I Am Legend

Who is the real star of this movie?  How about New York City itself!  Don’t get me wrong, Will Smith does a great job of keeping the audience’s interest while being just about the only character on screen – but Manhattan after the terrible virus has done it’s work is even more captivating.

The flesh-eating zombies, victims of the virus but escapees of death, are pretty darn interesting but they just aren’t in the film enough.

 A few years after an epidemic (created by mankind) has ostensibly killed off almost all humans on the planet, Dr. Neville (Smith) roams the streets of NYC by day, methodically searching each neighborhood in search of supplies and hopefully survivors.  Of course, there are a few – his german shephard, and the infected survivors to boot.  At night, he locks himself away in a fortress-like house and waits out the screams and howls of the infected until the next morning when he can resume his routine.  All the while he broadcasts on AM frequencies to anyone who will listen.

The special effects are great – the sets are incredible.  It’s hard to tell sometimes where the real world ends and CGI begins.  Of course there are exceptions, but overall there’s a lot of eye candy in the film.

I never grew tired of following Neville around Manhattan, always wondering what would challenge him next.  His relentless search for a cure for the disease is a nice backdrop to his daily fight for survival.

When at last Neville does encounter non-infected survivors, the film starts to wane a bit.  For me, it was more enjoyable with just Smith onscreen.  The somewhat predictable ending doesn’t quite ruin the film, but I would have preferred a few more answers and a bit less sap.  Nevertheless, it was still a good film.

By the way, I didn’t read the book and am curious as to other people’s interpretation of the trap Neville finds himself in halfway through the film.  Did the infected set it?  Did he set it himself?  Was he crazy?  The possibilities are endless – perhaps the truth is revealed in the novel.

4 out of 5 stars.  Check it out.