Pretty Good but not Great.

Rating: Null/10 (31 December 2007)

I'm not usually a fan of the megaplex blockbuster type movie but I have to admit I thought this was pretty good - leaving aside the dubious religious message at the end which nearly spoils it.
The movie is totally dependent on an excellent performance by Will Smith, who I think is now truly one of the world's great superstars, appealing across the boundaries of age, gender and nationality. (I watched I, Robot on TV the night before going to see I am Legend, and he was pretty good in that too, but it's easy to see how much he has gained in experience since.) He is one of those rare actors who can star in an effects driven movie, and still make a real human being, that you actually care about, the pivot point.
Smith plays the last 'normal' person left alive in New York after a virus, engineered to cure cancer, runs amok as a rabies variant, and destroys humanity. By day he drives around the city with his trusty dog Sam, stalking deer, and talking to store mannequins. By night he and Sam cuddle up together in their dark, shuttered apartment, gun at the ready, while Dark Seekers take over the streets looking for food. The Dark Seekers are victims of the virus who have not yet died, but who have been driven mad. He is a scientist still seeking the cure. But is he really the last unaffected person alive? It's all hokum of course, but I admit I enjoyed it. A Saturday Night movie which had me occasionally on the edge of my seat but never struggling to follow the plot. I've been a Sci Fi fan since I was 14 and first discovered Asimov but I've often felt that when Sci Fi is transferred to the big screen, the effects are allowed to overshadow the human interest. Without characters you care about, a Sci Fi movie can just become an exercise in gadgetry and computer graphics, with about as much interest for me as a video game. This movie avoids that. The special effects are good and often scary, but they never overwhelm the central character or the writing.
The last few minutes nearly let it down however. The sudden appearance of God in the equation really jars, and the heavy handed symbolism of the church appearing in the closing shots made me sigh. Man created this mess. Why not let man sort it out? (PS. The Dog is great!)