Well done, but misses a golden opportunity to really shine... << Mostly Spoiler Notes >>

Rating: 7/10 (17 December 2007)

As a former development exec within the movie machine of Hollywood, I've read hundreds of scripts. This one I read about 10 years ago in some vastly different incarnation. Worthy of seeing for it's vision of the city of New York largely reclaimed by nature. One hopes that the upcoming remake of LOGAN'S RUN will learn a few key things from I AM LEGEND.
The following details are my view of where this production lost it's way. This is only worth reading if you've already seen the movie or have no interest in seeing it.
<<< SPOILER ALERT -- REST OF THIS COMMENTARY!!!! >>> How did the writer, the producers, the studio and the star ALL over-look the prime opportunity to really make this movie a movie to remember? How did they miss the story that they almost wrote but then either decided to un-write or ignore? I'm writing here about the importance of the "Leader" of the infected population. There's a key scene in which one of the creatures risks being burned by sunlight to see what has happened to one of the other creatures that Will Smith's character has captured for research purposes. The movie leaves this scene unexamined and throws away the huge potential for the story to have found a far deeper meaning that would have enhanced the word of mouth factor.
Even as I was exiting the theater I heard viewers reacting negatively to the hokey and forced ending. Avoiding this all the writers had to do was find in the "zombies" what Neville's character finds in the woman and child that too conveniently arrive out of nowhere: a sense that a future is possible.
The reason the leader of the infected people is willing to stick his head out into the sunlight is that the creature that Will Smith captures is his daughter. Ahhhh, yes, those of you who have seen the movie suddenly get it. This must have been an early draft of the project that someone unwisely decided to rewrite. The reason he is so steadfast to capture Neville's character is NOT to kill him, but to find out where is daughter is. As evidenced by the infected leader's ability to plan and plot, they are not brain-dead creatures -- they are simply infected with a desire to kill that they cannot overcome.
So what would the climactic scene have been about then? That would have been about the leader of the infected seeing his daughter healed and projecting her (and Neville) from the other infected creatures -- to his demise, as Neville and the cured girl escape the city to restart the world and spread the cure.
Obviously there's lots more details that could have been worked into that, but it's amazing how everyone involved with this project opted for an ending that in no small way, is a symbolic justification of suicide bombers. That was just so silly, it nearly undid all the good stuff that came before it.
Overall the impact of missing these obvious story enhancements results in a movie that looses the heft it could have had. As it is, I AM LEGEND is only a fair movie that could have been great. Faults entirely at the feet of the development execs and writers who thought up the ham-fisted finale without first seriously considering the clues within the story itself. Amazing that they missed it. Just amazing.
As a movie lover and former development exec, all I ask is for a little attention to detail within a story. Apparently all involved were too busy to really read it carefully.