A horror film done right

Rating: 9/10 (22 December 2007)

I Am Legend opens with some very familiar scenes: empty buildings, empty streets, general desolation, basically, the setup for a standard post-apocalyptic horror film. Yet once this film gets going, it quickly becomes apparent that this isn't just another death-of-mankind-type movie.
I did not read the book upon which this movie is based, so I cannot comment on whether or not it stayed true to the original story. Taken in and of itself, though, I Am Legend is basically what any horror film should be. First, this film isn't strictly horror, it has elements of drama, sci-fi, and thriller among other things. Nevertheless, the setting, the plot, and the amount of zombie-like creatures definitely puts it into the horror category as far as I'm concerned.
Now, this movie could have quickly been ruined by the kinds of gratuitous chase scenes and excessive violence that usually plagues horror films. It doesn't do that. It could have used the usual technique of "the audience is too stupid to figure out what happened unless we tell them every piece of the puzzle explicitly". It doesn't do that, either. It is much more subtle and much more interesting. The story is very psychologically based rather than action based and is a much more interesting movie because of it. Top it off with Will Smith in one of his best performances to date and you end up with something much more than your average sci-fi/horror flick.