A Wasted Opportunity

Rating: 4/10 (30 June 2008)

Given the post 9/11 currency of stories about a besieged America (Americans) - Cloverfield, The Happening, Diary of the Dead, War of the Worlds etc. etc. - producing a new version of "I Am Legend" (which had already been filmed as "The Last Man on Earth" and "The Omega Man") seemed to present a real chance to do something interesting and relevant. Sadly this interpretation of the excellent source novel really fails to get to grips with the potential relevance of the film's central premise. The film starts well enough with Will Smith's Robert Neville struggling to survive and retain his sanity in an abandoned New York over-run by escaped zoo animals. The first half hour works really well in building the atmosphere of terrifying isolation in a setting normally so associated with the hustle and bustle of 21st Century urban life. Things start to go horribly wrong, though, as the film begins to expose Neville's back story - his failure to save his own wife and daughter from the carnage leading to the apparent extinction of humanity and his struggle to deal with the emotional baggage this heaps on him. There is a trite and mawkish quality to the way in which the character's "personal issues" are set up which is made worse when we are introduced to the zombie style infected who lurk in the dark recesses of the city until night descends. The choice to use CGI for these monsters is a huge mistake - especially given the fantastic quality of special effect make-up these days - and smacks of a laziness so common in Hollywood's more High Concept production these days. Instead of believable and frightening villains we end up with cartoonish creatures reminiscent of the way in which Ang Lee's completely ludicrous Hulk was rendered. What's more the introduction of the mother and child who turn up on Neville's doorstep feels like a simple convenience of plotting which allows him to make the ultimate sacrifice at the end to save them - so exorcising his own culpability for the loss of his wife and child and setting up a tacked on up-beat ending which feels completely out of place against the general atmosphere that the film seems to be trying to establish for the rest of the narrative.
Apart from the opening deer-hunting sequence (where in fairness GCI is actually used to great effect) this film really has only one other thing to recommend it which is the great performance from Neville's German Shepherd. Lassie eat your heart out.