Review: ‘I Am Legend’

Zac:

Will Smith’s newest blockbuster works really well for about 75% of the time and the other 25% is just good. Robert Neville is the last human in NYC, is accompanied by his German Sheppard Sam as they hunt for food and go through their daily routine everyday during the daylight. At night they are forced to lock themselves in their home and hope that the vampire like creatures that roam in the darkness do not find and break in to their house.
The sole survivor narrative inters cuts with a flashback to the day the island was evacuated as Neville tries to get his wife and son out of the city. We also learn that Neville is a military scientist that worked on the virus that caused the pandemic and he tries to find the cure as he moves through his life of solitude.
The movie takes place over the course of only a couple of days and to say anymore would ruin the tension and point of seeing a mysterious thriller like this. The movie though is extremely tense at times and is almost always interesting. When you aren’t on the edge of your seat as director Francis Lawrence takes us through dark and eerily quiet stair wells, you are intrigued by the story to try and figure out how everything went so bad. The movie fails to fill a couple of holes that I would have liked answered but they are forgivable as they aren’t necessarily essential to the story we are watching unfold.
My main gripe with the film is the last 20-30 min or so just don’t work very well. The action set piece is pretty good and works ok, but after a significant game changer (you’ll know what it is), the movie just doesn’t work as solidly as the rest of the material beforehand. But with that said, it’s still entertaining, if not a bit rushed.
The movie as a whole will tug on every emotion you have and will keep you on the edge of your seat through out. Will Smith easily carries the film by himself with special mention to the dog Abby who played Sam as she does a great job at selling the relationship between the too and is character you truly care about in all of this mess.
It would have been nice to have seen a bit different approach to the ending and to divulge a bit more into the mind of a man all alone for so long, but the movie is more than worth seeing in the theater and is an entertaining popcorn flick for the holiday season.

(4 out of 5)

Travis:

Serving as the third movie adaptation of the Richard Matheson novel, I Am Legend stars Will Smith as Dr. Robert Neville, the last surviving human being in Manhattan. He finds himself mysteriously immune to the man-made virus intended to be a miracle cure for cancer, but rapidly turns to the dark side and ultimately destroys the human race as we know it. All that is left is a world populated with hyper-aggressive, primitive minded savages, driven by violence and rage. Determined to undo this living apocalypse, Neville searches for survivors by day and diligently seeks a cure from his blood by night, barricaded in his reinforced house while the creatures thrive, safe from the sunlight.

I Am Legend is entertaining, carrying itself with a creative new twist on the twice-told story and with a great performance from Smith. However, the movie is by no means flawless. The action is superb, but do not seek this movie out as a fast-aced, action-packed joyride. The story is wonderfully slowly-paced and deliberate in its careful, day-by-day progression of the life of one man alone in a massive city with only his German Shepard Sam to keep his company. I actually believe this is the movie’s saving grace, but heed this warning to avoid potentially disappointing expectations.

I shall diverge momentarily by jumping straight to the heart of the film’s flaws. I often state with great conviction the following mantra: Just because you have the capability to do something, does not mean it is always the most effective method for accomplishing the task at hand. What does this mean? Applied to I Am Legend, (and, understand that this is not the first movie to receive this criticism) this specifically refers to the subtle overuse of CGI special effects. Here we have a story that is primarily dealing with two basic human phobias; that of being alone and that of the unknown, combined naturally with the fear of the dark. With this in mind, a story such as this plays most effectively on the suppressed exposure to that which we fear. In other words, bring the antagonist to our direct view at a minimum, and as late in the story as possible. Basically, it is simply a matter of less being more.

Secondly, be sure that once we do get a healthy and vivid view of the monsters, make it worth our while. As an audience, if we are going to get an eyeful of a movie monster, it had better be good and yes, it had better be believable. To illustrate my point, I suggest revisiting two great classics of the horror genre; the original Alien movie, and the first installment of the Jaws franchise. In both films, the monstrous antagonists were hardly seen at all until much later in the movie. Once we did get a good dose of the creatures, the effect was far more successful, and ultimately more believable. On that note, I will just briefly mention that I felt the overall execution of the character design was acceptable and rather effective in its simplicity, save one element involving the creature’s leader frequently roaring with such ferocity that his jaw opened and widened to an extent of being absurdly comical. When speaking of the plot itself, I Am Legend carries very well. With this said, there is one major plot element at approximately two-thirds the way into the story, which drew the viewer out of the story. In an effort to avoid spoiling the movie, I will vaguely state that the plot device utilized to introduce the only other surviving human characters into the story is clumsy and distracting. At one point during Neville’s daytime excursions, a surprising revelation is made of the creature’s leader, resulting in Neville’s near death. As a result of this event’s consequences, he seeks to put an end to his misery, only to be saved by a young woman named Anna and a boy named Ethan. From here, the story quickly realigns itself with its previous storyline, ending with a fairly typical, yet effective mainstream Hollywood finale.

I Am Legend succeeds at entertaining the audience as a psychological horror film with the moral essence of science-fiction. The sporadic use of tense action sequences is excellent, accompanied by the type of crowd-pleasing performance we have come to expect from Will Smith. The cinematography and sound are perfectly appropriate, the flashbacks are remarkably well-placed to develop the back story, and if you don’t become thoroughly and emotionally attached to Neville’s perfect canine companion, then I am sorry†¦ you just simply aren’t human.

(4.25 out of 5)

[rating: 4/5]

p.s. the alternate ending really works better for this film on DVD and it would have been nice if it would have been maintained, even if it was a downer of sorts.