I Am Legend Movie Review
December 22nd, 2007Luck. Luck determines a lot in life. With any plague, there will be those who will have immunity to it, and those who don’t. The Native Americans who perished from smallpox were in better physical shape and had better diets than the Europeans who carried it over from the Old World. It’s just luck.
Wannabe pretentious critics can dismiss Will Smith’s Robert Neville character as the last survivor of an apocalyptic disease, who just happens to be a genius, a top scientist, and a military tough guy, but let’s just say it was luck and watch the movie. Or at least the movie hints that it was luck. I don’t see it as an implausible plot hole. There were other people immune to the virus. They just got eaten.
Francis Lawrence directs the 1954 novel I Am Legend, with a few modern day plot changes. This time around, a scientist “cures” cancer by using a genetically mutated virus. Good intentions. Bad results.
So Robert Neville and his dog Sam are the last survivors on Earth. By day, Neville and Sam are safe. By night, the monsters, half-zombie, half-vampire, come out with a super human fury, looking to feast on everything living.
Lawrence does a great job in portraying Neville’s loneliness. He talks to mannequins. He talks to Sam like Sam’s a human. And he watches a lot of t.v.
Neville’s also a classic “good guy.” Despite everything that has gone wrong, he still has hope that he can find a cure. One dimensional? Not at all. Smith does a fine job in fleshing out his Neville character.
Lawrence throws in his scares. I saw several people in the theater jump when Sam ran into a dark subway tunnel and Neville had to retrieve his only friend, knowing that they were there.
A great film? No. It doesn’t do enough to differentiate between the scores of other apocalyptic, other than knowing the virus was caused with good intentions. It did have an underlying point that we were too quick to play God. Or maybe I read that into it.
Smith does a fine job as Neville. Smith has matured into a decent actor, and once again, his son was casted as his son. But I think there was a slip in the film when they showed Neville had a daughter instead of a son. If anyone else caught that, by all means, let me know.
Is it worth seeing? Sure. But don’t expect to see something great because it’s just another Hollywood blockbuster that will generate big money, let you talk about it for a week, then forget it by the end of the year. 6 dead zombies for entertaining me for two hours. 
All I can say is that this version has to be better than The Omega Man.
Z is reading my copy of the book. I plan on doing a post on my book after Christmas. I think it may qualify as an antique now.
Tshsmom - I haven’t seen The Omega Man to compare the two. I haven’t read the book either, so I’ll be looking forward to your review.
Liked your review better. I dug Omega Man when I saw it last when I was around 13 or 14. Haven’t seen hide nor hair of it since. The only issue with Legend I failed to address in my review was that there were no flashbacks as the situation boiled down to him and Sam. I would have liked to have seen how he handled how his staff slowly fell to the virus. Smith was great and I will own this movie when it comes on DVD. Just waiting now for Wolrd War Z.
Beach - I bought the book and can’t wait for it (WWZ).
sounds like it had to be better than the national treasure sequel i went to see yesterday. it had some humorous moments which is about all that saved it from all the contrivances (sort of) in my opinion. entertaining sort of but certainly not worth a $9.50 ticket, wait for the video.
Lime - I haven’t even seen the first National Treasure. Thanks for the heads up. It’s more like $9.50 times 3 for me, because I have to take Mrs. Z and Junior. Yeah. I’ll rent it then.
I’d give it a 7.
I thought there would be a lot more to it, because it was based on the book. But they had to cut it down. It seemed like it was missing some parts.
Kate - Really?
I thought the continuity wasn’t too bad.
Thanks for the review! I think we’ll be waiting until it comes out on DVD. Merry Christmas to you and yours!!
Notta - I don’t see an obvious reason why you have to see it in the theater. It will be just as good on DVD.
Merry Christmas!
I want to see this, even though your review has removed any hope that it would be good. Nothing against the review, mind you. I was just hoping that this kind of movie would make a come back. It’s up to us I suppose to write something with a little more punch.
ZS - Good review. I was hoping you’d give it a better rating, but I guess it is exactly what I thought it would be - entertainment. I was hoping for a little bit more.
Merry Christmas and stuff! Hope it’s a good one!
Well i found this movie ok. Like you said i’ve already forgotten about it but while watching it was kindda ok (i’ve already said that, haven’t i?)
WS is a good actor though, it was like watching I Robot all over again for me:)