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I Am Legend – Spoiler Free Review

Long regarded as one of the more difficult stories to adapt to film, Will Smith’s newest outing is a pleasant surprise. Written by Richard Matheson, I Am Legend is a simple story, at least at its core: A lone human must survive in a world overrun with Vampires. However, like all simple concepts there is so much more to the story. The story behind the making of the making of I Am Legend is about as dramatic as the film itself. Before ever hitting the silver screen, Matheson’s novel inspired a young George Romero as he penned The Night of the Living Dead. A few short years prior in 1964, Vincent Price starred in The Last Man on Earth, with the screenplay penned by Matheson; he later requested his name be removed after many rewrites forever altered his original story. In 1971, Charlton Heston starred in the cult classic Omega Man. Only taking the most basic elements, Omega Man is an adaptation in name only. With little to no box-office success from any adaptation, I Am Legend became the stuff of legends. One of the few unadaptable novels. Not even Ridley Scott and the governor of California could bring Matheson’s story to the theater.

It took 53 years for a good adaptation to hit the screen…

Like so many horrors visited upon the world, the path was set with the greatest of intentions. Meant to cure humanity from all forms cancer scientists developed the KV virus. While successful, the virus had a deadly and unknown "side effect". Anyone infected with KV quickly becomes a cannibalistic monster akin to Vampires (sharing the mythical creature’s lethal weakness to UV light as well as their never-ending thirst for blood). In a short time, the virus mutates into an airborne variety that kills most of humanity. Those it doesn’t kill, it transforms into the above-mentioned Darkseekers. Will Smith plays Robert Neville, a military virologist and last surviving occupant of an abandoned and infected New York City. Immune to all varieties of the virus, Robert Neville stays in New York, forever seeking a cure to the disease that Neville blames himself for creating. During the day, Neville does his best to maintain his sanity by gathering food and performing research in an underground lab. By night, he locks himself in tight within stone and steel walls as the Darkseekers ravage the abandoned metropolis. His only living companion is his child’s pet German Shepard, Sam.

Neville is not a traditional Hollywood hero.

Robert Neville is a man wrecked with guilt, driven to atone for the horrors he feels he has unleashed upon all humanity. Everyday we seem him slide further and further into despair as each one of his experiments and cures fail. While not quite as gut wrenching as Frank Darabont’s The Mist, I Am Legend shares a similarity in that the human element generates the strongest emotional punch. The Vampires in I Am Legend are only a plot device to further drive Neville’s own journey. Robert Neville is truly a man alone. At first, you question his sanity as he talks to self-placed store mannequins. Then you realize this isn’t the inane rambling of a man slowly descending into madness. No, Neville’s actions are completely sane. His conversations with his animal companion Sam and mannequins remind Robert of his own humanity. It reminds him of all he is working towards. Robert Neville is doing more than simply surviving. He is trying to take control of his own destiny. A destiny that long ago spiraled out of humanities control. Will Smith deserves a strong credit in his performance of Robert Neville. It isn’t easy to maintain that emotional level when you have no one to act against not counting cute little Samantha, his animal companion. Will Smith brings the audience on an emotional ride. You feel his pain. You feel his fear. You feel his hope. You feel his loss. You feel his short moments of happiness. Will Smith once again proves in his performance of Robert Neville that he is truly a Hollywood star. I am glad the filmmakers didn’t resort to Smith’s public pleasing one-liners and comedic charms. This is an extremely subdued Will Smith, yet also one of his more powerful performances. This is Will Smith's strongest performance since Ali.

What of those Vampires?

Well, visually they are one of the weakest elements in I Am Legend. The heavily publicized decision to run with CGI Vampires already cast a shadow over the film. I am not a fan of complete CGI characters. Rare does a computer character ever out perform a flesh and blood actor. Such was the case with the Vampires in I Am Legend. There are some moments, particularly when the creatures are only seen in a flash of light or hidden within the shadows that their horror shines. Sadly, the moments when the Vampires are in full view, their fakeness is stark against the real world. Still, they do illicit some genuine scares and generate tension. I just wish some of the close-up shots, especially tight face shots, used real human actors. I had images of Arnold Vosloo's Imhotep on more than one occasion.

The film is strong.

This version of I Am Legend takes some strong deviations from Matheson’s original story, the filmmakers still turned in a strong film adaptation. My biggest issue with this version of I Am Legend is its lack of social commentary found within the original story. Still, this is a good drama with shades of horror. Not as emotional punishing as The Mist, I would say it surpasses 2007’s other strong horror film, 1408. I Am Legend will satisfy most any audience member. The scares are good, the tension is strong, and Will Smith's performance is truly fantastic. This is a legend you’ll want to see.