Yet another opportunity to adapt this great novel falls short!

Rating: 6/10 (16 December 2007)

Warning! This review is written by a lover of the original novel by Richard Matheson! Right up front. Now, I've been disappointed by the two prior attempts to film this book; "Last Man On Earth" (1964) w. Vincent Price (fatally miscast) and "The Omega Man" (1971) w. Charlton Heston (better production value; dated script). In every version, the basic story is the same; a lone survivor of a vampiric plague struggling to keep his ebbing sanity intact. With all the money poured into this film, a lot of it did wind up on screen. The deserted Manhattan is breath-taking in scope and realism. You can almost feel the mosquitoes in the air! The desolation really captures a lot of the creepy feeling from the first half of "Omega Man." Will Smith turns in an excellent performance (one of his best) and I was pleased he did NOT turn this into another "ID4" or "I, Robot." Ever since "Pursuit of Happiness," I have a profound respect for his talent. My only problem was with the "smart-guy glasses" he wears in his lab. Reminds me of when an attractive woman plays a nerd by donning spectacles! Clark Kent syndrome! It might've been more intriguing if Smith's character, Col. Robert Neville, M.D. had been a layman civilian (as he was in the book) who had to educate himself to combat the plague. This would've played to Smith's benefit; as he is more believable as a likable everyman than a top-notch military doctor. However, the film starts to really falter after we see the "infecteds," or "night (insert scary plural noun here)." They are a pack of phony-looking, video-game quality 'Gollums' on steroids. OK, so these former humans are ill; how does this "illness" enable them to become strong as horses and to defy physical laws (leaping 20 ft in the air?? Gimme a break! They're supposed to be HALF-DEAD! Did ANYONE involved read the damn book)? This lack of believability killed the tension completely (unless one finds video-game level violence 'scary'). And making them louder did NOT make them scarier! Good makeup, combined with shadowy lighting and judicious editing would've helped A LOT! In the all-digital theater I saw this in (great presentation, ironically), the CGI limitations were glaringly obvious(even the ice surrounding one of the captured creatures had a gelatinous, fake texture). And then there's the dog. The book has a desperately lonely Neville reaching out to a semi-wild stray. The movie begins w. Neville and dog roaming the streets of Manhattan like Mad Max! Gone is the point of the dog in the book; one man's fevered attempt to try to reach out to another living creature. And the months it takes Neville to win its trust. It was a labor of love. Here, it just serves to make Smith more sympathetic; a cheap trick of audience manipulation rather than a slowly earned trust. The ending is pure Hollywood as well. Much more "hopeful" and "warm-fuzzy" than the darker, more fatalistic tone of the book. None of the betrayal, either. Except to fans of the book, like myself! Well, that makes three strikes (in trying to bring "Legend" to the silver screen). I don't suppose they might try to adapt the book again in 10 yrs? Doubt it. Better just to read the book and forget the adaptations. But if there IS a next time, LOSE the phony, CGI vampires. They were both laughable AND embarrassing. I Am Legend (the film), sadly, will NEVER be!