I Am Legend Lives Up to Its Title
Will Smith

By Breanne Boland December 27, 2007 Issue

So often, big, shiny, special effects-laden movies try to wow us at the expense of logical storytelling and real human emotion. Many of these films have starred Will Smith. However, with I Am Legend, Smith brings his action-adventure past together with the more serious, dramatic tone his career has had in recent years.

Legend is based on Richard Matheson’s novel of the same name, a story which has been adapted for the screen twice before with varying results. This version deftly combines beautiful sets and visuals with a core story that doesn’t feel contrived, forced, or manipulative. Like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, Smith carries much of the film himself. Seeing him demonstrate the wear and pain that comes with possibly being the last human alive is just as engaging as the languorously displayed, meticulously detailed scenes of a Manhattan being reclaimed by nature.

And it’s saying something that even someone as charismatic as Smith can hold his own. The film’s portrayal of New York City gone to seed is haunting and thorough. Grass seeps through cracks in the pavement, and deer roam the car-clogged streets. The vestiges of quarantine remain, such as boldly worded warning posters and the tangled remains of exploded bridges. We don’t even see the real monsters of the film for quite some time, just the images of such famous, densely populated places being so affected and so desolate are enough to put the audience on edge.

When the film begins, an engineered virus created with the best of intentions has claimed most of humanity. Robert Neville is a scientist, a soldier, and the last healthy human left in the city — possibly in the world. When he’s not avoiding the infected zombie/vampire hordes and hunting for food in the deserted city, he holes up in his lab, trying to create an antidote and a vaccine.

Neville is as affected as his city; while he’s pragmatic and prepared, the isolation and constant fear are beginning to pull him apart. He’s seen no evidence of other survivors, and his rigorous experiments have yielded nothing. Furthermore, the infected seem to be gaining greater intelligence and may have found a leader. It’s his nature and his profession to keep looking for solutions, but despite his myriad plans and safeguards, it’s becoming harder to keep going.

To say anything else would ruin some of the better twists and turns in a film filled with both. Suffice it to say that rarely does an impenetrable fortress stay that way in a film, and Smith’s precise routines wind up not being enough.

It’s not a spotless movie — some have balked about the way the infected herd looks, considering them to look shoddy as compared to the pristine effects used to create the abandoned city. However, I Am Legend is thrilling, gripping, and satisfying without taking any of the heartwarming shortcuts other humanity-in-peril sci-fi extravaganzas have been guilty of in the past. Its triumphs are earned, and it’s a demonstration of what great things can come when finely crafted storytelling meets the best that special effects have to offer.

Bottom line: a great mix of explosion and emotion.

Coming Attractions
Dec. 28
The Bucket List - Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play terminally ill cancer patients who embark on a road trip so they can die without regrets. Directed by Rob Reiner.

The Great Debaters - Denzel Washington directs and stars in this film about a professor who leads an unlikely group of college students into a debate competition against students from Harvard.

Jan. 4
One Missed Call - A(nother) remake of a Japanese horror film. A detective discovers that people are receiving mysterious phone calls, which reveal the dates and details of their deaths.

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