Entertaining in all the right places

Rating: 7/10 (15 January 2008)

"Nothin' happened the way it was supposed to happen." The amazing thing about this film, is that that quote sums up a lot about how this film came to be. Based on the 1954 novel by Richard Matheson, Warner Brothers took hold of the rights in 1970 and produced "The Omega Man" in 1971 with Charlton Heston in the lead role. "I am Legend" was then attempted by director Ridley Scott (American Gangster, Gladiator) and was due to star Arnold Schwarzenneger but fell through when the budget blew out. Michael Bay (Transformers, Bad Boys) then tried to make it in 2002 with Will Smith playing the lead, but then decided to do Bad Boys II instead. Finally, Director Francis Lawrence (Constantine) picked it up and ran with it, also with Will Smith, this time finally coming to the big screen.
The film is set in a post-cataclysmic New York where Robert Neville (Will Smith) is the sole survivor of a cancer cure which turned everyone into blood-thirsty, zombie-like creatures of the night. Neville tries to find a cure for 'the cure' while trying to find anyone else who may have survived like himself. Filled with 'flashbacks' to let us catch up to the present story, I found this method to be effective and while they occurred often throughout the film, didn't appear to be overdone.
Will Smith took the role of Robert Neville, and while he was portrayed as a tough warrior, Smith also brought to it an extremely emotionally damaged side, brought on by the fact that his character had been alone for over three years - a pleasant relief considering the usually generic characters in this genre of film.
I suspect that Will Smith and supporting cast member Alice Braga probably brought their own talent as actors and required minimal direction - but I feel that Francis Lawrence's direction lacked somewhat when it came to the two children's roles who tended to look very much staged and "non-natural". This could primarily be to Lawrence's relative newness to movie direction.
The set designers did a fantastic job, transposing the real New York city into a life-less, big city wasteland. No detail was overlooked, from the hundreds of weeds growing through the main roads in New York, down to the houses and apartments left in disarray as the victims of the 'cure' died.
Screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman did a great job, bringing some comic-relief to break up the suspense. Both are familiar with the disaster-film genre having been associated with the 2006 production of "Poseidon".
The CG effects were pretty good, but at times, slightly too "computerised", especially with respect to the zombie-type characters, who seemed too computer generated. At times, I found myself thinking of them more like orcs from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, rather than humans who had deteriorated into sub-human form.
I wasn't and expecting Academy Award winning effort - after all, it is a disaster film. However, it kept me on the edge of my seat at times, made me feel upset and annoyed at others, made me laugh every now and then, and over all, kept me thoroughly entertained - just as a movie should. I really enjoyed I Am Legend, and will no doubt watch it again and again in future.