I Am Legend: Movie Review

A woman scientist, Dr. Alice Krippin, appears on a video, intelligent and poised. She is being interviewed about her discovery, a re-engineered virus that appears to be the cure for cancer. As Dr. Krippin describes the process, there is a subtle pause after she says the subjects are injected with this cure.

Three years later: a man in his car tracks a herd of antelope, his trusty dog riding shotgun, his rifle poised to shoot. An interesting enough opening if the scene took place on a country road, but it becomes a compelling one when the high speed hunt takes place in Manhattan, and the hunter is apparently the last man in the city.

So begins "I am Legend", a based on the novel by Richard Matheson. In this 21^st century version, Will Smith plays Robert Neville, a military scientist still searching for a cure to the plague that destroyed mankind.

During the daylight hours, Robert Neville, tries to live as normal a life as possible. But through his actions we can feel the desperation of a man trying to retain his humanity in a world that is void of humans. As the sunlight floods his spotless, beautiful kitchen, Robert eats cereal with his beloved dog and watches the "Today" show---or at least, tapes of it from years before. After breakfast, he goes downstairs to work in a state-of-the-art laboratory where it looks as though he is on the cusp of discovering a cure for the viral plague. Neville's days are also spent "checking out" videos, rummaging through abandoned apartments looking for food, medicine or weapons. He shoots golf balls off an aircraft carrier, and broadcasts on all the AM frequencies that he will be at the pier everyday, when the sun is at it's highest.

There is a sense of foreboding in this message, and when Neville's wristwatch alarm goes off at sunset, he springs into a deliberate ritual off barricading himself in his home, hoping to stay alive until the dawn. As each door and window slams shut, the tension grows, and the audience learns that Robert Neville is hiding from "The Dark Seekers", a feral band of zombie like creatures who only come out where there is no light.

Director Robert Lawrence does a good job of capturing the desolation of the city, while Will Smith captures the desolation of a man so lonely he sets up mannequin's in the places he visits. The story of what happened after Dr. Krippin's much heralded cure for cancer, is unfolded through a series flashbacks as Robert Neville remembers his wife and daughter.

More than halfway through the movie, Neville discovers he is not alone when he is saved from certain death by a young woman and a little boy. In response to their belief that there exists a colony of survivors in Vermont that they can join, Neville tells them the grim statistics. 90% of the population have been wiped out by the mutated virus, about 9% turned into the dark seekers, and 1% were immune. Unfortunately, as they have all experienced, those who were immune have been hunted and killed by the dark seekers.

The young woman, Anna, refuses to give up hope. She cites her faith to a disbelieving Neville, and says that it was God's plan that she save him. The choices Neville make from that point forward bring the movie to it's inevitable resolution. Does he risk his life by daring to hope that there is a different world out there, and leave with Anna and the little boy? Or does he remain in New York, working on a cure?

"I am Legend" is a good, albeit flawed movie. Anyone who has ever been to New York will marvel at the images of Neville driving at high speeds through abandoned streets, past well known landmarks. Will Smith continues to expand his range as an actor, especially when you consider that he is the only person in most of the scenes.

However, there are some plot points that some up short, in particular about the Dark Seekers. The producers supposedly spent five million dollars just on the evacuation scene on the Brooklyn Bridge. So it was disappointing to see that CGI, and not actors, were used for the zombies. And it is never explained how certain animals, like dogs, turn into zombies, while lions and antelopes do not. In his broadcasts, Neville promises any survivors shelter and safety, but we learn later that the only reason he had survived for so long was because the Dark Seekers ...didn't know where he lived! Huh? Those rabid packs of creatures have been roaming the streets of Manhattan every night for three years, and they never got around to Washington Square? Never got around to figuring out that the blacked out townhouse with the generators in the back might hold a tasty treat?

The introduction of the last two survivors is handled with an extremely broad brush. They pluck Neville from the pack of zombie's surrounding him, put him in their car, and drive away to safety. Given that seconds before, these blood thirsty creatures were tearing apart the floodlights that were supposed to protect Neville, it is unclear how they could even get close enough to save him, let alone prevent themselves from being victims. Anna's later statements about God speaking to her are supposed to inform us that it was divine intervention. Which is perfectly acceptable in real life, but in a movie it feels like a shortcut. I think Siskel (or was it Ebert?) used to call this phenomenon the only-tree-in-the-jungle shot. That is, in the Rambo movies, the very tree that Rambo was hiding in, is the very tree that the villain would stop beneath, as though there were no other trees in the jungle.

To be fair, the movie is based on a book, so these are shortcomings in the book, and not necessarily the script. But the writer's could have avoided creating what seems like two very different movies. The first is a post-apocalyptic movie, exploring the emotions of the last man on earth, hanging on to his very sanity. The second movie is a zombie/slasher movie, similar in vein to movies like 28 days (and 28 months).

The unevenness of this movie should not discourage anyone from seeing it. It is an interesting topic, well made, well acted, providing the kind of special effects that one would expect from a blockbuster. "I am Legend" is still the kind of film, that, when someone asks, "was it good?" is easy enough to answer with a resounding yes.