I Am Legend

“I Am Legend”

USA. 2007. Directed by Francis Lawrence. Screenplay by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman. Based on the novel by Richard Matheson. Starring: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith and Joanna Numata.

Rating: ★★★

Most people will say the reason you must go see a movie like I Am Legend in theaters is to see the astonishing shots of a completely deserted New York City. A previous zombie movie, 28 Days Later had impressively shown an abandoned London but this film one-ups that as it shows numerous blocks of empty cars in gridlock in NYC. It even shows large fields of weeds that have grown right in front of a deserted Times Square as lions and deer that have escaped from the zoo roam around and have returned to their preternatural predator-prey relationship.

None of this would work, however, without the performance and presence of Will Smith, who, much like Tom Hanks did in Cast Away, carries the film on his more than able movie star shoulders. He is not the first one to play Robert Neville, the hero of the famous sci-fi novel by Richard Matheson about the last surviving man on earth who is immune to a virus that has plagued the entire planet. But he is certainly far better at essaying complex emotions while playing a charismatic action hero than either of his predecessors, Vincent Price in 1964’s The Last Man on Earth and Charlton Heston in 1971’s The Omega Man.

That is why he is able to turn what seems like a typical Hollywood treatment of making Neville into a resourceful, military scientist to his advantage. As played by Smith, it is a welcome approach that delves into the intellectual capacity of humans and the responsibility that comes with it but is often forgotten. It is Neville’s journey not only to fight against the perpetual loneliness that plagues his mind but also, in a way, to compensate for the arrogance of humanity to play God in science (represented in the opening clip with a scientist played by Emma Thompson smugly explaining how the virus was supposed to be a cure of cancer genetically engineered from the measles virus).

To keep himself occupied, Neville eats a strict diet regimen, exercises on a schedule, goes out hunting for deer (sometimes being upstaged by a lion that gets to it first) and talks to his only living companion, a dog named Samantha. He broadcasts on his radio calling for any other survivors to meet him at a pier at the sunniest point of the day. At night, he attempts to make a vaccine for the virus from his immune blood after hunting down some rabid dogs and a few infected night-crawling humanoids as well. And every now and then, he has flashbacks to when he is trying to have his family safely escape the viral quarantine of New York (which generates two of the most memorably emotional scenes in the film).

The director, Francis Lawrence seems to be interested in exploring the psychological horrors of people fighting lone man wars against the forces of evil and makes a far superior thriller this time around than his last chaotically empty noise-fest, Constantine. Generating suspense from the old cliché of creeping through dark corners is rarely effective but Lawrence, perhaps having taken notes from the great British horror film, The Descent, crafts a genuine one where he uses flickering lighting sparingly well to build a good amount of dread. More crucially, he is patient enough this time to fully utilize Smith’s depth and complexity and explore Neville’s constant battle for his own sanity.

The first two acts of the film with Neville alone are so engaging and riveting that it is sad to see the film give way to trite Hollywood action in the third act. There is a potentially intriguing character introduced when a woman, Anna (Alice Braga), along with a boy, Ethan (Charlie Tahan), rescues an almost suicidal Neville and says that she was led by God to go to New York and find him. But, at last, even this intriguing idea of how the seeking of God figures into a desolate existence is shouldered aside for a climactic battle Neville fights against the typically fast-running, ravenous humanoid zombies. Then there is the ending that feels like a neat little ribbon trying to tie up a turgid package.

In the end, it is ultimately the work of Will Smith that carries the movie’s themes and moral questions through, warts and all. He has yet to find the perfect script to match up to his talent, as even his good films like Men in Black, Enemy of the State or last year’s The Pursuit of Happyness rely too much on generic Hollywood conventions. But he is always adroit enough to elevate the material he is given and doing that all by himself here, he proves that he is a born movie star.