December 11, 2007
Ravaged New York City is Ravishing!
We've been monitoring how I am Legend, the big budget post-apocalyptic zombie movie set in New York, will be portraying the Big Apple ever since filming took place on the Brooklyn Bridge (it eventually gets blown up). Now, with reviews starting to pop up, we're hearing mixed things about the movie but raves about how a futuristic people-less New York City looks.
The Observer's Sara Vilkomerson was freaked out, noting how the city is "desolate with grass growing up and over Park Avenue sidewalks, deserted cars abandoned in the streets, the only sound of life is the flock of birds flying overhead or the herds of deer going for a romp up Lexington (until one gets eaten by a lion, sigh)."
Variety says "the opening minutes are breathtaking in their haunting imagery. The setting is a desolate Manhattan, parts of it unchanged but others in ruins, upholstered in part by grass and weeds and with abandoned vehicles jammed together. Billboards for 'Hairspray,' 'Rent' and 'Wicked' still adorn Times Square, but the only living beings in evidence are some flying birds, a herd of stampeding deer and a family of lions stealthily hunting its dinner." Hey, Mr. deMille, deer and lions are ready for their close-up!
The Hollywood Reporter, though, couldn't quite suspend its disbelief about apocalyptic NYC: "All utilities work perfectly, which might come as a shock to New Yorkers who experience problems with water, gas or electricity when a full work force mans those departments." Ha!
I am Legend opens this Friday - are you getting ready to see it? The website offers apocalyptic views of Union Square, plus wallpapers of destroyed NYC.
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What about the L train? Is it still running, or do I have to use the Brooklyn Battery tunnel to get to Williamsburg?
It's about time they returned lions to Manhattan to get rid of that pesky deer population. Will the Knicks still be on at the garden?
Is it wrong that the first thing that pops into my head when I see post-apocalyptic NYC is how awesome the morning commute would be?
In the book, the animals get the disease too and there aren't really any.
Sounds like the setting to Vonnegut's novel Slapstick.
It's just wrong - and STILL too early, thank you.
Now, if it was an 'in ruin' LA...sign me up. All that plastic doesn't age.
Kind of like Manhattan on a hot August weekend. (Minus the lions of course -- they're in the Hamptons.)
why would there be lions in new york city? did they escape from the zoo?
We already saw Manhattan in the middle of a real life apocalypse. I don't think I'm going to want to see this on the screen just yet.
the book is awesome. this looks like a shitfest.
the dog is way adorable.
In the book, the animals get the disease too and there aren't really any.
Is this disease sexually transmitted?
...and in the book it's a irish guy living in Compton in the 70s.
If the city only had one black guy (and some deer and lions) in it, would it still be consider the hood or ghetto?
I think the vistas should be awesome, although the movie probably won't be. Who hasn't dreamt at one point of having Manhattan all to yourself? The High Line was like that once, but not anymore.
And what wallpapers are you talking about? There are no wallpapers on that site, just some very dark, nearly invisible backgrounds. Plus a really lousy navigation scheme and a near total lack of content. A trailer and some backgrounds do not a website make.
If a black guy is all alone, is he still black?
as long as there's a sun shining on him...and his sight is still intact...
Where's the Charlton Heston fans...
They should have waited for the Jean Nouvel tower at MOMA to go up. They could have saved tons of dough on location shoots.
I was at the premiere last night and the movie was great.
There are some nice shots of NYC locales -- Grand Central Station, Washington Square Park, etc. --- suprisingly no subway scenes though based upon the film's premise, there's no way the Will Smith character would ever step foot into the subway.
I was going to nitpick about the scene on the USS Intrepid because the ship is currently drydocked somewhere else but I just googled it and it suppose to return in 2008, 1 year before the time frame of the movie.
If I was trapped in NYC with a bunch of mutated zombie-vampire creatures, I would be staying at Governor's Island with thousands of feet of water between me and them.
I havn't seen the film yet, but I'm intrigued by how much the abandoned City seems more of a central character, rather than a backdrop. I walked from the top of Central Park down to Chelsea the day after 9/11, and found surprising comfort in the stoic beauty of a completely abandoned Time Square- a part of town I usually avoid at all costs.