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There are countless films about catastrophe. Since Independence Day blew up The White House with a giant laser beam, audiences have been subjected to an endless array of big-budget disaster flicks whose primary focus has been destroying famous landmarks. I Am Legend is a film about what happens when the dust has settled.
The film opens in 2009 with footage from a news program discussing what appears to be a cure for cancer. We then jump forward to an isolated view of New York City overlaid with the caption "Three Years Later." Plant life is slowly making its way through downtown and animals frolic freely on the streets. The leap forward is bold and brilliant, and the film will spend the rest of its runtime filling in little bits and pieces of what happened in-between.
Of course, New York isn't completely uninhabited; its occupants are Robert Neville (Will Smith), a former Army scientist, and Sam, his dog. They spend their days patrolling the city, and their nights holed up inside Neville's house, while unmentionable creatures shriek outside. These creatures, we learn, have a virus; a mutated version of the "cure" from the opening. The film wisely refrains from explaining its mechanics in further detail.
The first third of the film is spent showing us Neville's daily routine. He hunts deer on the sidewalks, restocks supplies, and performs experiments on animals infected with the virus. Though most of this is relatively uneventful, it's fascinating to see the monument to survival and efficiency that Neville has constructed now that he seems to have the world to himself.
Seeing as how he's a little short on co-stars, the film is squarely on Smith's shoulders, and his work as Neville is inspired. Already a superstar, Smith figures to entrench his place in Hollywood's uppermost stratosphere with this effort. He apparently based his performance on Tom Hanks' role in Cast Away , and most viewers will notice the similarities. Both actors vividly illustrate the effect of the unfathomable loneliness inflicted on their characters. Of course, it's a little easier to explore your character's psyche when you've got something to talk to. Hanks had a volleyball, and Smith has his dog.
The film does have its flaws. Jarring sounds and "jump" scenes are used excessively, and while the rendering of New York as empty and overrun with wildlife is virtually flawless, the infected creatures themselves fall well short of the quality we've come to expect from such a high-profile release. They're a bizarre blend between zombie and vampire and, while genuinely creepy, are not especially well-realized.
I Am Legend is the fourth adaptation of a 1954 novel of the same name, and probably the furthest removed from the source material. It abandons a good deal of the book's premise, though oddly enough it retains various bits of foreshadowing that indicate it might be heading down the same path. Unfortunately, none of the hints and overtures go anywhere, and a message about faith is oddly shoehorned into the film's second half.
Despite these red herrings, and the film's occasional lack of polish, I Am Legend remains patient and intriguing throughout. Every scene forces us to imagine ourselves in Neville's place, and there's genuine tension as to how it will all end. It's a film that aims high, falls a bit short, but still does the most important thing for a film to do: captivate us for its duration.
The film opens in 2009 with footage from a news program discussing what appears to be a cure for cancer. We then jump forward to an isolated view of New York City overlaid with the caption "Three Years Later." Plant life is slowly making its way through downtown and animals frolic freely on the streets. The leap forward is bold and brilliant, and the film will spend the rest of its runtime filling in little bits and pieces of what happened in-between.
Of course, New York isn't completely uninhabited; its occupants are Robert Neville (Will Smith), a former Army scientist, and Sam, his dog. They spend their days patrolling the city, and their nights holed up inside Neville's house, while unmentionable creatures shriek outside. These creatures, we learn, have a virus; a mutated version of the "cure" from the opening. The film wisely refrains from explaining its mechanics in further detail.
The first third of the film is spent showing us Neville's daily routine. He hunts deer on the sidewalks, restocks supplies, and performs experiments on animals infected with the virus. Though most of this is relatively uneventful, it's fascinating to see the monument to survival and efficiency that Neville has constructed now that he seems to have the world to himself.
Seeing as how he's a little short on co-stars, the film is squarely on Smith's shoulders, and his work as Neville is inspired. Already a superstar, Smith figures to entrench his place in Hollywood's uppermost stratosphere with this effort. He apparently based his performance on Tom Hanks' role in Cast Away , and most viewers will notice the similarities. Both actors vividly illustrate the effect of the unfathomable loneliness inflicted on their characters. Of course, it's a little easier to explore your character's psyche when you've got something to talk to. Hanks had a volleyball, and Smith has his dog.
The film does have its flaws. Jarring sounds and "jump" scenes are used excessively, and while the rendering of New York as empty and overrun with wildlife is virtually flawless, the infected creatures themselves fall well short of the quality we've come to expect from such a high-profile release. They're a bizarre blend between zombie and vampire and, while genuinely creepy, are not especially well-realized.
I Am Legend is the fourth adaptation of a 1954 novel of the same name, and probably the furthest removed from the source material. It abandons a good deal of the book's premise, though oddly enough it retains various bits of foreshadowing that indicate it might be heading down the same path. Unfortunately, none of the hints and overtures go anywhere, and a message about faith is oddly shoehorned into the film's second half.
Despite these red herrings, and the film's occasional lack of polish, I Am Legend remains patient and intriguing throughout. Every scene forces us to imagine ourselves in Neville's place, and there's genuine tension as to how it will all end. It's a film that aims high, falls a bit short, but still does the most important thing for a film to do: captivate us for its duration.