John Gallagher and I went to see "I Am Legend" today at the IMAX, and of course, the 6-minute preview of "The Dark Knight." What a difference from seeing it on a tiny computer screen!
The long sequence of the bank robbery started with a helicopter shot of Chicago that zeroed in on one high-rise, and I got vertigo as it flew over a street and the camera looked straight down. An impressive aerial shot followed some crooks rappelling across the chasm onto the bank's roof from a building across the street. After that, the IMAX advantage was lessened, as it became a regular heist story with lots of violence. Everything was just really BIG. The crooks all wore clown masks, so you never saw their faces. The very last clown pulled off his mask before escaping in a schoolbus, and it was Heath, looking wonderfully pasty and mad as a hatter. His line was almost covered by the music, but it sounded very un-Ennisy to say the least.
There was a quick look at him on the street as the Batmobile drove past him, then mostly shots of Batman on his motorcycle and standing on a rooftop (great, iconic shot). It ended with the Bat signal being smashed. The seriousness of the approach is what sets this and the other Christopher Nolan Batman film apart from the earlier, less realistic efforts. I like that it has more weight.
Oddly, there was absolutely no vocal crowd reaction to the Prologue. I had expected some fanboy cheering or some applause, but nothing. John thought that it was because everyone was so impressed, but I wondered if it was just because it's been so over-hyped that people were already kind of over it. My feeling about it was that it was well done, but it was still a standard shoot-em-up story. The trailer that's being shown in non-IMAX theaters actually has more of the Joker and is much more intriguing. THAT would have played really well on the IMAX screen. That first closeup of the Joker, 70 feet high, would be amazing.
We both liked "I Am Legend," mostly because we had a great time identifying all the New York locations and seeing how they'd made them look decayed and abandoned. Very impressive! Also, Will Smith did a terrific job with the character, at first showing his surface calm and self-sufficiency, then gradually revealing his inner terror and psychological pain. There were lots of holes in the story that John and I made a list of over dinner afterwards, but we both agreed it was worth the sixteen bucks.
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