Chuck Noland in New York City

Rating: 10/10 (27 December 2007)

I heard this comparison being made before, and I thought that it fit perfectly. Both movies, I Am Legend and Cast Away, tell of the struggles of one man to survive on his own. Both tell of a loving non-human companion. And both movies are deep and explore the human condition. Except I like I Am Legend much better.
There's something about the movie that makes you scared. It's the scale of the loneliness of Dr. Robert Neville, who lives by himself in NYC. It's the sense of impending doom that really makes you worry, like there's no point in living if everyone else is dead. It's worrisome, and I love it. There's little dialogue, but Will Smith pulls off an amazing job of going solo. His intense scenes of dealing with loneliness really hit the spot.
And the zombies . . . well, they're cool, and they scare the heck out of me. One scene involving a zombie close up in a car really freaked me out. The scariest, though, was when Smith turned on the lights to scare away the oncoming zombies, but they jumped on them to destroy them, and then Smith detonates the bombs to stop the zombies. This was one terrifying scene for me, and all that ensued was really quite amazing. And the ending was touching and thoughtful, though it did leave me quite still.
I Am Legend was one heck of a ride.