Doesn't even come close to OMEGA MAN!

Rating: 3/10 (22 April 2008)

Folks, I have to be honest with you. I was so looking forward to seeing this remake, that its all I thought about for weeks. I figured Will Smith was a good choice and what wonderful things they could do with todays cinematic technology. Being a huge fan of the 1971 classic "The Omega Man", a far superior concept, I was really anxious to see what they could come up with. I couldn't have been more disappointed. Now I know some people will say that this movie was not meant to be a carbon copy of Omega, and that I am judging it based on a unfair criteria. My response is this, if you try to remake a classic and you fail miserably, you desevere all the razzing you get. Being as specific as possible, here are my main complaints.
1. VERY POOR SGI. I have to say that the SGI in this movie was not in the least bit convincing. The plague victims looked like cheaply made Zombies that were scraped from a cheesy rendition of House of the dead. Even the freaking animals, that became infected, were crudely done.
2. LAME Villains. There is an old saying, "A movie is only as good as it's Villain.", And in this movie the villains are boring as hell. One dimensional blood thirsty mutants that look like rejects from the Curly Stooge fan club, running around trying to suck Nevelles blood when all they actually do is just suck. Remember Omega Man? Yes the mutants were dressed in black robes and had heavy white makeup on and white contact lences but compared to this movie it looked far more real. Furthermore, in Omega Man, the mutants actually TALKED! Yeah, they were homicidal savages but they had character! With names like Mathias, Zachery, and so forth! Mathias and his "Family" may have been completely crazy but at least they could dialoge with nevelle. I really hated they way they went with the mutants in this remake.
3. Social Commentary. Very weak social Commentary in this remake. Will smith does a fair job with what little he's given here. In the Omega Man, The first half of the movie superbly shows the desolation and melencoly that has come over society as Charlton Heston drives aimlessly through the deserted streets and buildings looking at whats left of mans legacy. But here, The scripts doesn't go nearly far enough, I never felt the same poinentcy that Omega man displayed. Backpeddling a little, maybe if some interesting villains were added like in Omega Man, You could feel more meaning into what has been lost in this world and what remains. Let me give an example, In Omega man, When the mutants first capture nevelle, he says to them that he is a scientist, Despite being a homicidal maniac, the head mutant Mathias answers, "Definition of a scientist, a Man that understood nothing, till there was nothing left to understand!" Sheer brilliance. In I Am Legend The best dialoge the mutants can muster is "Grr, snarl, Rahhh,".
3. Slaped together ending. This is my biggest complaint. And to be fair I thought Omega Man suffered a LITTLE bit of this too. However, I am Legend is much worse off. After two thirds of this movies Lame villains and their CGI, and lame social commentary, we finally Meet the uninfected survivors like in Omega Man. Unlike in Omega Man, They zip in and out giving us no time to really get to know them or care about them. You know nevelle has got to sacrifice himself for them but its done so hastely that you feel like the movies saying "Hurry up and die already, I am running out film". I know that had to rap it up sometime but jeez in Omega Man You got to get to know the human survivors a lot better and felt a lot more sympathy than in this shoddy remake.
All in all, for reasons I have already stated, this remake was at worst a traviesty and at best extremely mediocre. My advise to anyone about to see this movie, do yourself a favor, rent The Omega Man watch it and then watch this movie. You will see that everything I have stated is a fact. One last comment, After seeing this movie I walked out of the theatre and was reminded of the final words of Mathias in omega Man, "The Bad Dream is over...Now we must sleep"! AMEN!!!! Oh I almost forgot to metion the Black and white version with vicent price...Well, let me sum it up quick. Not as good as Omega Man, but unlike I am Legend, not meant to be campy and cheesy!