Not too bad at all.

Rating: 6/10 (1 January 2008)

I Am Legend is set in the near future where Lieutenant Robert Neville (Will Smith) is the last man alive in New York City, some years previous a cure for cancer designed by scientist Dr. Krippen (an uncredited Emma Thompson) mutated into a deadly airborne virus that has wiped most of humanity out. The only people left are either those few who are immune like Neville or those who have been transformed into zombie like creatures who feed on flesh & blood, seemingly alone in the world Neville scrapes out an existence as he tries to find an antidote for the virus & save humanity from being wiped out completely...
Directed by Francis Lawrence this was the big Hollywood blockbuster for Christmas 2007, I must admit I liked it more than I thought I was going to but the ending spoiled it for me after an impressive opening two thirds. The script by Mark Protosevich & producer Akvia Goldsman was based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson & is the third time the book has been adapted into a feature film along with The Last Man on Earth (1964) & The Omega Man (1971) neither of which I have seen, anyway back to I Am Legend & there are significant changes to the original source material including the ending which I will get to in good time. I have to say that I enjoyed I Am Legend more than I though I would & it isn't a bad film by any stretch of the imagination but after a wonderfully atmospheric opening two thirds where Will Smith spends his day wasting time & having fun in a deserted New York & dodging zombies at night. In that respect it felt like a much bigger scale Dawn of the Dead (1978) which is no bad thing at all but then the woman & her kid show's up at which point it goes downhill, ignores the original book by Matheson & ends in a overly sentimental happy ending, the woman & kid are used to further the plot rather than enhance it in my opinion. Most of the story unfolds via Neville's personal blog & a few flashbacks, it gives little bits of information at a time which keeps the plot going. At less than 100 minutes (does anyone actually sit through all the end credits?) it moves along at a nice pace, it's never what you would call boring & it tells a reasonable story well enough. I Am Legend is pretty much a one character film & it lives or dies by the fact if you like Neville or not, luckily Will Smith does a good job of giving him personality & the writing is solid too.
Director Lawrence does a fine job here, some of the shot's of a deserted overgrown New York look spectacular. There's a real sense of atmosphere, isolation & helplessness as Will Smith searches for a cure. The zombies look like those from 28 Days/Weeks Later as they run around like they are on steroids screaming their heads off, the main problem I have with them is that they are all entirely CGI computer effects generated & some of the CGI is really poor. I don't understand why they didn't use real actor's made up as zombies I really don't, it would have looked much better & scarier. Most of the horror film clichés are present & correct, you know like people &/or animals jumping out of shadows from the edge of the screen & that sort of thing. The gore & violence is minimal so don't worry about that.
Technically the film is very well made expect for some really poor CGI computer effects. Shot on location in New York the filmmakers apparently shut down whole streets & sections at a time which probably p*ssed all the native New Yorkers off big time. The acting is good but since there's only really two people in it this is one aspect that should be.
I Am Legend is a good solid sci-fi, horror, thriller, action type big budget Hollywood blockbuster film that was better than I expected, I don't know whether to give it a 6 or a 7 out of 10. I think I'll go for a 6 since I'm not keen on the ending at all & spoils much of what happened previously.