extravagant, dramatic, brilliantly-acted, frightening, fantastic film

Rating: 9/10 (14 April 2008)

"I Am Legend" is a nearly perfect, nearly flawless third adaptation of the famous Richard Matheson novel telling the story of a sole survivor three years after a devastating plague has wiped out most of humankind into extinction and transformed the rest into vampire-like monsters. In my opinion, this is the best out of all three. It's not the most faithful version to the novel (see "The Last Man on Earth" (1964) with Vincent Price for that) but the changes seemed necessary and although the final half-hour of the movie is somewhat disappointing and weak, the movie still plays itself very well and is at times genuinely frightening.
Will Smith plays the iconic Matheson character Robert Neville, who has been changed this time to be a virologist in New York City trying to cure the disease and restore humankind. He has a companion this time, his dog Sam, the only other living thing that for three years he has not been hiding from or trying to kill. The bonding between these two characters is quite effective, starting from the beginning to show a true level of companionship and how these two will do anything to protect the other in this dangerous transformed world. Will Smith plays his character with true brilliance. His performance was simply put: golden. It's films like "I Am Legend" that show that Will Smith is capable of effectively playing characters outside of the comedy genre that got his career started.
One of the scary things in "I Am Legend" is how it creates a realistic feeling of this man feeling like he may really be the last healthy human on the planet. All the others hide in the dark and would be more than happy to tear him to pieces if they caught him after sunset or in their lair. The transformed set of New York looks great with all the weeds in the streets, the animals roaming free, cars parked everywhere, buildings deserted and falling. And of course, this city can be even more frightening when life-threatening situations arise for our two primary characters. There is a truly heart-jamming and terrifying sequence in the movie that goes without music, is claustrophobic, and keeps the audience almost as frightened as Robert Neville is.
One problem I have with "I Am Legend" is the same problem I also associate with what I've seen of the two previous adaptations. I felt the infected were not treated right. They are certainly more compelling and scary than the stumbling, low-voiced zombies from "The Last Man on Earth" and more terrifying than the Gothic "family" from "The Omega Man" (which I have yet to finish seeing). But the main problem is that the CGI used for portray the infected was not particularly convincing. It's good enough to pull itself through, but certainly with room for improvement. It would have been better to use actors in prosthetics and use CGI for longer shots. Nonetheless, they do play their part fairly well and since we don't see TOO much of them, they are compelling enough to be accepted.
If there is a big problem with the film, then it's the last half-hour, which is the reason why I give this film a 9 instead of a 10. The first hour was hands-down brilliant and amazing. The final third of the film was rather weak and at many times, slow and uninteresting. It's merciful that it is only a half-hour long and that it doesn't waste too much time to ultimately ruin the movie. It does end off the wrong way, but whenever I finish viewing the film, I still relate to the first two-thirds which I loved and enjoyed. The hair-raising tension, the brilliant performance by Will Smith, the great directing job by Francis Lawrence, it all worked so wonderfully. I only wished it could have been so flawless all the way through.
But in the end, "I Am Legend" is a great film and one I highly recommend. Some people will not like being frightened so many times during the first hour, but I admire the film for being able to scare me. And I also admire it for Smith's golden performance and the overall compelling atmosphere and high entertainment value.