Review by Peter Syslo
I AM LEGEND (2007) is a decent movie; it didn’t blow me away but it wasn’t bad either. I really liked the first half of the film but it seemed to unravel a little bit in the second half and the end result was unfortunately influenced by that second half. It is a great premise behind the film and that is probably what I liked the most; it just needed more in the ending. It reminded me of 28 WEEKS LATER, by the way that it was great up until a point and then it was hastily wrapped up, in an unfulfilling manner.
I AM LEGEND is directed by Francis Lawrence and is based upon the novel by Richard Matheson. The screenplay is written by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman and the film stars Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, and Kona/Abby as Sam the dog.
The premise of the film is that a researcher developed a cure for cancer, but that cure lead to a virus mutation which infected everyone who wasn’t naturally immune. That virus started turning people into zombie-like beings who were vulnerable to sunlight/ultraviolet rays. New York was eventually evacuated and a military doctor, Robert Neville (Smith), and his dog Sam stayed behind to work on a cure. Three years later, he is presumably the only human being left in New York City , which is now populated by “dark-dwellers”. The “dark dwellers” are those mutated former humans, who look like zombies and can’t come out in the daylight. The first half of the movie is about Neville and his dog and their daily surviva l routine, which also involves Neville’s continual work on a cure. Bits and pieces of the whole back story are provided through flashbacks and it segues into the second half of the film which involves a few surprises, including the realization that Neville may not be the last human being alive.
The first half of the movie was pretty good, I thought; most of the action focuses on Neville’s survival tactics and it is an interesting, regimented, daily routine that he has - this portion is reminiscent of CASTAWAY. There are a few good scares when you first meet the “dark dwellers” and the pacing is pretty good once the danger of them is established. It is also neat to see a totally deserted NYC – the art/effects department really did a fine job on the post-apocalyptic setting. Smith’s back story is semi-interesting and his quest for a cure is a side note which does give a point to the whole film – actually, the virus theme is pretty solid and it is one of the more plausible virus reasons for the “walking dead”. There are also some nice moments in the first half: there is the way that he traps one of the “dark dwellers” – that was pretty inventive (it’s like fishing with a car); there is a very sad “OLD YELLER” moment in the film which gave it a bit of heart (after that moment is when the film started to go south); and there is also an underlying message in the film of “live and let live” which is subversive at first and a provides a nice balance to the picture, but it does become a little obnoxious towards and in the ending.
OK, regarding the second half of the film - it just starts to spiral out of control. It is understandable that Neville goes a little crazy because of the tragedy that befalls him, but the survival instincts which kept him alive for three years just seem to go “out the window” and he becomes careless and foolish. Also, he becomes suicidal and it seems so out-of-character that it is a little annoying; plus, it gives you the feeling that the tragedy happened for nothing and the man who is humanity’s last hope just wants to give up – come on! It seemed like Neville just “checked out” and let events overcome him, which is unusual for a meticulous, scientific type of person, I think. His emotions did get the better of him and he did go off the deep end, with what happened to him, but you would think that he would want to survive and make all of the death meaningful. Also, there is that moment when Neville realizes that there is more to the “dark dwellers” than meets the eye, which leads to the quick ending that ultimately undermines the first half of the film. Like I said, the moral of the story is thrown in your face at this point and you’re like, “Okay, I get it. One species or race has no right to assume that they are superior to another – I know, live and let live”. It was a questionable ending - actually both endings were questionable and I felt a little short-changed like, “that’s it! that’s the payoff?”.
Cutting to the chase: I AM LEGEND wasn’t bad; the first half was the best part of the film. The visuals were impressive, especially the desolate city, and the CGI “dark dwellers” didn’t look as bad as I had heard – there are certain shots where they look like the creature in BOOGEYMAN but overall, the CGI didn’t detract from the film (parts of the story accomplished that). Smith’s acting was pretty good (the dog’s was too) and he carried the first half well – it is a difficult task to carry a whole movie and it is difficult to capture an audience with a “one-man show”, but Smith did it. The film could’ve used a few more scary interactions with the “dark dwellers” because once you got to know them, they weren’t as scary - but that is one of the other problems that I had with the ending. If you like survival stories like CASTAWAY or y ou like apocalyptic virus-based films, such as 28 DAYS LATER, 28 WEEK LATER, THE STAND, RESIDENT EVIL, etc. then you may like it. A friend actually recommended THE OMEGA MAN (1971), which is based upon the same story – he said it is a much better version of it. Someday I would like to read the novel and get the story straight from the source. I give I AM LEGEND a 6 out of 10, mainly for the first half.