A half baked story ruins the film's chances of being legendary

Rating: 6/10 (14 December 2007)

In a few years time, a cure for cancer has been discovered. It works perfectly at first, but then a virus emerges that begins to wipe out the human population. Fast forward a few years later, and scientist Robert Neville (Will Smith) is the only living human in New York City. Along with his dog Sam, he searches and prays to encounter other survivors. But while day time presents only the challenge of outgunning wild animals, the nights bring mutant zombies just trying to stay fed.
I never saw The Omega Man or The Last Man on Earth, but I am very curious if they were anywhere near as disheartening as this film. I did not go in with the highest of expectations, but after sitting through at least an hour of this movie, I began to actually think I was going to leave surprised in how great it was. Sadly, that did not end up being the case.
The story, as unoriginal as it sounds, starts off intriguing and genuinely nerve-wracking. We see Neville and his dog going about their day-to-day routines, and we begin to realize the loneliness and terror that he is going through. He nostalgically watches old news programs from before the virus hit, keeps pictures of his family laying around the house, and frequently dreams about the last night he saw his family. These moments provide just the right amount of pathos needed to feel for this character, and as an audience, we grow dependant on wondering if he will achieve his dream of interaction and end the frightening isolation he faces. Much the same as Tom Hanks in Cast Away, we learn to appreciate what is basically one character interacting with another who cannot speak back.
But this is about all we get from his character by way of development. He spends much of the film searching for a cure for the epidemic, and we learn early on that it was his job to do so before the population was wiped out. But never once are we told why it was him chosen, or even how the epidemic started in the first place. We see articles and cut-outs littered around apartments, but never once does Neville stop and mention anything. Even worse, why is he the only one left? Just what exactly happened to everyone else? Unfortunately, obvious questions like these (and many, not so subtle others) are never answered. One can possibly leave it to the imagination, but with as perplexing an idea as this film presents, you would assume that the filmmakers would try and cover every angle of personality of this character. Instead, he is a few steps above being a one-dimensional card board cut out. The last third of the film does not help much either.
There are also a few annoying gaps of logic in reference to the zombie characters. Besides appearing at night, emitting horrible howls at any given moment and running like Olympic marathoners, none of them are given much else to do as characters. We are introduced early on to what one would assume is the leader (played by Dash Mihok), but never get a sense of why he leads. We just get terrifying yelps and near horrifying visuals. It does not help either that the makeup and special effects used for these creatures seems like they were just thrown together, instead of being molded into perfection.
Smith, as the lead and only real intelligible character for the majority of the movie, is a mixed bag. This is not his best performance, but it is not nearly his worst either. He seems to be throwing his whole heart into the role, but its demand just does not seem to be wearing off on him. Even though we are meant to believe that he is slowly going crazy from a lack of social interaction, Smith never truly shows this trait. He pokes and nudges at it, but there is something off in his calculations. Hell, his most emotionally packed sequences are almost laughable compared to some of the material in last year's The Pursuit of Happiness (and that movie was only watchable because of him). His dedication to the role wears off far too easy, and never do we get even a remotely close attempt at emulating the brilliant performance Hanks made on that island years ago. Smith is good, but just not good enough.
What the film loses out on in the story and in Smith, is completely different with the visuals. They are simply awestriking. Looking at the ravaged New York, it is almost too scary to think of it ever looking anything as dystopic and plant-friendly as this. These sets were created with precision and care. While the zombies look a little haphazard, these backgrounds are just stunning. Even his apartment, where much of the film takes place, looks simply amazing. There is nothing simplistic about them, and they end up working great for the film. The colours conveyed throughout the film are also very interesting, and are well captured by the camera.
The special effects on the other hand, are a little shifty. The monsters do not look that great, but some of the animals look photorealistic, and some of the sequencing (including a nighttime scene on a dock) are very well thought-out and put together. It is visually pleasing, and when they are actually on, the graphics look astounding.
Plagued with problems, I Am Legend could have probably done with a solid rewrite to pack in a few more answers. Leaving it to the audience's own devices is simply uncalled for. I realize they wanted something fast paced, and the film delivers on that ideal for the most part, but only because it sacrifices too much of the all important story. More work here would have only made the film stronger, and Smith's performance potentially legendary.
6/10.