Urban nature horror movie questions
Sep. 13th, 2008 06:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanPossibly this post better belongs at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
soylent_screen , but since my questions have to do with urban nature, as represented in this film, I decided to ask them here. My questions have to do with the most recent adaptation of I Am Legend starring Will Smith which came out last year. I'm not planning on discussing how good it is as an adaptation of the novel (which seems to be a point of criticism) nor do I wish to compare it to other film adaptations (The Last Man on Earth 1964, Omega Man 1971, 28 Days Later 2002). My questions are slightly spoilery, so I'm putting them behind a cut.
The first thing I noticed about post-virus New York City, is that there are weeds growing out of the roads. I thought this was very cool, and then paid close attention to the timeline in the flashbacks. The virus release happens about two and half years before the main action of the movie. I found the level of weed growth to be plausible. I was disappointed with the vagueness of the rendering of the weeds, but all the cgi in this movie was pretty vague--the weeds, the deer, the lions, the monsters, they all were about as detailed as the background of a Grand Theft Auto game. Specifically, I wanted to see some Ailanthus saplings here and there, but I should be happy that there were weeds at all. I haven't seen that done in any post apocalypse movie that I can think of . Have you seen this done anywhere? I'd gladly act as a weed consultant for any filmmaker planning on it.
Now then, the deer: Also a cool detail. One problem. The movie takes place on Manhattan Island, which has been isolated by the army destroying the bridges to it. Are there any deer on Manhattan island today? A small herd in Central Park perhaps? It seems unlikely, since New Yorkers act like it's a major event when a freaking hawk nests in the city, and they go ballistic when they find a coyote in town. Deer would probably get them to send the National Guard in. Maybe they are escaped zoo animals.
Which brings me to the lions. Our hero is frustrated in his deer hunt when a pair of lions capture his intended prey. They never say so (which I appreciate) but we have to assume these lions escaped from Central Park Zoo sometime almost immediately after the virus release. Assuming they ate some zoo animals, and some central park prey, I think it's plausible that two African lions could survive two years on Manhattan Island. They would have suffered through the two winters, but hey, there used to be lions in Northern Europe, so it's not impossible. Are the lions and the deer the only animals to escape from the zoo? Probably. For all I know there are extra stories written around what happened at the zoo after the virus release, in comic books or dvd extras or whatever. Maybe the crazed human victims released the lions by throwing their nearly indestructible bodies against the exhibit glass until it broke. Maybe a crazed zookeeper released them when they realized that they were trapped on the island, and wanted their beloved lions to survive (oops, better release the deer, too, so the lions don't starve to death).
Now then, when Will Smith is trying to commit zombie-induced suicide, and is saved by the lady and her son, I wasn't thinking at the time "hey, how the hell did she get on the island?" But I'm thinking it now. For that matter, how'd she get off the island and back on the expressway up to Vermont? And do they really think those walls are zombie-proof? Those things are like berzerk treefrogs, they can get anywhere (except into a coal chute).
And yes, I'm calling them zombies, even though they can be asphixiated, shot, and poisoned to death, because that's what they basically are. Let's not split hairs or make up new words for things we already have words for.
The reason I enjoyed this movie, despite these nagging questions, is that I wasn't thinking of the questions during the movie. It had me in enough suspense that it didn't break the spell. Will Smith being Will Smith broke the spell a little bit, but I expected that.
soylent_screen , but since my questions have to do with urban nature, as represented in this film, I decided to ask them here. My questions have to do with the most recent adaptation of I Am Legend starring Will Smith which came out last year. I'm not planning on discussing how good it is as an adaptation of the novel (which seems to be a point of criticism) nor do I wish to compare it to other film adaptations (The Last Man on Earth 1964, Omega Man 1971, 28 Days Later 2002). My questions are slightly spoilery, so I'm putting them behind a cut.The first thing I noticed about post-virus New York City, is that there are weeds growing out of the roads. I thought this was very cool, and then paid close attention to the timeline in the flashbacks. The virus release happens about two and half years before the main action of the movie. I found the level of weed growth to be plausible. I was disappointed with the vagueness of the rendering of the weeds, but all the cgi in this movie was pretty vague--the weeds, the deer, the lions, the monsters, they all were about as detailed as the background of a Grand Theft Auto game. Specifically, I wanted to see some Ailanthus saplings here and there, but I should be happy that there were weeds at all. I haven't seen that done in any post apocalypse movie that I can think of . Have you seen this done anywhere? I'd gladly act as a weed consultant for any filmmaker planning on it.
Now then, the deer: Also a cool detail. One problem. The movie takes place on Manhattan Island, which has been isolated by the army destroying the bridges to it. Are there any deer on Manhattan island today? A small herd in Central Park perhaps? It seems unlikely, since New Yorkers act like it's a major event when a freaking hawk nests in the city, and they go ballistic when they find a coyote in town. Deer would probably get them to send the National Guard in. Maybe they are escaped zoo animals.
Which brings me to the lions. Our hero is frustrated in his deer hunt when a pair of lions capture his intended prey. They never say so (which I appreciate) but we have to assume these lions escaped from Central Park Zoo sometime almost immediately after the virus release. Assuming they ate some zoo animals, and some central park prey, I think it's plausible that two African lions could survive two years on Manhattan Island. They would have suffered through the two winters, but hey, there used to be lions in Northern Europe, so it's not impossible. Are the lions and the deer the only animals to escape from the zoo? Probably. For all I know there are extra stories written around what happened at the zoo after the virus release, in comic books or dvd extras or whatever. Maybe the crazed human victims released the lions by throwing their nearly indestructible bodies against the exhibit glass until it broke. Maybe a crazed zookeeper released them when they realized that they were trapped on the island, and wanted their beloved lions to survive (oops, better release the deer, too, so the lions don't starve to death).
Now then, when Will Smith is trying to commit zombie-induced suicide, and is saved by the lady and her son, I wasn't thinking at the time "hey, how the hell did she get on the island?" But I'm thinking it now. For that matter, how'd she get off the island and back on the expressway up to Vermont? And do they really think those walls are zombie-proof? Those things are like berzerk treefrogs, they can get anywhere (except into a coal chute).
And yes, I'm calling them zombies, even though they can be asphixiated, shot, and poisoned to death, because that's what they basically are. Let's not split hairs or make up new words for things we already have words for.
The reason I enjoyed this movie, despite these nagging questions, is that I wasn't thinking of the questions during the movie. It had me in enough suspense that it didn't break the spell. Will Smith being Will Smith broke the spell a little bit, but I expected that.
