I Am Legend (2007)

I am Legend stars Will Smith as Dr. Robert Neville, a military virologist living in New York City in 2012, who is the last known survivor of a worldwide viral epidemic called KV that has infected or killed nearly all of earth's population. KV, originally developed as a cure for cancer, caused severe side effects in test patients which resulted in mutations as well as physiological and biological changes in the human body structure. Humans infected with KV have become nonsensical, irrational, and bloodthirsty nocturnal monsters that will hunt, mutilate, and devour any living thing that is not also infected. KV proved to be highly contagious and became airborne at its epicenter in New York City. For some reason, Neville is one of the small percent of humans which is immune to KV and this allows him to traverse the empty streets and buildings of NYC without worrying about contracting the disease.

The film focuses heavily on Neville's methods of survival and his noticeably deteriorating psyche. When he is not preoccupied with seeking basic necessities, Neville works in his basement lab attempting to develop a vaccine for the disease. Will Smith does a superb job of portraying Neville's solitary character, who everyday is searching for solutions to the problems in his future as well as the future of mankind. Smith's acting is the highlight of the film and is really the driving force that could have actually made this film legendary.

Now for the bad stuff.

I am Legend is severely hindered by its sub-par screenplay. The first 1/3 to 1/2 of the film is a joy to watch, but suddenly holes and diversions become extremely visible.

The climax of the film is very rushed and the ending was typical clichéd nonsense. Pointless religious and philosophical overtones and dialogue are added to try and create a moral- based story, but just turn into fodder that is annoying to have to listen to. Certain important questions are never even answered like why certain people like Neville are immune or why KV drives its victims insane. Finally, the infected humans look more like sci-fi monsters than actual mutated and deranged beings and are not present nearly enough until the end of the film.

Final Verdict: 5/10. Pretty much only worth seeing for the first half of the film and for Willy's powerhouse acting. Such a shame really. The post-apocalyptic genre is very interesting to me and I love films like 28 Days Later, Mad Max, or Escape from New York, but Legend's poor narrative pulls it down.