I Am Legend

Production year: 2007

Science Fiction PG-13   Running time: 1:40 

IMDB rating:   7.2     Aspect: Wide;  Languages: English, French, Spanish;  Subtitles: English, French, Spanish;  Audio: DD 5.1

Will Smith stars in the third adaptation of Richard Mathesonís classic science-fiction novel about a lone human survivor in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by vampires. This new version somewhat alters Mathesonís central hook, i.e., the startling idea that an ordinary man, Robert Neville, spends his days roaming a desolated city and his nights in a house sealed off from longtime neighbors who have become bloodsucking fiends. In the new film, Smithís Neville is a military scientist charged with finding a cure for a virus that turns people into crazed, hairless, flesh-eating zombies. Failing to complete his work in time--and after enduring a personal tragedy--Neville finds himself alone in Manhattan, his natural immunity to the virus keeping him alive. With an expressive German shepherd his only companion, Neville is a hunter-gatherer in sunlight, hiding from the mutants at night in his Washington Square town house and methodically conducting experiments in his ceaseless quest to conquer the disease. The filmís first half almost suggests that I Am Legend could be one of the finest movies of 2007. Director Francis Lawrenceís extraordinary, computer-generated images of a decaying New York City reveal weeds growing through the cracks of familiar streets that are also overrun by deer and prowled by lions. Itís impossible not to be fascinated by such a realistically altered cityscape, reverting to a natural environment, through which Smith moves with a weirdly enviable freedom, offset by his wariness over whatever is lurking in the dark of bank vaults and parking garages. Lawrence and screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman wisely build suspense by withholding images of the monsters until a peak scene of horror well into the story. It must be said, however, that the computer-enhanced creatures donít look half as interesting as they might have had the filmmakers adhered more to Mathesonís vampire-nightmare vision. I Am Legend is ultimately noteworthy for Smithís remarkable performance as a man so lonely he talks to mannequins in the shops he frequents. The filmís latter half goes too far in portraying Smithís Neville as a pitiable man with a messianic mission, but this lapse into bathos does nothing to take away from the visual and dramatic accomplishments of its first hour.

Director

Features

Deleted/extended scenes
Featurettes/Behind-The-Scenes/Documentaries

Special features

4 Awesome Animated Comics (Death As A Gift, Isolation, Sacrificing The Few for the Many and Shelter)
DVD-ROM PC Weblink to Intense Bonus Material Databank Chronicling the Movie's Creation
Creating I Am Legend Minidocumentary Gallery
Cautionary Tale: The Science Of I Am Legend
Sacrificing The Few For The Many, Shelter
Alternate Theatrical Version With Controversial Ending
I Am Legend