Run Time: 1 hr. 40 min.
Rating: PG-13 - violence and
intense sequences of action
Cast: Will Smith, Alice Braga,
Salli Richardson, Emma Thompson, Willow Smith
Director: Francis Lawrence
Genre: Action Thriller, Action,
Sci-Fi
Well it was bound to happen. Will Smith is from my hometown
of Philly. So he has managed to do cinematically, what Donovan McNabb and The
Eagles as well as the Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and any other sports team we
have has done…
Build us up for a win and then let us down.
Big Willie does it Philly style here. Although, to be fair,
one can’t blame all of what goes wrong in I am Legend on Will Smith. In fact, hardly any of it can be hung
on Will.
Based on the Richard Matheson novel, I am Legend – which was made earlier as a 1954 Vincent Price
film and later with Chuck Heston as The Omega Man in the 70s – tells the story of Army scientist
Robert Neville, who is the lone survivor of a virus that has wiped out mankind.
To avoid insanity, Neville forgoes the Tom Hanks route of
making friends with a volleyball and is joined at the hip with his German
Shepherd, Samantha. Robert and Samantha have a fairly structured day. They rise
early, check on Neville’s experiments (he’s trying desperately to find a cure
or vaccine for the virus) then hit the streets of an empty New York City.
Director Francis Lawrence is at his best turning NYC into a
ghost town. Grass grows in the middle of Broadway. Deer and antelope run
freely…as do lions. The opening
sequence is quite jaw-dropping as Lawrence comes from an aerial shot down an
empty Broadway and captures Neville and Sam in a hot sports car. After a
morning hunt, Neville spends the rest of the day talking to mannequins he has
dressed as people on the street, and reaching out to anyone who may have survived
on his ham radio.
Neville is also haunted by memories of his wife and daughter
(played by Salli Richardson and Smith’s daughter, Willow) escaping New York
unsuccessfully.
One has to wonder why Neville, who for some reason is immune
to the virus, is trying so hard to find a cure. His dog will die one day and
the idea of living on canned corned beef and Spam for the rest of one’s life is
enough to cause anyone to bring a gun to their mouths.
Neville also wears all sorts of watches and alarms. See he really
isn’t alone in the big apple. There are vampire-like creatures, infected
humans, called Dark Seekers who have lost all their humanity. They are out of
the 28 Weeks Later and Resident Evil school. They are more animal than the
animals.
Neville rushes back to his Greenwich Village house, gets rid
of his scent by pouring vinegar on his steps and locks the house down like a
military base at night. Quite scary is Neville hopping in a bathtub curled up
with Sam and a rifle. While these creatures run rampant outside.
For me, where I Am Legend goes off course is after Neville encounters a tragedy. Enter Anna
(Alice Braga) and a boy Ethan, played by somebody. These two characters are
completely unmemorable. They also begin to raise questions of God, which seem a
little late and out of place in this pic. She believes there is a community of
survivors in Vermont. How convenient, a nice B&B perhaps? And how does she know this? God told
her. It also doesn’t hurt that the one other survivor in America is a hot Brazilian
chick. Noice!
The eventual discovery of Neville’s cure feels forced.
I was absolutely engrossed during the first hour or so of I
am Legend. It may be some of the best film
work I’ve seen this year. However, the third act starts to raise too many unnecessary
questions and veers off. I found the effects of the empty city spectacular…more
spectacular than the creatures. There is a tense scene where the creatures
mimic Neville which is surprising and exciting.
And Will Smith really does do an outstanding job in his performance.
He’s often asked to carry a film and in I am Legend he really is put to the
task. And he succeeds. If only that third act didn’t happen this would have
been close to making it on my top ten.
Francis Lawrence, who also directed Constantine, does a fine
job of building tense, on-the-edge-of-your-seat scenes. Less impactful are the
scenes between Smith and Braga. I also felt, that if Smith is partially
responsible for the virus, he should’ve been tied better to it and Emma
Thompson the main scientist.
I am Legend is a big
summer flick released in the winter. But it could’ve been so much more.
Three Ball Point Pens.