I Am Legend

Rated: PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence)

Featuring: Will Smith

Director: Francis Lawrence

Genres: Action/Adventure, Science Fiction, Thriller, Adaptation and Remake

Length: 100 Min.

Not Quite Legend

  

 We have seen it before, twice in fact.  A post-apocalyptic thriller based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend.  After the intense, but dated Last Man on Earth (1964) and the utterly ridiculous Charleton Heston star vehicle Omega Man (1971), the formula strikes no new notes, but filmmaking has come a long way since the last adaptation.

Our first clue that that Hollywood has entered a new era comes with initial shots of a barren New York City landscape.  The metropolis’ concrete valleys are littered with abandoned cars and the streets have been deserted for so long that thick patches of weeds sprout through cracks in the pavement.  The sheer eeriness created by this effect surpasses even horror classics like 28 Days Later, which features all of London as a vacant, litter strewn lot.  Even though we are aware that CGI has been used to create these images, the void seems more real than anything else on screen, except for Will Smith’s performance.

Smith plays scientist Robert Neville, the lone survivor of a man-made plague that has purged the Earth and transformed any survivors into hairless, nocturnal, rage-driven vampires.  Though he only interacts with a dog throughout most of the movie, he boasts a self-sufficiency that pulls the audience into his perspective.  As he navigates the empty canyons of New York hunting for food and capturing mutants, you feel the progression of his loneliness and the slow decay of his sanity.  As he proved with last year’s Pursuit of Happyness, Smith has matured as a powerful and credible actor, and his performance in Legend solidifies this fact.

That said, the film is far from perfect.  Though the CGI is used to create the awe-inspiringly empty, yet claustrophopic setting, it bloats the onscreen animals and mutants.  Special effects are used to create believeable sequences, but when makeup and trained animals can be used to create the same illusion, CGI shatters the movie magic.  As a result of overdependence on CGI, all the infected people look identical and the action sequences seem unnecessarily stylized.

The film’s conclusion also appears to have been slathered on top at the last minute.  When Neville discovers that he is not the only survivor, the pacing shifts from intense and engrossing to hasty and ridiculous.  If another half hour or so were added to explain the logic behind the conclusion, then it would be far more satisfying (I don’t want to say anymore for fear of spoiling the plot).

The climax also suffers from a heap of horror-movie cliches (like hiding in the basement) and a spate of unnecessary action.

Despite these shortcomings though, I Am Legend trumps the competition in this thoroughly disappointing Oscar season.  Whereas The Golden Compass has fallen short of its Lord of the Rings expectations, Will Smith’s performance in Legend definitely merits a Best Actor nod.  Do yourself a favor and see this movie.  What else is there?  Alvin and the Chipmunks?

–Anthony Kozlowski