Directed by:
Francis LawrenceCinematography:
Andrew LesnieComposer:
James Newton HowardCast:
Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Willow Smith, Darrell Foster, April Grace, Dash Mihok, Steve Cirbus, Emma Thompson (more)VOD (1)
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Robert Neville is a brilliant scientist, but even he could not contain the terrible virus that was unstoppable, incurable, and man-made. Somehow immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and maybe the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone. Mutant victims of the plague - The Infected - lurk in the shadows... watching Neville's every move... waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered... and quickly running out of time. (Warner Bros. US)
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Reviews (13)
Right after setting my noise interference device to channel 4, I was engulfed in the great atmosphere of an empty New York. The scenery is really impressive and the silence, the silence (even above my noise interferer, the sound of crunching potato chips and giggling) is chilling. Frances Lawrence really approached this from the right direction. Will Smith acts very convincingly, despite the role not being... let’s say, right for him. Especially in the second half he shows that he is able to be serious too. As for the “vampires" or, if you will, the light-shy, I’m convinced that people in makeup could never look so vacant and inhuman. I certainly understand Lawrence’s idea to do them digitally, because like this they really terrified me. Even though I admit that they were far from perfect. But what prevents me from giving it five stars is the fact that the screenplay begins (especially toward the end) to behave too “American" and changes from before unseen into a clichéd genre with an inevitable ending. This might have worked before, but today at least I am unimpressed. Can’t a movie just end normally? And they should have translated the title in Czech properly. I’m adamant about that.
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The cartoonish abilities of the infected are a shame. They are so strong that they could perhaps shred an armoured car and so fast that they could leave Asafa Powell behind in a short sprint. That clashes a bit with the rest of the film, which is actually a kind of intimate story about the lonely life of a single survivor, his feelings and sadness. An "intimate piece" with phenomenal visual effects, it must be added, because you have never seen New York depopulated by digital magic like this before and you may not see it again for a long time in the future. This is a one-man show about a guy who hardly leaves the screen for the whole movie, and Will Smith proves that if you have the acting chops, you can sell it, even the poignant dialogue with the artificial mannequins in the shop window. Who would have guessed years ago that this Fresh Prince, who rapped to the world his wisdom about the 'gangstas' of the neighbourhood, would become such an acclaimed film star. Despite the pathetic ending, it was two interesting hours, although the lady sitting in the cinema behind me had words for it: "....more American crap." She clearly didn't mean it.
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A wasted opportunity that Francis Lawrence, Will Smith, the almost omnipresent atmosphere and primarily the opening thirty minutes mange to save by the skin of their teeth. It’s just that after that it has nothing more to offer. The befuddled result isn’t due to the absence of action or the somewhat laughable monsters. The blame falls on the screenwriters’ heads. I will ignore that the only thing that remained of the book is the initial idea, but nobody try to tell me that the screenplay for the hundred minutes of running time was more than three pages long. Shame on them if they wanted to get paid for it too. When nothing at all happens, not even the undeniable charisma of Will Smith can do much to save things. What makes it even worse is the utterly ridiculous ending (the “alternative", faithful to the spirit of the book makes the movie much better). A blockbuster that isn’t a popcorn and where you can hear the thoughts of (not only) Bob Marley. That’s a big plus. But the fact that in the end this is just an average watch, is no big plus at all.
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The atmosphere, which is as thick as pure gold, is considerably diluted in the middle by a) digital monstrosities b) black-ass agitation. Point a) is well balanced by Lawrence's strictly authentic directing and Smith's charisma, but unfortunately, point b) remains hanging in the air menacingly like a rotten crucifix. The raw and hopeless prelude directly tempts to leave it at it is, because the resulting depression would definitely be more impressive than a nice village with a church and God on a cloud. Despite the final "apage satanas", I enjoyed the film. If it wasn't afraid to stay in the declining genre, it could paradoxically be much higher. P.S. If it weren't for the coward producers, the alternative ending would have ironed out the final impression...
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In an amazing opening that reminds us that Lawrence is simply talented, you don't even think that a monumental betrayal is about to happen. The director is innocent in this because having to make something out of Akiva Goldsman's scripted nothingness is unenviable. It does give a few scenes a proper edge, and Will Smith's charisma works quite well, even if he’s not exactly comfortable in the dramatic scenes. However, the rest of it is a drawn-out boring 100 minutes. This was supposed to be a two-and-a-half-hour drama with proper action and fancy special effects, not a big-budget theatrical play with no balls. Someone forgot how to work with dramaturgy and let the creators of post-apocalyptic sci-fi and family soap opera onto the same set. This year, no film deserves the label of disappointment more than this one.
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