leaving those decisions to them to warp their minds with movies above their age. Hell I'm fine and I was watching Freddy Kruger and Heavy Metal when I was super young. But, do it at home! Down with stupidity! *looks for the bleach*
ReplyDeleteWell, what's missing, even though I haven't seen the movie yet, just the previews, is that the vampire/zombie things weren't like that in the book. They were basically just infected humans. The book has a much larger socio-political message than the 'blow stuff up for the hell of it' that the previews seem to show.
ReplyDeleteHow is this the post that gets all the comments? For Real.
ReplyDeleteBrandon, the previews may have been misleading you.
There wasn't much blowing up of stuff, and none of it was "for the hell of it." The military blew up the bridges out of Manhattan to effect the quarantine. Will Smith blows some charges he has surrounding his house because it is are being overrun. Then he blows himself up in order to protect the woman he gave the vial of cure to. That I recall, no other blowing up of stuff occurred.
The vampires/zombies are just infected humans...who can't stand light and feed on the uninfected.
Its a pretty touching emotional movie, actually.
Ok, my husband and I just left probably 3/4 of the way through the movie, and I have to vent. I will be the first to tell you I am not a horror film fan - leaving was at my prompting - I couldn't take it. (We stayed through the dog-scene.)
ReplyDeleteAbout reading the ratings - it wouldn't help!!! This is a HORROR FILM, plain and simple. I read various reviews, which said suspenseful, psychological, emotional, sci-fi, etc. etc. - none of them were anywhere close to on target.
Seen "Event Horizon"? That scared me less than this. I'm 27 - I would *definitely* not take anyone under 17 to this movie, and even older than that only if they like boo-scary violence.
I'm sorry, but ratings have gotten so skewed that they're not even useful. Say the F-word, and you get an R. (15 years ago, "The Abyss" was rated R, mainly for language - I saw it when it came out, with parental guidance, of course. ;) But jump-out-and-scare-you cannibalistic zombies, blood smeared all over walls, hand-to-hand violence, and significant gun use (on humanoids)? Eh, PG-13. WHAT???!!!
I don't know whether "rating creep" is a partial cause or an effect of our increasing numbness to violence, but either way I think films and we as a society are the worse for it.
I'm glad to see a new commenter. Please don't get me wrong, but its a zombie movie so you might have expected " jump-out-and-scare-you cannibalistic zombies, blood smeared all over walls, hand-to-hand violence, and significant gun use." However I didn't realize it was only PG-13, which most parents would think of as fine to take young kids to see.
ReplyDeleteEvent Horizon was much more gory and freaky (eyes!) but still did not impress me. It just made me mad that the lame idea of one more godless scientist opening a gateway to hell.
Thanks for posting your blog. I haven't wanted to see the movie because I was afraid that the dog might die...I mean other than the main actor who is there to kill off. But now I feel better knowing. Also, your point about the kid and the parents is right on!
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