I Am Legend

Review by Loc

Will Smith, what have you done? You’ve gone and made several movies where you downplay the Big Willie style, you act almost humble, and you made yourself bearable to watch. I didn’t think I’d see the day where Will Smith was just the star on the screen, not the WILL, so grand and great, that graces us with his charismatic presence. Times, they are a changing. Yet, what does that mean for his newest flick? Quick hit: entertaining, even if it’s a mash-up of other flicks.

I Am Legend is another post-apocalyptic, redemption of humanity film. In this version of the story, we wipe ourselves out by developing a supposed cure for cancer through viral manipulation. Cut to three years later, and 90% of humanity is wiped out, 9.8% are infected and resemble UV-hating vampires, and the final 0.2% is immune to the virus. Lucky for us, Will Smith is not only immune, he’s a military virologist who continues to work towards a cure. Unluckily for him, New York City is quite barren and empty, lots of weeds, lots of desertion, not much else.

The rest of the plot unfolds how you might expect. We get to see how empty life is through the daily routine of Will. First, there’s the morning workout, and it sure looks like Will is in great shape, so good he could be in the Mitchell Report. Then there’s the morning lab session, checking to see if any of the vaccines he’s worked on are successful in demon rats. Next is the drive around the empty city, followed by the driving range atop an aircraft carrier. Lastly, pillaging in apartments and returning to home before the beasties come out at night. Seems kind of fun if you ask me, but then again, I’m not facing the likelihood of complete and utter isolation.

As cool as it may be to see an empty, desolate New York City, this plot point has been done many times before. And not even that long ago, as 28 Days Later reintroduced the zombie genre with a completely barren, desolate London. In fact, if you said that I Am Legend is the Hollywood, big-budget version of 28 Days Later, I wouldn’t argue. Both involve human error in science leading to uncontrollable viral outbreaks, decimation of the world’s population, the prospects of a completely abandoned society, and mean beasties running around.

Or, maybe I Am Legend is more akin to Cast Away. After all, Tom Hanks had to survive in a completely isolated realm by himself. The film’s big hook was centered around the reality of a single person capturing the audience’s attention without the aid of other actors, voices, or interactions. Hanks only had one companion, a volleyball he spoke to regularly. Just like Will Smith, and the isolation, and the single companion, but this time it’s a dog instead of a volleyball!

Or, maybe I Am Legend is a mash-up of both. Maybe you center the film around Will’s performance as the loneliest man on Earth, but you utilize the post-apocalyptic set-up from viral infection. Yes, this is a mash-up, but a relatively entertaining one. The action is pretty good, the beasties seem to have a sweet howl, but they’re also kind of scary. Will Smith running around a deserted New York City is a cool sight to see, even if it was recently done with London in 28 Days Later. And Will is pretty good being all serious and forlorn.

Be aware, the last third of the flick is wonky, and there are threads of potential that seem to go unused or completely ignored. For instance, Willie states that the beasties have completely devolved and lost all humanity because they are willing to chase him into sunlight regardless of the bodily harm. Yet, the film seems to allude to the fact that the beasties are evolving back into a human-type form because the one beastie that chased Willie continues to hound him for the rest of the flick. And why would the beastie do that? Because Will kidnapped his girlfriend/wife beastie. Why not build on that? Why not touch on the fact the it is Will who is losing his humanity, disregarding this evolving form of life? Eh, too much to tackle I guess.

Overall, this is an entertaining flick. Is it a groundbreaking original work? Nope. Yet, that doesn’t mean mashing up Cast Away and 28 Days Later doesn’t provide good fun. Just remember, when Tom Hanks lost his damn volleyball, all hell broke loose and the flick turned into the Helen Hunt show. Similar wonkiness may occur if Will Smith punt kicks his doggie. Out of 6 billion people on this planet, I Am Legend cures a healthy 3.9 billion folks. Oh, and the explanation of the title is stupid and they should have stuck to the original explanation from the novel. Just thought I’d let you know.