Will Smith’s new movie “I Am Legend” is the third adaptation
of Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel of the same name. This time around the action
takes place in New York, and not in Los Angeles like in the
book.
The film is set in 2012 and Will Smith is Robert Neville, a
scientist and the only survivor of the virus that has destroyed almost the
entire population on earth. He is a former Army doctor and is somehow immune to
the virus.
The virus, man-made, transforms the people who get infected
into vampires (although the word “vampires” is not used at all in the movie).
Neville is the only survivor of New York City and probably the world and patrols
in his Mustang the Fifth Avenue
along with Sam, a German shepherd, also immune to the airborne virus.
Everyday Neville sends radio messages trying to find anyone
that could have survived the virus like him, probably his family too which he
sent to the country when the entered in quarantine.
He spends his days in the city, which is at his and Sam’s
disposal, and when he is not looking for food or visiting museums, he is in his
lab trying to come up with a serum, using his own blood, that will reverse the
effects of the virus.
At night, he returns at his home in Washington Square, barricades himself and
crawls up in the bathroom tub with his dog as the night creatures, mutant
victims (The Infected) come out with a thirst for flesh, having no pupil
dilatation to protect them from the sunlight.
Neville is on the edge of suicide by day 1,001 and that’s
when Alice Braga’s character comes in.
The first movie based on Matheson’s novel was "The Last
Man on Earth" starring Vincent Price, shot in Italy, in 1964 and the second one
was classic movie "The Omega Man” from 1971 which starred Charlton Heston
as Robert Neville and Anthony Zerbe as Matthias, who was the leader of the
people infected. The Infected try to kill Heston’s character because he stands
for everything that used to exist before the virus.
This third version, which cost $100 million, is by far the
best yet. The movie relies mostly on special effect: a computer vision of a
depopulated New York,
covered with weeds and wild animals that are retaking their territories.
With Smith starring in many successful Sci-fi movies like
"Independence Day”, “Man in Black”, “I, robot” it’s hard to believe that
“I am Legend” won’t be a box office success, “even if the movie itself flags on
the last lap”, like Tom Charity writing for CNN says.
The movie is directed by Frances Lawrence, who also directed
“Constantine”. He
tried to bring a note of intense feeling and more meaning to the story, unlike
Matheson who wrote a zombie thriller. Maybe Lawrence should have insisted more on that
side, and make it scarier.
He tries to show what effect isolation can have on a strong
person. Neville starts talking to himself and giving name to dummies showing
not a good future for his mental health.
Even so we have to give it up for the CGI work and the
production design for the depiction of a New
York returning to its natural state.
But we can say that we’ve seen it all before, the zombies
and the action that is well staged (“28 Days Later” etc.).
Tom Charity says that the movie turns into a Robinson Crusoe
saga in which “character's isolation is endlessly fascinating and Smith is
endearingly vulnerable as he wanders through his daily survivalist routines,
amiably talking to himself and his loyal dog, fighting his intense loneliness.”
Directed By: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson-Whitffield,
Will Smith, Willow
Smith
Released: Dec
14, 2007 (Nationwide)
