Too heavy for Will

Rating: 4/10 (6 May 2008)

If this had an actor that could carry the lead role, the cut would be good. But Will Smith just can't give the character the depth it needs. This makes the scenes where he orders videos, freaks out about a mannequin being on the wrong spot and some more, fast forward scenes. He's also not convincing as "a brilliant virologist". Sure, he says the words and seems to be familiar with the terminology, but you keep wondering how such an action packed athlete and music lover, somewhere in his lower thirties - oh and high ranked military officer - ever got the time to get a PhD, let alone specialize in the field of virology.
This is also where the movie fails big time. If you can't get the right actor for this (and there's very few that could deliver this), then you transform it to an action-packed high paced movie, where there's no time to wonder about the science behind it and the audience is more forgiven about plot holes. With Will Smith, this probably would've worked better if he was the 'protector' and some other person did the research.
As for the story, for those that have seen 28 days later and loved it for it's anthropological insights, should avoid I am Legend. You will notice that it is in it's core an "americanized version" of 28 days later. Take 28 days later, cut to New York, add family values, add a hero, don't make the military look bad, a touch of religion and lots of guns and explosions.
All in all, if you enter this with an action mindset and fast forward through the dramatic scenes, you'll have a nice hour of action left.
4 out of 10, where the 3 points are for the only positive point: the special effects.