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Will Smith—despite Time magazine’s George Clooney article—is the last movie star. With Hollywood’s profits mostly coming from DVD sales and changing tastes among audiences, the so-called “star power” no longer has the impact it once did. That being said, it’s almost fitting that Will Smith plays the last man alive in I Am Legend. Set in a post-apocalyptic Manhattan, we watch Smith go through his daily routine: trying to find food, keeping in shape and coping with loneliness. Conceived by the fertile imagination of Richard Matheson, I Am Legend is a great concept but executed with fair results.
The bulk of the movie rests on Will Smith’s shoulders. For more than two-thirds of the running time, Smith is the only person on screen. Think Tom Hanks in Cast Away but set in a deserted cityscape. Like in Cast Away, the hero does have a non-human companion; here, Smith’s character has a K-9. This human to pet story is more compelling than the human to volleyball story in the Tom Hanks movie. Will Smith’s role is challenging and he does succeed.
When Smith started his movie career, he was mostly charm with little acting skill. Let me know if there was a distinct difference between his character in Men in Black and Independence Day. With starring roles in Ali, The Pursuit of Happiness and now I Am Legend, Smith has developed a strong and wide-ranging portfolio.
Now that I’ve praised Smith’s performance, it’s time to disgrace the rest of the movie.
The special effects are horrible. The shots with Smith in the center of Times Square are noticeably done in front of a green screen. The computer generated wild animals that roam the streets are laughable. However, the worst offense goes to the creatures or the “dark stalkers.” These creatures are CG versions of infected humans that come straight out of 28 Days Later. Not only are these creatures merely cartoons, but they go against what Richard Matheson wrote; they were vampires in the novella. I support taking creative liberties to suit the times, but do it the right way. Special effects can’t make a movie but they can destroy it; such is the case here.
Jose (41 posts)Illustrator from Ann Arbor, MI Favorite Directors: Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino, and Christopher Nolan. http://www.jtungol.com
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Actors should try out different roles. Will Smith is a very seasoned actor. He has that good sense of humour to boast. Actors with that kind of ability can literally pull of any movie. It gets very boring when you have to watch just one person acting almost the entire film.
Comment by Baby Names — Sat March 22, 2008 @ 10:25It is very typical for Will Smith to play the last man on earth though… fits his ego it seems…
Comment by Weefselkweekje — Tue April 1, 2008 @ 13:10this movie insults the story much more than just the vampire issue. The last man on earth is meant to become the “legendary” killer of a new society. And he certainly isn’t supposed to have some ridiculous happy-ish ending.
Comment by marisa — Thu April 10, 2008 @ 20:05The similarities to 28 Days Later were so great that it distracted me during the first half of the film. Although, as Jose points out, many special effects were terribly badly done, I did like the “look” of the deserted Manhattan, with weeds growing out of the streets.
For the rest it was, to me, boring and a little predictable here and there.
****SPOILER****
Comment by suzero — Wed May 21, 2008 @ 22:06I would have found it more interesting if the lead Darkseeker had shown an interest in working together with Robert Neville instead of continuing to growl and rip things apart. But then I don’t know the original story. Was it beter than the film?
The book wasn’t particularly memorable either. I know Matheson has done some good stories before like Duel–one of Spielberg’s first films–and old Twilight Zone episodes, but I wasn’t really impressed with this particular story overall. Maybe I just like the idea of the last man on earth rather than the story of the last man on earth.
Comment by Jose — Fri May 23, 2008 @ 3:30I saw Omega Man last week, with Charlton Heston.
Comment by Paco — Fri May 23, 2008 @ 12:50Here we see that the dwellers are more intelligent and however murderous not as brainless as the monsters in Smith’s movie. I liked it more than I am Legend, but that is also because Smith’s movie sucked.