I Am Legend

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2007)

If you don't cry, you are heartless. If you don't get scared, you are fearless. If you are Will Smith, you are legend. It currently holds a record of "the best-ever December opening weekend with $76.5 million USD of domestic box-office sales1" which even topped Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Based on the amazing novel by Richard Matheson, I Am Legend is one of the greatest Sci-Fi Thriller movies to date.
Dr. Alice Crippen (played by Emma Thompson) reveals over a TV interview that she has cured 10,009 cancer patients by engineering a virus to become helpful to humans rather than harmful. The scene cuts off and we are now looking at Manhattan, New York, three years later. A little emptier than it is today, not a person in sight, hardly any cars, only ones parked on the street. A Mustang GT500 speeds through the deserted streets, Dr. Robert Neville (played by Will Smith) and his dog, Sam, drive around Times Square hunting for foodone of his daily routines. We watch Neville pretend he's living in a regular world, cooking dinner for himself in an apron, listening to music, washing his dog in a bathtub, then he closes up, locks all doors and windows with extra protection, and goes to sleep. Then, he suddenly has a flashback. He remembers a piece of the past, back when he and his family had to evacuate Manhattan. Pieces of this flashback occur throughout the movie to help us understand the horrific day that haunts Dr. Neville, and push him forward to finding a cure.
The entire first third of the movie engages the audience into this fictional future, and we learn all about the characters (or character in this case) and atmosphere. The middle is filled with confusion, mystery, and sadness. Robert Neville falls down the pyramid of life's needs, and is struggling to crawl back up in the third half, filled with anger, depression, and fear. During all of this, the audience is riding a roller-coaster that features every emotion: anticipation, comfort, happiness, sadness, laughter, fear, depression, joy, disgust, love, vulnerability, and relief. Out of all the movies based on the original novel, The Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man, and I Am Legend, although The Last Man on Earth may be the closest to the plot of the novel, I Am Legend provides us with what a movie should. It has amazing computer graphics without overdoing it, minimal use of background music in the best possible way, and outstanding acting by Will Smith. This movie is legendary.