Movie Review: I Am Legend

My God, I hate Hollywood. It's as if they they try on purpose to ruin good stories. They try to dumb down and repackage plotlines and attach these boring, oversimplified endings to brilliant stories as if the audience couldn't deal with something out of the ordinary. When I first heard they were making "I Am Legend", I had high hopes. After seeing the trailer over a billion times, I knew that this would be a winner. They had Will Smith, hot special effects and a story that would clean, simple and intriguing... and an ending that could be on par with. "The Sixth Sense" and "Fight Club". So, what the hell happened? What the hell did Hollywood do to one of my favorite stories of all time?

Robert Neville is a brilliant scientist, but even he could not contain the terrible virus that was unstoppable, incurable, and man-made. Somehow immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and maybe the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone. Mutant victims of the plague -- The Infected -- lurk in the shadows... watching Neville's every move... waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered... and quickly running out of time. - Warner Bros. Pictures

To be honest, they should've just called this movie Omega Man 2007, because it has more in common with Boris Sagal's 1971 interpretation of "I Am Legend" than Richard Matheson's brilliant story. If you want to see a more faithful rendition of the book, hands down Vincent Price's 1964 "The Last Man On Earth" is a better choice.



Okay... Taking away all the build up and expectations I had for this movie, I have to admit it was pretty good... well the first half at least. You see, for some reason this movies was broken into two parts. The first half of the film was a story about a man and his dog. The backdrop of a deserted New York City, coupled with a brilliant performance by Will Smith made the movie utterly fascinating. It was less about 'the night stalkers' taking over the world, and more about a man trying his best to keep his sanity. Neville (in this film) was a military man, and to stay sane, he kept his regiment. He had his daily duties plotted out and followed them carefully. Only when certain events alter his regiment, do we see him start to fall apart. By now the movie draws you in! But then... it just starts to take a turn for the worse. For some reason, they seem to bring this cool movie to a quick close and then introduce more survivors, which as the movies progresses, just seems to be more of a plot bandage than anything else. There's a loose connection to what happens in the book, but Matheson brings you twists and turns which send you reeling, while this script treatment just goes flat and gives you a lame ending that leaves you (well, at least me) feeling cheated.



But I got to give credit where credit is due. Will Smith deserves oscar consideration for his performance. This wasn't the role of an action hero. It was the role of a victim (and maybe a villain in some instances). In anycase, he played it flawlessly. I'd love to know what the hell happened to the script? There were little nuggets in the film that suggested we would get the Matheson payoff (i.e. Neville stating all civilized actions were eliminated from the infected, yet they hunted in packs and used vampiric dogs for things. And a scene that showed they may have cared for one another.)

I may seem like i'm ranting about little things, but if you've read the actual story, you'll know what I mean. After three films, there still isn't an adequate adaptation to this story. And all the elements seem to be there. I just wished they would've put more faith in the audience to give them more of a faithful ending.