I Am Legend

I Am Legend is a competent scary thriller, far above the latest critic hit, zombie movie 28 Weeks Later, but as a human drama, it is not up to par with 2000’s Cast Away, a gripping movie about a solitary man’s struggle to stay alive and sane.

The opening scene of Legend reveals that a cure has been found for cancer, but we can sense a sinister undertone based on the less exuberant expression on the doctor’s face. Fast forward three-year later, the entire New York has become a wasteland and we meet Robert Neville (played by Will Smith), the sole survivor of a plague that kills most of mankind and transforms some into zombie-like monsters. Robert lives with his dog Sam at his home in Manhattan. He pretty much has everything needed to survive at his disposal. He drives a car, has plenty of food supply, protects himself with weapons, is stocked by a large amount of ammunition, exercises nightly, broadcasts daily about a meeting place for other survivors to find him, listens to his iPod, watches DVD and even has his research lab fully functional in the basement. Here is a guy much better organized than most people under no duress. He is a perfect human specimen to survive, proving Darwin’s theory of natural selection; however, it also leaves us mere mortals a little cold to his predicament.

Probably the biggest mistake in screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldman’s script is to introduce the audience to Robert Neville three years after the plague instead of witnessing Neville’s initial shock after finding himself the only survivor in New York. It might have been a more absorbing and ambitious thriller. I, for one, would like to see how Neville has established his daily routine after the disaster. Instead, the Neville we meet at the beginning of the film is already well set in his solitary life. He has his dog as his loyal companion. He seems to have all he needs for survival and even has luxury items such as music and movies to sustain him spiritually. His research lab looks top-notched and his mind is still pretty sharp to carry on a very systematic research. Yet, Protosevich and Goldman want us to know all is not well. Neville has built a relationship with the mannequins in a video shop he routinely visits. He goes there regularly to check out videos and return them; all the while carrying on conversations with the mannequin cashier and stealing glances at an attractive fellow mannequin shopper. If we had been gradually exposed to Neville’s nightmare, those quirks might have come naturally; however, only knowing Neville three years after the disaster and seeing how well he functions elsewhere, those quirks seem forced onto the character.

While failing to create a deep psychological drama, director Francis Lawrence succeeds in creating an eerie atmosphere for the film. It is a treat to just see the whole Manhattan being deathly quiet and empty. Will Smith is a good choice playing Neville. Smith is a likeable actor and often underestimated by critics. He doesn’t undercut the seriousness of the subject, but he also understands there has to be humor to lighten up the mood from time to time. Smith’s acting works well with Lawrence’s direction and Andrew Lesnie’s cinematography. When he looks one way and then the other in a dark building, every nerve-wracking whatwasthat? registers. The audiences are truly frightened when something jumps out. Even a cheap “gotcha!” moment, in which a heavily sedated zombie jumps up and grabs Neville, is very well done and can scare you out of your seat.

I Am Legend will not become a legend, but it has plenty of thrills to offer for simple thrill seekers.