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Following in the footsteps of Vincent Price, Charlton Heston and Will Smith, Dacascos takes a crack at Richard Matheson's novel 'I Am Legend'. He plays Renchard, the last man on Earth (not strictly true). He has made his house into a nice little compound with wire fence and alarms to warn him of the lurking zombies. When one breaks in, he nips out and either gives them a good kicking in the chicken nuggets or goes for the headshot. He comes up with a quality plan of blowing up the city. What kind of explosives has this man got access to? Dee-na-mee-tay (watch Hoodwinked for an explanantion) is not going to cut the mustard. C4? Not really. Let's face facts, he needs a nuke. Which he hasn't got. Instead he straps some pathetic looking parcels to numerous telegraph poles around the city. That should do the trick.
The worst thing about the opening of the film are the zombies. Their faces look like halloween masks where you can blatantly see the circular opening around the eyes. As things progress, the make-up effects get better and by the end, the zombies are passable. It's as if they shot the film in continuity and were learning as they went along. Which they possibly were.
It would be very hard for one actor to sustain a whole film and it's not too long before we get introduced to a few more characters. Vincent and Mike are obviously dodgy from the first time they appear. At least Renchard has someone human to scrap with for variety. Love interest comes in the form of Brianna, (Jennifer Lee Wiggins) a survivor who possibly carries the solution to the whole zombie crisis in her veins.
Dacascos plays the character of Renchard as a fairly emotionless fellow, which is reasonable. Living with the constant threat of zombie-flavoured death attacks must have taken a toll on his mental state. Later on, when he meets Brianna, there is some chemistry between the two of them. (Don't get your hopes up. They don't get the retort stands and bunsen burners out and start making salt. Or soap.) Only then does he start to show some emotion. Let's face facts: he's the only reason to watch it.
4/10
evlkeith
(Average rating for the season so far = 5.6)
If you like this you could also try:
The Omega Man, The Last Man on Earth, I Am Legend (the book by Richard Matheson).
Just reading your review of this is better han the Will Smith version. This sounds like a classic in comparrison!
ReplyDeleteIt was enjoyable enough. Despite my expectations being pretty low for a film that was obviously made for £2.19, my expectations for the Will Smith version would be far lower. Wouldn't mind seeing it as some point though.
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