Let Us Not Forget Will Smith

Rating: 8/10 (23 May 2009)

After reading numerous reviews (Ebert, in particular) that belittle this movie's repetition of the Zombie/Terror/Monster aesthetic, I am flabbergasted in the lack of recognition for the talent in Will Smith, and how he can make a 1 character movie so powerful.
Whether or not this is politically correct, Will Smith is the African American Tom Hanks. Or maybe vice versa. And the comparison is no more clear than with "I Am Legend" and "Cast Away." Both characters are fighting to survive in a hopeless, solitary state, wherein they exhibit amazing epiphanies about human psychology, and how we need to be social creatures, even if the creatures we confide in are not "real." For Tom Hanks (Cast Away), that personified character is Wilson, an inanimate volleyball of whom all of Hanks's fears, hopes, and determinations fall upon. For Smith, this need for an "illogical" socialization is profoundly (and disturbingly) addressed in his cordial conversations that he conducts in an abandoned record store with mannequins that stare blankly ahead despite his charming, yet fragile persona.
This review is intended for those that have seen the movie, and are willing to accept that this movie tackles starkly serious human issues regarding the human need to preserve life, and the contrasting battle for an individual who is reeling from the loss of his family, and is battling from the subsequent, pervasive loneliness.
This is NOT a Zombie movie. Rather, this is a passionate and powerfully executed glimpse into how a human may react in an incredibly inhuman situation.
This is a movie about determination, hope, and heroism. And Will Smith is the ONLY actor alive, besides Tom Hanks, that can make a 1 Man Movie so powerful.
Michael Oliveri moliveri80@gmail.com