I Am Legend
So I went and saw I Am Legend today with some friends. Bad idea. Note, I don't get scared at movies, and this movie didn't make me scared either. I'm not afraid that from every corner something's going to jump out at me. I'm not afraid of the dark. I'm not afraid of anything right now. I am sad.
How is it that everyone else in the world who sees this movie will walk away anxious, confused, or worried, and I walk away about ready to bawl? Under the cut.
So Will Smith's character has a dog named Sam. Samantha, actually. This dog is a German Shepherd, and throughout the movie is portrayed very affectionately and kindly. It appealed to me, because I had a dog who I treated in roughly the same fashion that Will Smith treated Sam. His name was Alex.
Though no German Shepherd and not nearly as smart as this dog was, I loved Alex. I don't even think I realized how much I loved him. He was loyal, kind, caring, and I know that a lot of you are going to say, "he's just a dog." Shut up now or stop reading. He was my dog and he loved me and I loved him. There really is no way to express my relationship with this animal. Will Smith captured it perfectly.
About 3/4 of the way through the movie, after Will Smith has captured one of the "Darkseekers," there is a scene in which Will Smith is attacked by dogs infected with this rage virus. Earlier on, we learned that while Will is entirely immune to the virus, dogs are only immune to the airborne pathogen. In order to save Will's life, Sam enters into battle with infected dogs, and the pair emerges triumphant - only Sam has been bitten, scratched, and mauled by the dogs and is presumably infected. This is where I start to lose it.
Will takes the dog back to his lab to give him an antidote that we know had worked on an infected rat, but had failed miserably on an infected human. He picks up the severely weakened dog afterwards, and holds it closely as one would hold a sick and dying child. Tenderly he caresses and soothes the animal, even starting to sing a lullaby to it, praying in his mind that the vaccine will work. Then a lump of fur falls off in his hand - a telltale sign that it didn't work. Sam's loyalty is gone and she tries to snap at Will's face, only to have tear-ridden Will have to strangle the poor animal. No way to tie her down and no way to sedate her. We can hear the dog gasping in the background and scratching her claws on the tiles, while all we can see is a grief-stricken Will's face as he kills his only companion whom he loves. The next morning, he buries her.
Now, there are several things about this that remind me of Alex, not the least of which is the fact that we had to put him down. Primarily, the relationship that Will acted out with this dog was very close to the relationship I had with Alex. It brought back all sorts of memories I have of time spent with him. And then the death, with the limp dog completely helpless and hopeless lying around and trying to be saved...I couldn't help but be reminded of Alex, lying on the hospital table, heavily sedated, barely breathing, barely resembling the dog I'd known. It was the single most humiliating thing I'd seen from that dog, and just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.
I'm sorry, family, to make you re-live that, but now you know how I feel. How vividly those memories came streaming back, and how much I wish I could have him back.
Perhaps worse is the paper I just read for theology that discussed anthropology. As a side-note, it mentioned that because animals don't have the breath of God, they don't go to heaven. I'd been holding onto the fact that I'd see Alex again when I got to heaven as a sort of coping method - it's not goodbye forever, type of deal. But here this guy (who has obviously never owned any pets) is telling the world that animals don't go to heaven. I wish I could call bullshit on him, but he's the one with the doctorate degree. I dunno what to think now...
Overall, the movie was well-executed. It had a very Castaway-type feel to it, and there were several points where you could notice the lack of soundtrack. Everyone says it's about vampires, but it's not. It's about human folly. Already I can see the same type of scenario they're talking about in about a dozen other movies/TV shows, where man tried to improve itself too far and ended up swinging the pendulum back on itself. Will's acting was spot-on, and the screenplay was fantastic. If it weren't for Sam, I think I would have enjoyed that movie very much, but because of Sam, I don't think I ever want to see it again.
How is it that everyone else in the world who sees this movie will walk away anxious, confused, or worried, and I walk away about ready to bawl? Under the cut.
So Will Smith's character has a dog named Sam. Samantha, actually. This dog is a German Shepherd, and throughout the movie is portrayed very affectionately and kindly. It appealed to me, because I had a dog who I treated in roughly the same fashion that Will Smith treated Sam. His name was Alex.
Though no German Shepherd and not nearly as smart as this dog was, I loved Alex. I don't even think I realized how much I loved him. He was loyal, kind, caring, and I know that a lot of you are going to say, "he's just a dog." Shut up now or stop reading. He was my dog and he loved me and I loved him. There really is no way to express my relationship with this animal. Will Smith captured it perfectly.
About 3/4 of the way through the movie, after Will Smith has captured one of the "Darkseekers," there is a scene in which Will Smith is attacked by dogs infected with this rage virus. Earlier on, we learned that while Will is entirely immune to the virus, dogs are only immune to the airborne pathogen. In order to save Will's life, Sam enters into battle with infected dogs, and the pair emerges triumphant - only Sam has been bitten, scratched, and mauled by the dogs and is presumably infected. This is where I start to lose it.
Will takes the dog back to his lab to give him an antidote that we know had worked on an infected rat, but had failed miserably on an infected human. He picks up the severely weakened dog afterwards, and holds it closely as one would hold a sick and dying child. Tenderly he caresses and soothes the animal, even starting to sing a lullaby to it, praying in his mind that the vaccine will work. Then a lump of fur falls off in his hand - a telltale sign that it didn't work. Sam's loyalty is gone and she tries to snap at Will's face, only to have tear-ridden Will have to strangle the poor animal. No way to tie her down and no way to sedate her. We can hear the dog gasping in the background and scratching her claws on the tiles, while all we can see is a grief-stricken Will's face as he kills his only companion whom he loves. The next morning, he buries her.
Now, there are several things about this that remind me of Alex, not the least of which is the fact that we had to put him down. Primarily, the relationship that Will acted out with this dog was very close to the relationship I had with Alex. It brought back all sorts of memories I have of time spent with him. And then the death, with the limp dog completely helpless and hopeless lying around and trying to be saved...I couldn't help but be reminded of Alex, lying on the hospital table, heavily sedated, barely breathing, barely resembling the dog I'd known. It was the single most humiliating thing I'd seen from that dog, and just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.
I'm sorry, family, to make you re-live that, but now you know how I feel. How vividly those memories came streaming back, and how much I wish I could have him back.
Perhaps worse is the paper I just read for theology that discussed anthropology. As a side-note, it mentioned that because animals don't have the breath of God, they don't go to heaven. I'd been holding onto the fact that I'd see Alex again when I got to heaven as a sort of coping method - it's not goodbye forever, type of deal. But here this guy (who has obviously never owned any pets) is telling the world that animals don't go to heaven. I wish I could call bullshit on him, but he's the one with the doctorate degree. I dunno what to think now...
Overall, the movie was well-executed. It had a very Castaway-type feel to it, and there were several points where you could notice the lack of soundtrack. Everyone says it's about vampires, but it's not. It's about human folly. Already I can see the same type of scenario they're talking about in about a dozen other movies/TV shows, where man tried to improve itself too far and ended up swinging the pendulum back on itself. Will's acting was spot-on, and the screenplay was fantastic. If it weren't for Sam, I think I would have enjoyed that movie very much, but because of Sam, I don't think I ever want to see it again.