I Am Legend (Widescreen Single-Disc Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: Francis Lawrence
Actors: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $28.98
Buy Used: $5.05
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Rating:  583 reviews
Sales Rank: 732
Format: Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 100
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 1000023980
UPC: 085391139621
EAN: 0085391139621
ASIN: B0013FDM7E
Theatrical Release Date: December 14, 2007
Release Date: March 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: DVD has been TESTED & PLAYS FINE. 100% guaranteed against defects. Contact us within 7 days if there is any defect, and we will gladly refund your purchase. Our standard shipping method is USPS First Class. If you upgrade shipping we use USPS Priority Mail. Your satisfaction is our goal. We look forward to helping you!
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Amazon.com
Will Smith stars in the third adaptation of Richard Matheson's classic science-fiction novel about a lone human survivor in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by vampires. This new version somewhat alters Matheson's central hook, i.e., the startling idea that an ordinary man, Robert Neville, spends his days roaming a desolated city and his nights in a house sealed off from longtime neighbors who have become bloodsucking fiends. In the new film, Smith's Neville is a military scientist charged with finding a cure for a virus that turns people into crazed, hairless, flesh-eating zombies. Failing to complete his work in time--and after enduring a personal tragedy--Neville finds himself alone in Manhattan, his natural immunity to the virus keeping him alive. With an expressive German shepherd his only companion, Neville is a hunter-gatherer in sunlight, hiding from the mutants at night in his Washington Square town house and methodically conducting experiments in his ceaseless quest to conquer the disease. The film's first half almost suggests that I Am Legend could be one of the finest movies of 2007. Director Francis Lawrence's extraordinary, computer-generated images of a decaying New York City reveal weeds growing through the cracks of familiar streets that are also overrun by deer and prowled by lions. It's impossible not to be fascinated by such a realistically altered cityscape, reverting to a natural environment, through which Smith moves with a weirdly enviable freedom, offset by his wariness over whatever is lurking in the dark of bank vaults and parking garages. Lawrence and screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman wisely build suspense by withholding images of the monsters until a peak scene of horror well into the story. It must be said, however, that the computer-enhanced creatures don't look half as interesting as they might have had the filmmakers adhered more to Matheson's vampire-nightmare vision. I Am Legend is ultimately noteworthy for Smith's remarkable performance as a man so lonely he talks to mannequins in the shops he frequents. The film's latter half goes too far in portraying Smith's Neville as a pitiable man with a messianic mission, but this lapse into bathos does nothing to take away from the visual and dramatic accomplishments of its first hour. --Tom Keogh
Product Description
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.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC: 085391139621 Manufacturer No: 1000023980
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| Customer Reviews: Read 578 more reviews...
 DEATHDAY BY E. BRUCE IS BETTER! July 21, 2008
Deathday by Eugene Bruce would be better! Maybe, maybe not, who knows - but being an impoverished author i won't apologise for shamelessly promoting my debut novel Deathday by Eugene Bruce - I'd very much appreciate you checking it out that's DEATHDAY by EUGENE BRUCE - I love you America!
 I loved the alternate version of the film! July 20, 2008
The movie, I Am Legend starring Will Smith, is based somewhat loosely on Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name. Now, most people don't know who Richard Matheson is, but this is the writer who influenced both Stephen King and Dean Koontz where they were teenagers, not to mention thousands of other kids, myself included. This was the man who wrote some of the most famous Twilight Zone episodes of the sixties, especially Nightmare at Thirty Thousand Feet. This is the author of the famous horror novel, Hell House, which was also turned into a film. Flipping the coin over, Matheson is author of the famous romance novel, Bid Time Return, and this was also turned into a major motion picture, though most people know it as Somewhere In Time. There's also the novel and movie, What Dreams May Come. Richard Matheson is therefore one of the greatest writers of the last half of the Twentieth Century. Without him, we might not have had Stephen King and Dean Koontz writing such brilliant books.
I Am Legend with Will Smith is the third adaptation of Matheson's novel, and Mr. Smith does a truly excellent job of portraying the lead character Robert Neville, capturing his aloneness and near insanity at being quite possibly the only human being alive. Neville was the military doctor experimenting with new drugs and viruses in the hope of finding a cure for cancer. What was discovered, however, wiped out most of the human population, while changing those still alive into flesh-eating zombies, or vampires, that move at a tremendous speed and seemed to be filled with an incurable amount of rage and violence. Because the creatures can't survive in the sunlight, Neville has control of the day when he and his German Shepard go out hunting for food and raiding the nearby DVD store. Neville is also still searching for a vaccine that will cure the symptoms of the virus. He uses zombies that he's captured, and the testing usually results in their deaths. The night, however, is totally controlled by the creatures, and Neville must always be home by dark in order to barricade himself inside his Washington Square apartment with its reinforced doors and window shutters. In time a confrontation is inevitable between Neville and the creatures, and this in turn eventually escalates into a full-blown battle at between life and death at the end.
I had mixed feeling about the movie when I first saw it at the theater. When the Two-Disc Special Edition came out, I found myself enjoying the longer alternate version with a different ending. I think the director, Francis Lawrence, and the Special Effects people did a fabulous job of creating New York City a few years down the road after the plague has done its nasty work, showing the desolate streets with non-moving cars and trash lining the curbs and weeds growing out of the pavement. And, Will Smith, plays perfectly to this setting, creating a character that is near the end of his rope and talks to mannequins in the DVD store as a way of keeping himself from going crazy, then goes berserk when one of the mannequins shows up in a different location. Unlike a lot of viewers, I loved the creatures. The scene where Smith has to go into the basement of a bank to find his dog and runs into a group of them standing together in a group had me dropping popcorn all over my lap. I felt myself in the darkness with him as well as the strong fear that he was experiencing. This is definitely one of the best horror scenes done in the last few years.
I believe the Two-Disc Special Edition with a longer version of the film and an alternate ending is the way to go. I do have to say that other than a different version of the movie, there isn't much else offered that I cared about. The makers of the DVD set could've done a feature on the long history of I Am Legend with an in-depth interview from Richard Matheson and a more detailed look at the making of the film. That will probably come in a later edition somewhere down the road. Anyway, this is a good, fun movie with some superb acting by Will Smith.
Solid; Stunning; Real July 20, 2008
Based on the book by Richard Matheson, I Am Legend is the story of Robert Neville (Will Smith), sole survivor of a plague that, originally, was supposed to be a miracle cure for cancer three years before. Instead, most of the world died at the hands of the plague. Others mutated into bloodthirsty vampiric creatures; only a small percentage of humankind remained immune to the disease.
All alone in New York, virologist Neville tries to find a cure and "fix" the problem that stole the lives of everyone he knew and everyone he loved, while also trying to survive in a city infested with the infected and ferocious monsters.
Straight from the start you know you're in for a ride.
An empty city, overgrown and broken down.
A lone guy speeding through the streets in a fancy car, weapon at his side.
Animals prowling the streets, free of their cages.
The lock up.
The screams.
The howls.
Yeah, good stuff.
The intense feeling of atmosphere was what drew me into this flick. Immediately isolation sets in right from the first frame as we see Neville trying to maintain a normal life in a dead city (renting movies, talking to mannequins, keeping a routine), his eyes washed with pain yet underscored with determination to keep on going. This is a one-man show and I haven't seen it done so well since Cast Away (one of my favorite movies) years and years ago.
No complaints about Will Smith here and he's done a good job over his career to make you forget about the loud-mouthed homeboy he played in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Plus, did you see the guy in this film? He's ripped! Shredded. But, I guess, you'd have to be if you lived a world where vampire-zombie-human things prowled the streets and your life could be in jeopardy at the drop of a hat if you weren't too careful.
Which brings me to the monsters in question. Overall, well done. Creepy skin, no hair, loud growls, amazing agility and intensely vicious. Yeah, killer. Obviously they were CGI so they did look a tad rubbery and there were a few moments where it felt I was looking at a cartoon. Thankfully, those moments happened so fast and the action was so intense that I quickly forgot my quibble and moved on.
My only thing was the ending. Now, I never read the book so I can't compare, but it ended too abruptly and really lost its post-apocalyptic feel in the last five minutes or so. Sort of a Disney ending, which didn't fit in with what was a gloomy story up until that point.
Regardless, if someone asked me what I thought of this film, I'd tell them to go see it.
It's that good.
Fantastic, edge-of-the-seat, sci-fi thriller July 19, 2008
At the end of the movie you fail to realise it was just one man, Will Smith in most of the scences and yet the movie is neither boring, or lacking in elements that make for a great thriller. One stunning aspect of the movie is the great art direction. New York is bathed in vegetation and ruins that it is impossible to say it was a set. The scale of this set, whether it was computer aided or not, was breathtaking. However CG work on the zombies was poor. They looked too phony. In an era where special fx has been perfected to a science the zombies were unacceptable.
Will Smith's role, the story, screenplay and action were superb indeed. The way a lonely scientist lives to preserve his sanity, by play-acting - talking to the mannequins in the store as though they were real people, renting and returning DVD's besides other activities such as talking to his dog, saying the lines of the film, singing songs, cooking and not forgetting excersising are all very well done. The concept of defending himself from the zombies at night was also very cleverly and painstakingly done.
Two very thrilling points in the movie are 1. Smith's first confrontation with the zombies (for those who haven't seen the trailers it is a terrific relevation at that point) and 2. The sighting of the mannequin on the road and the scenes that follow when the zombies trick him and later attack him.
One question that lingered in my mind was why didn't Will Smith not test animals that survived the epidemic and find out a cure from their blood instead of testing himself and the zombies. The animals seemed to have survived the calamity perfectly.
Bob Marley's songs were another sweet plus to a movie as this. Redemption Song played at the end of the movie was the icing on the cake.
An alternative ending is being circulated on the net but this one in the original is certainly better. Full marks and highly recommended.
Legendary July 18, 2008
I recently purchased a new computer with a blu-ray disc drive and have a 22" screen. Though it is small you can really tell the difference from standard definition TV and movies. Blu-ray really is the way to go when it comes to the high def experience. It is only if have an HDTV... without one get the standard TV. As for the movie, well it was very enjoyable. They do play down the vampirism that the book describes but for the long run the movie is very entertaining. Will smith portrays the protector of humanity in this epic film about humanity's demise at its own hands. We believe to much in our superiority over nature and believe that we can alter DNA, splice genes and make other genetic modifications and then release these new things into the world without the slightest clue as to what will happen once they start to interact with the natural environment. Will Smith is our last hope... is humanity finished?
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