Has nothing on The Last Man on Earth

Rating: 6/10 (6 January 2008)

In a time where just about everything is getting remade, the announcement of an updating of Richard Matheson's classic novel "I Am Legend" (which previously spawned the Vincent Price classic 'The Last Man on Earth' as well as 'The Omega Man') didn't exactly make me excited. The film is directed by Francis Lawrence; an ex-music video director whose previous effort was the muddled Constantine. This is a better film, but again it doesn't function as a complete whole; on the one hand, we have the desolate situation that the lead character finds himself, which is well done; but then we have masses of poor CGI and a rather boring personal story surrounding the leading man, and that just isn't good. Unlike previous adaptation of this story, this one takes the original novel's title; though I can't comment on whether or not it's closer to the source material, having not read it. The story is simple enough anyway - after a scientist discovers a cure for cancer, things go terribly awry for mankind as the cure turns deadly and becomes airborne, turning most people into nocturnal vampires and making most of the survivors their lunch. Scientist Robert Neville finds himself as the last man in Manhattan...
As mentioned, director Francis Lawrence does a good job of imposing the hopelessness of the situation on the audience. The streets of Manhattan are eerily deserted, while there is a constant sense of dread emanating from the fact that we know that there are always devolved humans lurking in the shadows. This hopelessness also comes through with the leading character; who has devolved himself from a happy family man to someone unable to function properly with other people. Will Smith may not be Vincent Price, but the great thing about this actor is the fact that he is charismatic enough to hold an audience's attention; something that is definitely needed in a film like this where he is on screen at almost all times. However, all this good stuff is undermined somewhat by the film's bad points. As mentioned, the CGI looks awful and unfortunately there is rather a lot of it. The story itself is strong for the first half of the film, but after a tragic twist and the introduction of a couple of new characters, it takes a sharp downturn. There's plenty of action thrown in, and I'm by no means saying that this is a 'bad' film; but I'm surprised at the reaction it's getting, and overall I did find the whole experience rather underwhelming.