Francis Lawrence’s I Am Legend (2/4 stars)
January 28, 2008 by Rick
They had to turn it into Resident Evil.
Matheson’s novel is a meditation on what a man would become if he were all alone. This was captured very nicely by director Francis Lawrence and The Fresh Prince through the first half of the film. The eerie, empty sprawl of a deserted New York City. The struggle with mannequins as the only “people” you “know”. The appreciation of having a dog to keep you company.
It actually put the brilliance of Tom Hanks’s performance in Cast Away in a whole new light. Will Smith had it far easier - NYC and a big dog. Hanks had a deserted island and a vollyball.
Anyway, they had to turn the vampires (Dark Seekers my ass) into your run of the mill ravenous mindless ghouls. Thinking that the audience wouldn’t see the film if it stayed true to the novel?
The whole thing REALLY jumped the shark when it turns out that he really wasn’t the last person on earth, and the title of the film somehow came from Bob Marley’s masterpiece recording.
Sorry. Ricockulous. I checked out right there and was a disinterested spectator when the film got to its insipid climax and thoroughly awful denouement. That was truly BAD. Think of The Village BAD. Yup.
Bottom Line: So, 4 stars for the first half, until the tragic death. Zero stars after that. That leaves us with a thoroughly disappointing two-star forgettable film. Pass.
I came at this one from the opposite direction; I went into it assuming that it was a brainless action movie—the only reason I even went was that there was nothing better that I hadn’t seen already—and I was impressed by how much time and energy had gone into depicting the psychology of the last man on Earth. That plus the amazing “deserted New York” visuals made it worthwhile for me. It’s not saying much, but for a big-budget mainstream CGI action picture, I thought it was halfway decent.
Compared to the National Treasure sequel it was friggin’ Lawrence of Zombie Arabia.
I ended up comparing it to Omega Man, the “classic”. This is ended up being a mistake as I found I Am Legend to be lacking in substance and actually less thought provoking compared to its Charlton Heston predecessor.
Cultist vs. Zombie comparison = Cultist wins hands down as it fits the genre in a much tighter role.
CGI was eye candy, as expected; the focus on Will Smith’s “alone-ness” was a nice touch; but in the end it failed to bring about the grit and bite i was looking to experience from a post apocalyptic type of flick.
I concur with Rick’s two star rating - at the very least the movie made me want to scrounge around for a copy of Omega Man! Lol!