Any chance of banning Will Smith from the whole SF genre?!
Question: Lets face it: I,Robot was a terrible film and so was I Am Legend.
They are both amazing books and are pretty much SF classics, but again, the films majorly sucked.
There are some good book-2-film pieces out there, just not any with Will Smith in it.
In both films he tried to play a serious part, which is definitely not something he is good at. He's a loud-mouthed easy going funny guy, and he has played that role very well over the course of his career. So why the change in parts? I don't know, but he's seriously dragging down some good classic characters.
I hear that they're making Ender's Game into a film in 2009, and I can just guess that he's gonna jump for a part the first chance he gets. Luckily the adults in this story do not have very major parts, but you can still see it being screwed up by Will Smith.
Please tell me that I'm not the only one who's worried.
Answers: Lets face it: I,Robot was a terrible film and so was I Am Legend.
They are both amazing books and are pretty much SF classics, but again, the films majorly sucked.
There are some good book-2-film pieces out there, just not any with Will Smith in it.
In both films he tried to play a serious part, which is definitely not something he is good at. He's a loud-mouthed easy going funny guy, and he has played that role very well over the course of his career. So why the change in parts? I don't know, but he's seriously dragging down some good classic characters.
I hear that they're making Ender's Game into a film in 2009, and I can just guess that he's gonna jump for a part the first chance he gets. Luckily the adults in this story do not have very major parts, but you can still see it being screwed up by Will Smith.
Please tell me that I'm not the only one who's worried.
I agree that both of those movies were crap. Particularly I Am Legend. I, Robot might not have been bad if it had been called something else and not in any way associated with Asimov.
I don't, however, agree that it is Will Smith's fault. I actually thought that his acting was amazing in I Am Legend despite the movie being a pile of excrement. He played the part perfectly, but unfortunately every time he ends up in a movie, they try to make it a blockbuster b/c his name sells. If the people actually making the movies would quit saying "We have Will Smith, let's make this movie huge" instead of just doing it the way it should have been done, then the problem wouldn't exist.
All in all, I think if we all forgot his fame and let him play the parts w/out thinking it has to be a certain type of movie once he's in it, we'd all be better off and he could show us that he really is a good actor. Instead of having to watch crap movies that are forcing him to try to show his talent through them.
i, robot was just average but i thought i am legend was a great movie. just my opinion though
He's actually a pretty decent dramatic actor (when he needs to be -- see "Six Degrees of Separation" or "The Pursuit of Happyness") ... it's not his acting which is making those films bad - it's the screenwriters.
He only gives us what's on the page of his script... let's not ONLY blame the fella on the screen.
I thought he was great in MIB and Independence Day. You can't always base a book virses the movie and the actor in the movie. Look how many Stephen King books were made into movies that sucked. I don't blame the actors in them.
I'm sorry you have such a problem with Will Smith. I, Robot was pretty much a light entertainment movie, but I Am Legend was a superior piece of work. Yes it wandered far from the book, but the writing was intelligent and satisfying. As for his performance, it is some of his best work. He was engaging and you really grew to care about the character.
This of course goes against what you say, but this is what I think.
But is the flaw with Will or with the script in general?
I doubt Will Smith is the problem with crappy science fiction adaptations. I think the problem is that because you're familiar with the sorts of characters Smith usually plays you're tryingto typecast him, when I'd have to say he's a pretty decent dramatic actor.
And I've read the book I, Robot and I've seen the movie, and I don't think the movie was that bad. Also, keep in mind that the movie isn't directly based on any of Asimov's stories, and his character doesn't actually exist in the book (or any of the books). I'd say that the worst character-related thing about I, Robot is that they screwed up with the character of Dr. Susan Calvin. Overall while it's very different from the books, I'd have to say that for a 21st century science fiction movie, I, Robot isn't bad at all, and though there are a few things about it that aren't too great, Will Smith's performance definitely isn't one of them.
I don't think Will Smith is a loud mouth actor
Chris Tucker and Chris Rock are!!!
All of Will Smith's movies have been great.
i'm mad at you.
will smith is amazing.
and that's the end of that.