Will Smith Tries to Save the World from CGI... He Fails

Rating: 6/10 (8 May 2019)

Never mind the remake of the science-gone-wrong, vampire/zombie apocalypse scenario; "I Am Legend" seems of more, if still only slight, interest to me as reflecting its own making as a contest between man and computer-generated images. This seems all the more blatant today because the CGI tends not to hold up very well--if it ever did. The deer look especially unrealistic to me. So, in the movie, people and other living animals are turned into largely-CGI-created monsters. They look a bit like living creatures but not quite. Like the mannequins, an especially apt comparison within the movie. The irony is that this junk is supposed to be the attraction of these blockbusters, but this thing is completely carried by the human performance of Will Smith, the hero--plus his dog.
As great as Smith is in these popcorn flicks, though, even his heroics are no match for the havoc the CGI virus continues to wreak upon Hollywood. They even made that Batman v. Superman movie seen on a billboard within this movie. This was back in 2007... how prescient.