I Am Legend
December 16, 2007
Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 100 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
I Am Legend is a remake of The Omega Man, a scifi film from the early 70’s starring Charlton Heston. Actually, that makes it a remake of a remake which is based on a novel. The original novel was written in the 50’s by Richard Matheson and is cited by Stephen King as one of the books which most influenced him. It was eventually made into a movie called “The Last Man on Earth” starring Vincent Price. That should be enough trivia to score a few points at your local bar tournament, let’s talk about the current movie.
The 2007 version stars Will Smith as Robert Neville. The year is 2012, three years after a virus originally thought to be the cure for cancer has mutated and started turning humans into zombie like creatures with super speed and strength. These creatures eventually eat all of the uninfected humans except for one, Mr. Neville. Robert is an Army Colonel and a doctor who is working on the cure for the virus, he has continued to work at ground zero and look for other survivors while the world has died around him.
During the day he can hunt, scavenge and do his research as the one weakness of the creatures is they cant deal with ultraviolet light, so they only come out at night. Neville is accompanied by his trusty dog Sam as they do fun stuff like tear thru a now abandoned New York City in brand new sports cars while hunting deer. Kinda sounds like fun til you realize there’s not a lot of opportunity to get laid. Ever!
The effects, especially the opening, are absolutely outstanding. The visuals of Manhattan as it would look after 3 years of desolation are totally convincing. This is shown from all angles ranging from the classic top down helicopter view of the steel canyons to the detail of grass growing through the pavement on Broadway at ground level. This alone makes the movie worth seeing on a large screen.
The action is also very good. You’ll realize this isn’t your every day zombie or creature movie when you see how he captures one to do some testing. There are tons of very memorable scenes. And the movie does a very good job of suspense, it unfolds slowly, but does not drag at any point. And Will Smith is very convincing as he handles what is typically a very challenging role for an actor, that of a solitary character. We have to get to know him only by his actions and conversation with a dog and the occasional mannequin.
We’re giving I Am Legend 4 stars. It gets a little disjointed with flash backs and lacks that little magical something needed for the 5th star. It’s not the type of movie that we tend to watch over and over and over again, but it is absolutely worth catching once. And we advise seeing it on the big screen.
Popularity: 26% [?]
Seen it? How many stars do you give it?
(15 votes, average: 3.8 out of 5)
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Then there’s a straight-to-DVD release, I AM OMEGA, released November 18th so that people in a rental store will do a double-take.
Similar to the way there were two straight-to-DVD WAR OF THE WORLDS around the time of the Tom Cruise version.
I noticed there was a recent straight-to-DVD release called 30,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. It’s 10,000 leagues better than the old one!
There’s a graphic novel (glorified comic book) tie-in to I AM LEGEND, and it’s not only in print but available online here.
I thought it was a great movie. Wish it could have been longer. The story development with his loneliness and starting to go mad could have been brought out. Also, how the creatures evolved. It’s one of those movies that would have done well as a TV mini series.