I Am Legend (2007)
Robert Neville: Will Smith
Anna: Alice Braga
Ethan: Charlie Tahan
Zoe: Sally Richardson
Marley: Willow Smith
Warner Bros. presents a picture directed by Francis Lawrence. Written by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman. Based off the novel by Richard Matheson.
Running Time: 100 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence
Release Date: December 14, 2007
Review Date: December 14, 2007
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I think it would be an awful lot of fun to have New York City all to yourself. Drive anybody's car, hit golfballs off an Air Force jet, live in any place you choose. A lot of fun. For a few days. Lt. Col. Robert Neville (Smith) is at day 1000 with no contact with anyone except his German Shepherd, Sam. And with the horribly mutated cannibals that roam the streets at night looking for food. New York doesn't sound so fun now, does it?
The mutation came from a supposed miracle cure for cancer. The virus - which is all I can think to call it after 28 Days Later - gets airborn and eventually wipes out 90% of the world's population. Very few are presumed to be immune, and Neville is lucky (?) enough to be one of them. If he is lucky, it's because - as the world's only man - he has plenty of free time to get his errands run. As long as it's sunny. (Can vampires come out during the day if it's really cloudy?)
Neville is clearly yearning for human contact. So much so he has his own science lab where he spends a good chunk of his time testing a cure to the "cure." He sets up mannequins and talks to them on his way to the video store. He has a radio message playing on all AM frequencies in a futile attempt to attract anyone who doesn't want to eat him. He treats his dog like a child, telling Sam to eat her vegetables. The contact is similar to Tom Hanks and Wilson in Cast Away, but I like Sam a heck of a lot better. If it's possible for man and dog to have chemistry in a film, it's prevalent in I Am Legend.
The majority of the film is Will Smith's one-man show, however, and he does a phenomenal job with it. Here's a man clearly going a little insane from not hearing a human voice in three years and at the same time he has to try and save the world. Smith gives a powerful performance and, quite possibly, one of his best to date. I was clutching my armrests nervously when Neville found himself searching for Sam in a dark abandoned warehouse that may or may not be full of the infected.
The early scenes of Neville in an abandoned New York City are breathtaking, as well. For a film that says "God didn't do this, we did," the empty city is an amazing sight. Is this is what the world will be like when we are done with it? Has nobody thought of that? Unfortunately, I Am Legend does make you think and even makes you fear that this Last Man on Earth thing is possible. It's unfortunate because at around the half-way mark it switches from the thinking man's movie to dumb summer popcorn flick.
That's not to say that I Am Legend isn't still exciting. But I still found myself bored with the final act, even with all of the explosions and guns and running and so on. There were too many things that didn't add up. If there were twelve million people with immunity and he's never left New York, how is he so sure he's the last man alive? Is he the only one capable of lasting three years without going out at night? And, for a film that felt kind of fresh, I was quite disapointed to see a final half-hour full of dumb living dead movie clichees.
There's a lot to like about I Am Legend, but there's also a lot that I'm still scratching my head about. It's kind of like being left alone in New York City. It's fun and exciting at first, but after a while you might run out of things to do.
*** (out of ****)