I Am Legend - Movie Review

I am Legend is the third film to be made based off the 1954 novel of the same name.  Each version (1964’s Last Man On Earth and 1971’s The Omega Man) has offered a fairly drastic reinterpretation of the events of the novel, and this most recent version is no exception.  Eschewing the novel’s underlying focus on what it means to be a part of society, as well as what truly makes a ‘monster’, this movie instead is more of a straight survival-horror tale with some interesting character exploration.

Doctor Robert Neville (Will Smith) was an American Army virologist, and one of the very few members of the human race immune to the man-made virus which swept across the Earth, annihilating 90% of the population and mutating most others into vampire-like creatures.  Neville lives with his dog Sam in New York City, ground zero for the virus.  Here he attempts to eke out an existence, trying to cure the disease and locate other survivors while slowly losing his mind to the intense strain of the situation and his own personal grief.

Playing the role of the last human being left alive must be incredibly challenging for an actor, seeing as how the focus would be entirely on your own abilities and range.  Smith not only shines as Neville in this movie, but he takes the role and makes it his own in such a way that it is hard to imagine anyone else playing the part.  He brings a subtlety and intensity to the role, and even manages to inject just enough of his own humorous personality that Neville feels entirely like a real person, and thus makes the world around him also feel authentic; a lesser actor would have taken away from the gravity of I am Legend’s setting.

It is good that Smith himself is so commanding as Doctor Neville because, honestly, many other aspects of the movie are not so realistic.  New York City itself is simply amazing; the use of CGI to remove people from the streets and buildings of the real city creates a vista that is as startlingly beautiful as it is undeniably creepy.  In fact New York feels less like the backdrop to the piece, and more like a character itself; desolate, ruined, and yet nonetheless majestic and full of life.  Forgetting anything else, this movie is worth seeing simply for the bizarre sight of wild deer running through the streets.

The other CGI work of the piece, however, is actually quite poor.  Part way through production it was decided that the actors wearing prosthetics were not convincing as the vampire-like ‘hemocytes’, and so the decision was made at the last second to instead use entirely CGI creatures.  This was, as the kids say these days, an epic fail; the monsters look less realistic than something found in Shrek, and because of this the emotional impact of seeing former humans turned into ravening monsters is severely lessened, as are the potential scares (let’s face it, it is a horror movie and is meant to be a little scary).

The worst part of I am Legend, however, is the feeling of untapped potential.  While as it stands this movie is a decent horror/action movie with a surprisingly powerful portrayal of the main character, the departure from the thoughts of the original text have weakened much of the subtext which made the story so interesting in the first place.  Gone is the exploration of the hemocytes becoming intelligent and seeing themselves as the rightful heirs to the human race; gone is the exploration of Neville’s lust for revenge on the creatures (beyond one scene); and in it’s place is a straight us-versus-the-monsters story and a very Hollywood ending which feels just a little bit too perfect with it’s combination of sadness and hope.

I am Legend is a good movie, no question.  Forgetting anything else, it further cements the former Fresh Prince of Belair as one of Hollywood’s true acting powerhouses by mastering a role that is so challenging and different.  The main problem with I am Legend is one of wasted potential; a deeper than average action/horror flick, while good, is far less than what this remake could have been, and that’s just a little disappointing.

     

I rate I am Legend: 7/10 (A good action/horror movie which displays Will Smith at his very best, but which also fails to live up to its inherent potential.)

   

- Tim Sweeney