*warning*
If you’d rather not hear details of the movie,
stop reading now.
I won’t reveal the end, but . . .
Onward!
Woo-hoo! Someone invented a viral cure for cancer. Wow! Many, many lives will be saved . . . unless something goes wrong - and it does . . . .
Memorable quote: ”Did it jump? Is it airborne?”
This bad ass virus has a 90% kill ratio. Less than 1% of the global population is immune. The remaining 9% become . . . those that prowl at night . . . those that feed on the 1%.
Take your standard Night of the Living Dead zombie, inject brain cells, give them super human strength, and make them angry. THIS is what Will Smith has to contend with. Anybody looking to get a glimpse of what an urban SHTF keep should look like HAS to see this movie. Picture a sweet genny set up (generator), secure basement lab (doubles as safe room), a SHTF food stockpile that’s superb, large steel plates for all windows and doors, and a utility closet to die for.
I’m typically a harsh movie critic. I think most of the stuff out there today is junk. This, however, was good - real good. Call me biased, because I operate SHTFblog, but whatever - it was well done, Smith’s acting, the action, special effects, and story line.
The virus moved quickly and New York City was put under quarantine. The military blew the bridges and sealed off access and exit points letting only a few of those not yet infected pass through as everyone bum rushed the gates. One woman, clearly infected, screams to Smith, “Take my baby!” *crying* “Take my baby!” He doesn’t . . he can’t . . he has all he can do to get his own family out. This scene reminded me of the “take my baby” comment found in the SHTF classic book, Lucifer’s Hammer, as the post-asteroid / cataclysm madness sets in, and a woman throws her child into the main character’s car. The baby in that story . . . was already dead.
I am Legend starts 3 years post TEOTWAWKI onset. Smith sends out a radio signal on all a.m. radio stations daily in hopes of finding someone else, some other human, left alive. Three years without another soul around . . . I’m thankful they played up the crazed state-of-mind one would expect to set in living under such conditions. Smith fills this roll well as he continues his work to find a cure. His only connection to sanity is his faithful dog that his daughter handed to him as a puppy when she boarded the government chopper. Smith then goes nutso when his dog gets chewed up and he has to kill it himself . . . it became infected.
I’ll leave the rest for you to find out on your own, but check it out.
Are there any SHTF lessons we can learn from this movie? Yes, there are:
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When staring an enemy zombie in the face, and you have a rifle in your hands, put the zombie down! Otherwise it’ll come back to haunt you.
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When moving in the land of zombies, always, ALWAYS keep your sidearm on you. When it’s in your vehicle, it’s of no use to you.
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Get a hand pump for removing gasoline from underground tanks.
Other memorable quotes:
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“I like Shrek.”
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“God didn’t do this, Anna. We did.”
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“Daddy, look at the butterfly.”
Ranger Man reporting for SHTF Entertainment News.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Chuck in Vt // Dec 15, 2007 at 8:58 pm
I am commenting on a comment from a couple days ago. Someone asked about outhouses in a garden shack and you also noted that you are trying to build up your soil (hear me out frist). Rev. Dr. J.D. Hooker writes some amazing articles on the subject. He wrote one about pressing farm manure and bedding into bricks to burn in the wood stove, then using the very sterile ashes in his garden.. The same thing coud also work with human waste…. Food for thought. It is all about recycling. A composting toilet using saw dust could also be used in home generation of natural gas, all the rave in third world countried. After processed, could then be made into fire wood, then the ashes used in the garden. Better than using a snowball to wipe!
Chuck in Vt
2 Ranger Man // Dec 15, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Thanks, Chuck in VT. I just wish you’d posted that comment under the original post so others checking for information there could see it.
That being said, those are great ideas. I also know that in the Himalayas they burn yak “chips” in stoves to stay warm.
You might also like to know that in “I am Legend” Vermont is THE place to be.
3 GeologyJoe // Dec 16, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Chuck, that really brings new meaning to the term “built like a brickshit house”
As for LEGEND, I really liked the way silence was used in the movie to build suspense, rather than music.
4 Daniel W. // Dec 16, 2007 at 9:16 pm
I just saw this movie today, it WAS good!
At times I thought he should have practiced getting better with that m16 instead of golf, but…
Great movie, nicely done effects, good use of suspense and nice action. Really good, I’ll definitely buy it when it’s on dvd.
I too was impressed with his food stores, steel plates for all entrances, booby traps, safe room/lab & mini-arsenal. Well done.
5 Luis in Utah // Dec 25, 2007 at 5:55 am
movie was greatly done. will smith is a great actor. but, he’s been living 3 years with electricity just from pumping out gas from gas stations…. ive never been to NY but maybe theres millions of them so that he almost has an endless suppl of gas i guess. and also, couldnt he had been driving something more-gas efficient- than the shelby or the SUV (can’t remember, was it an Expedition?)
i did also enjoy the silence instead of music for the suspense.
I also enjoyed they showed his crazy and lonely state of mind…. how he talked to the manaquins and his dog.
also… the house, even though lightly fortified was all tore up when the zombies got through it… couldnt he had been living at that aircraft carrier instead? I’m no scientist but something tells me that metal is harder to break than wood…. i know he had an emotional connection to the house because of the kids room but, couldn’t he have locked it up and left to the ship? after all… he was there all the time and that is where he waited for uninfected people to show up right?
I also liked how they showed the streets with growing plants throught the roads because they were unattended.
but, how did he keep running water at his house? maybe they showed it but i dont remember that… doesn’t water usually come from a water plant, powered by electricity, which at the time, the only electricity available was at his house?
also with all his high tech equipment and stuff… you would think that that ballistic shield safe room he had would have a certain way to defend once inside… ya know? like a gun mounted on the glass or maybe UV lamps like the ones he used so much throughout the movie… hum…that could have saved his life.
why didnt he set up more traps so that slowly but surely the zombies kept dying, or maybe sniping them out or something like that…
overall. great movie. If I were him, I would have done some things differently but at least it’s a start… theres not may “survival” movies out there.
I would like to add to the list of great quotes from it:
“c’mon if you’re going to throw me a party just tell me, I’ll act surprised!” LMFAO.
“dammit frank! how did you get out here!?”
“I was saving that bacon!”
“eat your vegetables!”
6 MrAdam // Jan 12, 2008 at 11:47 am
Great movie. I was kinda put out by how quickly it ended, but the book ends quickly too, and in a SHTF situation things can go downhill in a hurry.
Not too sure about the gas generator setup. All that gasoline sitting in those station tanks… wouldn’t it go bad? Those tanks aren’t sealed, they are vented. My gas starts to lacquer over in a lot less than 3 years!
Overall, we can learn several things from Legend, Do’s AND Don’ts.
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