- - -

Review by David DiMichele

- - -

What is it about these catastrophic end-of-the-world movies (War of the Worlds, End of Days) that they always require a happy ending? When the ending does come, we can’t help but ask questions that should’ve been answered in the movie. It seems that these movies bombard us with bleak hope all the way through and then feel the need to give us a sentimental, fairytale-style ending. I Am Legend is latest in this category. The first and second acts are strong and suspenseful:  the third act isn’t exactly tacked on, but it is too sincere in its ending. For once, why not let a catastrophic movie go the distance with its evil self, like No Country for Old Men did? No happy ending there.

The main reason to see this movie is the powerful performance Will Smith gives all the way through. I guess we can call him a legend by now. It’s what Tom Hanks did in Cast Away but this one includes monstrous creatures. Smith is able to draw people in for any kind of movie - be it Wild, Wild West, Independence Day, Ali, or Pursuit of Happyness, the man just has that star power. There isn’t a shadow of a doubt that people won’t flock to see I Am Legend, in which Smith is the lone attraction (along with a loyal German shepherd). Surprisingly, I’m here to say that he holds his own against the two men who have played his character before: Charlton Heston (who played in the 1971 Omega Man) and Vincent Price (who played in the 1964 Last Man on Earth). Both of those movies were based on the Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend.

Smith plays scientist Robert Neville who has no fear of what is lurking in the dark buildings of Manhattan. He is also determined to fend it off and save the human race. He’s been called a “savior” by TIME magazine and that’s exactly what he plans to be, since he’s been assigned to find a cure for the virus that came and scourged the island of Manhattan. The virus came from the miracle cure for cancer which was found in 2009. Three years later the 10,000 plus who were injected with this cure were cured of cancer but had instead turned ravenous, which eventually led them to morph into creatures usually only found in video games and which eventually kill all human beings.

From the looks of things, I Am Legend is a visual nightmare and I mean that in a good way. Prior to this movie, director Francis Lawrence had a cheesy and clunky special effects movie called Constantine (2005). Compare those effects with Legend’s effects and you have a 100% improvement. He takes the crowded streets of Times Square and shows it off with no human life. It’s the Times Square that we hope we'll never see, empty cars piled up on each other, grass growing in the streets, cornfields springing up, and even deer and lions roaming the streets.

And Neville’s life? He finds himself the only person in NYC. During the day he drives around with his dog in a sports car renting videos, loading up on food, hunting deer and teeing golf balls off from fighter jets. But fun time is limited. His watch alarm goes off the same time as the sun is going down. He has to move fast because the creatures come out at night and Neville has to be prepared. His house is like a trap from Home Alone and also has its own lab in the basement were he struggles to find a vaccine against this virus. He stays true to this schedule everyday of his life and it eventually leads to him cracking up.

The movie undeniably works best when Smith is out walking the isolated streets alone. It possesses a kind of fear that no zombie movie can equal. When the zombies do come out to play it’s still thrilling to see Smith work his magic but it‘s familiar. Action isn’t a problem here; there’s plenty of it to keep your eyes glued to the screen.

If these catastrophic movies can teach us anything, it’s that the future isn’t bright for any of us.

Film Rating: *** out of ****

[Official Movie Site]

- - -

- - -

- - -

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email This

Hits: 362

Comments (0)

Write comment

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

Add Comment Preview