Rating : 4/5Is it me, or does every movie that portrays the future, it's always some post-apocalyptic setting or the fall of man with man itself to blame? Not a lot to look forward to is it? Anyways, after years of being let down by so called scary zombie/virus movie genres and other blockbuster thriller debacles, "I Am Legend" really separates itself from the group.
Without giving too much way, Will Smith plays a sole survivor of a world dominating virus created by man that was originally created to cure cancer. Three years into the "new" world, Smith (who was a former doctor) dedicates his life to survival, finding a cure....and talking to mannequins. In order to find a cure he seeks out the infected, who only come out at night, and hoping to correct man's mistake.
"Legend" was the first truly scary movie I've seen in some time. Realism is the main factor in scary movies in my opinion. If it can happen, than that's pretty scary. Also, Smith's portrayal of despair and borderline insanity of three years of seclusion added to the effect. With the exception of his dog, Smith had no live contact with constant failure attempts of his cure only leading to his insanity. It had a "Cast Away" feel to it with his dog as to Hank's volleyball and his house reminding you of that stranded island.
The action/suspense scenes coupled with superb sound direction were also heart pounding and unexpected which added to the "scare" factor. Whenever Smith engaged with the zombie-like survivors, there was that claustrophobic feeling that I haven't felt since "Alien." My only real complaint was the overuse of CGI over real actors for these characters, but with their speed and strength that these things showed if may have not been possible.
"Legend" overall is one of the better movies of 2007 and a must see. Not Oscar-worthy by any stretch of the imagination, but it's certainly entertaining, realistically tense and maybe even thought provoking.
3 comments:
To the modern eye, the plot for the 1954 Richard Matheson novel, I Am Legend, might sound something like Cast Away with zombies. Truth be told, that's not a terrible premise, and Constantine director Francis Lawrence runs with it in this third film adaptation of the novel (and the first to keep its title). Where he takes it may not always work, but he makes sure we enjoy the ride.
Will Smith plays Robert Neville, a virologist investigating a genetically engineered cure for cancer that has gone very, very wrong. With most of the world's population wiped out and a small remnant turned into ravenous, infected carriers, Neville ekes out a lonely existence with only a dog for company in the remains of New York City. He hunts, forages, and explores by day and shuts himself in at night. The infected, as it turns out, are vulnerable to ultraviolet light.
Through flashbacks we see how Neville came to be in this predicament, and how he dedicated himself to finding a cure. Part of that involves capturing infected humans for testing. In doing so, he incurs the wrath of one of the local CHUDs and Neville soon finds out that these creatures are not as dumb as they look.
At first, the film wrings plenty of scares out of Neville's encounters and does a good job of revealing the monsters bit by bit, but once displayed, their CGI-ness is hard to ignore. By the time they're in full-on assault mode, they resemble nothing so much as zombified versions of the I, Robot androids, right down to their wall-scaling and coordinated attacks. This makes for exciting action sequences, but dials down the horror quotient considerably.
Smith, for his part, does a superb job of communicating the pathos and desperation of the last man on Earth. His slow disintegration into madness is subtly evoked, and in one particularly emotional scene, he handles one of the most tired clichés of the zombie genre with genuine depth.
The script gives him plenty of help, at first. Screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman show plenty of restraint, teasing out the details of the virus and its outbreak over the course of the film while elegantly laying out how Neville interacts with this post-apocalyptic world in episodic vignettes.
Ultimately, the film seems to be on the verge of asking intriguing questions about faith and humanity. The final moments, however, try to answer those questions so quickly that it's like trying to cram all of Signs into about five minutes. The effect is underwhelming.
In spite of these shortcomings, I Am Legend maintains the power to awe. The production design by David Lazan and Naomi Shohan is nothing short of amazing, rendering a Big Apple reclaimed by nature with stark realism. And while the story played out against that backdrop becomes a little too pat in its conclusion, the journey it takes to get there is no less entertaining.
It could have been better. They ended the movie too soon, just when it was starting to gather some steam.
not so unique-Seemed like it wanted to ride the coattails of real films recently released.
Post a Comment