After 24-48 hours, the light pollution stopped.
Two days later, without a continuously working pumping system, the New York subway was completely flooded. The city became a swamp country due to congested pipelines.
Seven days later, the nuclear reactor was destroyed by fire and high temperature due to the failure of the water cooling system. The city's circulation system was paralyzed, and emergency backup energy was exhausted.
After 3 months, air pollution began to decrease.
A year later, the high-voltage power grid cooled, thousands of migratory birds flew back to the city, and parasites that depended on humans began to disappear.
Two to four years later, in big cities like New York, the streets are overrun by weeds, and the roots of street trees grow up and down to ravage defunct sewer systems.
Three years later, because there was no heating, all the pipes in the cold zone burst and the building began to collapse. Cockroaches died one after another.
Ultimately, most of New York will be incinerated, and Manhattan will be flooded and muddy. Damaged streets are submerged in water. The steel submerged in the water began to melt, and the rails disappeared. Crops that have been improved by humans have lost their living space under the attack of weeds.
However, if in such an environment, there is still one person in the world, what will he do?
So the movie "I Am Legend" appeared, showing us such a state of existence with only one person. The film explained in a few minutes with a brief description, because scientists unreasonably created a new anti-cancer drug virus, claiming to be able to completely eliminate cancer. Unfortunately, this virus has wiped out humans. In this way, the camera turned - three years later, Robert, the protagonist played by Will Smith, drove a sports car with his dog Sam, driving on the streets of New York that had been turned into ruins. In this way, he is the only one in the world.
The highlight lies in the scenes in the first half of the movie, showing us Robert's life alone in the world. This movie sets us a kind of movie that is different from other one-man shows, a kind of true "one man only".
All of us may have been exposed to the desert island type of movie, the scene is set in the plane crash or shipwreck, only the protagonist drifts to the deserted and deserted island, and begins the journey of survival alone. There is also a new sci-fi movie Moon, which was released last year. The background is that an astronaut is sent to the moon to perform an exploration mission and lives alone for a long time. But the protagonists of the above films are all with the belief of persevering in survival and perseverance, because they know clearly in their hearts that sooner or later they will be able to return to normal human society, and only with hope can they be motivated.
The film's background setting is by no means like that. Humans have paid a heavy price for the mistakes they have made. The virus has wiped out the vast majority of human beings. People infected with the virus and not dead have turned into monsters and can only come out at night, while the protagonist Robert somehow has the knowledge of the virus. immunity survived. The only one who lives with him is Sam, the dog his youngest daughter left to him before she died. The New York he faced was a dead city, and I am afraid that there would be no other surviving human beings in the whole world. The world left him, it seems that there is really no hope, but he is still alive. I often think that if I were in his situation, maybe it would be hard for me to be motivated to live. If it were me, I might go crazy in a few days. He persisted for three years under such conditions - only one man and one dog.
Loneliness is worse than death. The high-rise buildings are still there, but no one lives there; the street is still the same street, but the busy scene of people coming and going has long been replaced by grass and grass; vehicles are scattered on the side of the road, and wild animals are running through the street from time to time. Out. If there is no trace of people in the forest, you may just be afraid and eager to escape and return to the city. It's a pity that no one else exists in the city anymore. Death is at hand.
He has always said to himself that his job is to guard the city, even if no one has ordered him now, he has always adhered to this belief, and he is determined to find a way to cure the virus and save mankind. This seemingly impossible purpose supports his lonely existence day after day.
In such an environment, he alone builds his own world to pass the time. He hunted everywhere during the day, looking for food and trying to find other people who might be there. He was always practicing golf on the aircraft carrier. He could watch the same movie over and over, and he could even recite every line himself.
He also always went to a DVD rental shop to borrow DVDs, placed a lot of mannequins inside and outside the store, and then pretended that they were alive to greet and talk to them, imagining that he was with many customers and shop assistants. Speak here. The most interesting thing is that he even took a beautiful-looking model dummy as the object of his secret crush, and talked about her to his dog Sam, and seemed shy and didn't dare to go up to chat with her. People are always social creatures, and the characteristics of group are firmly imprinted in everyone's heart. So, Robert has been trying to build his own world. His behavior at that DVD rental shop exemplifies this. Facing a store without anyone, he did not simply take the CD away, but borrowed it every day as in a normal society, and then returned it after reading it. He didn't mean to abide by morality or something, but just In order to create a small society for myself, to relieve the loneliness in my heart.
Every day at noon, he went to the pier, sending out constant messages on shortwave radio, looking for other people who might be alive. This made me think, isn't there a similar thing now: scientists on earth are constantly sending various signal waves into the universe to find life on other planets. This is entirely an attempt based on an unknown source of discovery. Although it is possible, who knows when there will be an echo. Robert also persistently used experimental mice to do antibody tests, trying to extract his own antibodies to find a way to cure the virus. However, if he doesn't do this, what else can he do to prove that he is still alive.
And when the sun went down and the night came, he had to lock every door and window of the house, and slept in the bathtub with his dog Sam in his arms, despite the howls from the darkness outside. Sam was like his servant, the only friend who could always be with him, and because it was left by his daughter, he was also a relative to some extent. Arguably, he wouldn't have lived this long without Sam's company.
But the world always creates surprises. Finally one day, Robert mistakenly fell into the trap set by the mutant monster. The bait is just a mannequin that Robert puts in the DVD rental shop. In my opinion, the reason why just the movement of a dummy can make him so angry is because it destroys the small world he created. He has lived alone for so long, and his character has become more old-fashioned. He doesn't know how to adapt to the changes, because in his view, the world is dead and there is no change. This can also be seen in later episodes.
When he was escaping from the trap, he was chased by the perverted dog released by the perverted monster. Sam was unfortunately bitten by the perverted dog in order to save him. Robert took it home in an attempt to cure it. When he was holding Sam, he checked Sam's teeth and saw that the teeth were starting to grow and the eyes started to look strange. He knew that Sam was also infected and he had to strangle Sam himself. He sang, with tears in his eyes, and his world fell apart. If it is said that his survival for more than 1,000 days before is due to the strength and other beliefs he has cultivated in the army, he is absolutely inseparable from the company of Sam. The next day, he buried Sam, drove to the monster at night, rampaged, but in his heart he wanted to die, and at this moment he couldn't bear Sam's departure. Loneliness is terrifying, but after a long period of loneliness, a person may gradually adapt to the current environment, but the slightest change again arouses his anger, not to mention the departure of his dog.
Here in my opinion, the movie is over. Although later, Robert was rescued by the other two survivors, and even a series of fights with monsters later. There are even two versions of the movie's ending, but in my opinion, two versions of the ending already means there is no ending. The latter plot is just to finish the story and present the audience with a seemingly complete story.
What this film really wants to describe is actually just a person's various psychological states and behaviors when faced with "when there is only one person in the world". Will Smith's acting talent can completely control the atmosphere of the whole film. "When there is only one person in the world", this situation may not be possible, but it gives us a new kind of thinking to consider where the true meaning of our life is. How to save the despair and pain caused by loneliness?
(This film review was originally written on February 8, 2010 and posted on the HDC Outer Station Forum)
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