YALS 2008 literary competition winners
C1
Film Review
by Stefan Kostić, Lingva
''The last man on earth is not alone'' says the tagline of the Will Smith's newest film entitled I Am Legend, directed by Francis Lawrence, who before this project spent more time directing music videos for famous pop stars such as Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez. This masterpiece is the exact opposite of a newer film called Doomsday 2012, signed by quite unknown director Nick Everhart, who only recently started off in film industry by assisting on some low-budget projects.
I Am Legend tells the story of a former middle-aged military scientist, living alone in New York after a vaccine supposed to cure cancer turned into a lethal virus which mutated and annihilated the majority of mankind. He struggles, not only to find a cure but also to defend himself from Dark Seekers – deadly creatures made by the mutation. On the other hand, the plot for Doomsday is taken from a well known ''prophecy'' foretold by the ancient Mayas more than 1000 years ago, announcing that the apocalypse will come on 21st December 2012. The main part is dedicated to several people who felt that they should go to a Mayan temple on Yucatan penninsula to stop the armageddon, which is really uninventive and infantile in my oppinion.
Excluding the great story, I Am Legend was implemented by new-generation special effects, and the way of filming is stunning, which proves that director is a real talent. I was particularly impressed with the intro scene which shows the ''Big Apple'' completely empty and owerflown with plants and fierce animals. In contrast, the effects in Doomsday are rather poor and substandard, just like the acting which is uninspired, and the word horrible isn't strong enough to describe it.
Finally, taking into account both the budget and the cast, if you had to choose between these two, I am confident you would have no doubt, as this could be freely described as the ''battle between David and Goliath'' with a slight difference – Goliath is the absolute winner here.