Movie Review I Am Legend

I Am Legend (2007) 

Directed by Francis Lawrence

Written by Mark Protosevich, Akiva Goldsman

Starring Will Smith, Alice Brag, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok

Release Date December 14th, 2007

Published December 13th, 2007

Will Smith is the biggest star in the world for a reason. People just love this guy. It's an inexplicable kind of chemistry. He has that indefinable quality that draws people to him and that quality makes a big difference in his latest effort I Am Legend. Playing the last man in New York City, Smith is robbed of the tools that have made him a star. Gone is the charm, the timely quips lost on his only companion, his dog. Of course, he may not need his usual charm and quirks. After all I Am Legend has Will in his comfort zone, saving the world.

Dr. Robert Neville is resistant to both the air borne and blood borne virus that has in just three years wiped out most of the world's population. Those who weren't killed and weren't immune like Robert have mutated into bloodthirsty night dwellers who roam the streets in search of what fresh meat remains. Only Robert remains in New York City and he is a little lonely.

Spending his days hunting deer on Broadway and growing crops by the shore, and his nights trying to cure the virus, Robert is slowly going insane from the human void around him. Like Tom Hanks in Castaway, a movie I'm sure Robert has watched a dozen or so times, Robert longs for human contact and even begins infusing human qualities in inanimate objects.

Of course things don't stay this way. The mutants that Robert had thought were brain dead, bloodthirsty monsters are evolving in their hunt for blood and a confrontation is brewing between the scientist and the evil dead. Eventually, another human does arrive and they will make a stand together.

I Am Legend was directed by Francis Lawrence, a director who knows post-apocalyptic doom from his underrated work on the Keanu Reeves flick Constantine. I Am Legend leaves that film in the dust by depicting a decrepit world in ruins. The New York City of I Am Legend is like a second star of the film constantly vying for your attention.

Seeing the streets overgrown with weeds, the buildings moldered and dust covered, the streets covered in dirt, is truly mind blowing. Lawrence and his effects team create a stunningly realistic landscape for Smith and his undead friends to inhabit.

Ah, but Lawrence did not leave the direction to just the effects. He does a terrific job creating opportunities for Will Smith to do his action thing. The tense confrontations between Will and the bloodthirsty monsters are directed with so much tension and energy that you will watch through your fingers, slumping in your seat as your heart beats quickly.

This is a terrific piece of direction. Early on, as Will and his dog are chasing deer, the dog chases a fawn into a dark worn down building. We intuit quickly that the monsters can only thrive in the dark and that this is a dangerous situation. Using little light and some forced perspective camera work, Lawrence creates a fast paced, tension filled sequence.

I Am Legend is terrifically exciting and smarter and more thoughtful than you might expect from such a genre flick. Will Smith brings a number of fine character touches to Robert that make him real to us, real enough that we fear for him and are thus engulfed in his plight. For fans of both horror and action, I Am Legend is arguably the movie of the year. For the rest, it's a satisfying bit of Saturday night entertainment.

Movie Review Punisher Warzone

Punisher Warzone (2008) 

Directed by Lexi Alexander

Written by Nick Santora, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway 

Starring Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Julie Benz, Dash Mihok, Wayne Knight 

Release Date December 5th, 2008 

Published December 5th, 2008 

That sound you have been hearing for weeks as commercials aired for Punisher Warzone with the collective America all screaming "WHO" when the name Ray Stevenson was touted. Who the hell is Ray Stevenson? He was one of the stars of HBO's well respected series Rome.

Of course, that show never averaged more than 2 million viewers per airing in its two seasons and only 200,000 of those viewers are likely to be able to recognize good ol' Ray as Titus Pullo. So why does Lionsgate tout Ray Stevenson? Who knows.

They would have been much better off touting the film's extraordinary violence. Punisher Warzone cuts more throats, explodes more heads and spills more fake blood than any three of the Saw films combined. The perverse level of violence and the director's lingering camera as said violence commences reaches an almost entertaining level of kitsch.

Almost.

Ray Stevenson (Yes, that Ray Stevenson) stars as Frank Castle, an ex-special forces soldier whose family was killed in cold blood. Now he spends his days hunting the wicked and has set his sights on the local mob. Led by the sadistic Billy Russoti (Dominic West) this collection of mobsters are some of the most offensive goomba stereotypes in history.

Most of these Italian stereotypes are just cannon fodder for Frank who in the opening scenes swings into action slicing heads, necks and limbs. He is soon swinging upside down from a chandelier shooting a pair of guns that mow down a roomful of gangsters, murdering not just goombas but the laws of physics as well.

It comes down, of course, to a battle between Frank Castle and Russotti who by the end has been renamed Jigsaw, an affront to the exceptional baddie from the Saw movies. There are a couple of cops involved as well, Dash Mihok and Colin Salmon play a pair of the worst cops in movie history.

Director Lexi Alexander shows one thing in Punisher Warzone,  you don't have to be a man to record some seriously hardcore violence. Alexander in fact pushes beyond even her most perverse counterparts, leading one to wonder if her gender played a role in her choice to  include so much violence. If so, what was she trying to prove?

Punisher Warzone is violent in ways so outlandish you almost have to admire it. I don't admire it but I was mildly amused. Unfortunately, director Alexander fails to go for the full on kitsch and the movie bogs down when there isn't blood being spilt. That takes the film from so bad it's good to just plain bad.

Movie Review The Longshots

The Longshots (2008) 

Directed by Fred Durst 

Written by Nick Santora, Doug Atchison 

Starring Ice Cube, Keke Palmer, Dash Mihok, Tasha Smith, Matt Craven 

Release Date August 22nd, 2008 

Published August 21st, 2008 

"Zzzz" Zzzz" Huh, what. Oh. Right. I am reviewing The Longshots starring (Yawn) Ice Cube and Keke Palmer. "Zzzz" "Zzzz". Oh. Sorry. Even thinking about this sports movie snoozefest makes me nod off. It's not that The Longshots isn't appealing or well crafted, it's just not all that interesting. A girl quarterback is novel and the true story thing makes it more novel. Beyond that however, the film, directed by (I kid you not) former Limp Bizkit rocker Fred Durst, is a by the numbers sports movie filled with all of the uplift, pomp and circumstance typical to the genre.

Ice Cube stars as Curtis, a layabout former high school football stud whose life just didn't pan out. Now a neighborhood cautionary tale, Curtis is pushed by his sister to take an interest in his niece Jasmine. They have little in common. When one day Curtis tempts Jasmine into throwing the football with him he finds her surprisingly adept.

Curtis decides to nurture her talent and before long she is throwing with more power and accuracy than most boys her age. Curtis decides to get her a shot with a local pop warner team. Coach Warner (Matt Craven) is, not surprisingly, dubious of the girl's talent but is soon won over. The team stinks anyway, why not a girl quarterback. Jasmine gets a shot and whaddaya know, the team starts winning.

You can plot the rest of the movie in your head. There is a subplot with Jasmine's no good, deadbeat father. That plot, like the main sports story, plays out in just the same by the numbers fashion. Clearly, Fred Durst and writer Nick Santora have read their McKee books. They plot everything on a flow chart and never deviate. Predictability quickly gives way to boredom in The Longshots and boredom is a sin no film can survive.

Keke Palmer is a young actress with a very bright future. She however, needs to choose the right roles. Akeelah and the Bee, definitely the right role. The Longshots? Not so much. It's not that she doesn't perform well. It is rather that she is forgotten amidst the supremely dull presaged plot. No actress, no matter how engaging, can overcome a plot as rote and uneventful as that of The Longshots.

(Yawn) The Longshots is a devastatingly dull sports movie. Despite the very talented Keke Palmer and the likable Ice Cube, this movie was DOA. Director Fred Durst and writer Nick Santora doomed this project when they failed to find something more to do with this plot beyond adhering to every melodramatic, sports movie cliche in the book.