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Robert Neville (Will Smith) is the last man on earth, surviving a deadly virus that had turned human beings into carnivorous zombies. The virus was the unexpected side-effects of a supposedly miraculous cancer cure. Three years after humanity was wiped out from the face of the earth, Neville lives on with his dog in New York, which is now a ghost town, a veritable concrete jungle populated be deer and lions. His days are spent hunting and each night he makes sure he is home and shuttered in his Greenwich Village home because the zombies and their rabid dog, hurt by sunlight, attack only in the night, looking for fresh meat. A military scientist, Neville manages to maintain a laboratory in his basement where he hopes to find the antidote that would restore the zombies into their former human condition.
I Am Legend is adapted from a 53-year old science fiction by Richard Matheson. It has been filmed twice before: in 1964, The Last Man on Earth, with Vincent Price in the lead role, and in 1971, The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston. In the 2007 edition, Will Smith’s dramatic ability is challenged in this lead role in a movie where almost nobody else speaks- zombies can only shriek, and Neville’s dog isn’t trained to talk. He pulls it off convincingly for the most part, but his role is not strong enough to save I Am Legend from being another Saturday night horror flick. Through clever use of special effects, director Francis Lawrence manages to generate suspense and even a foreboding sense of a future in a world that lives on without us; however, the zombies look like mere dummies created for the sole purpose of giving the movie that “make-you-jump” ingredient present in all sci-fi horror hybrids. They may make a few kids below 13 sleepless for a couple of nights but for better informed viewers they simply look like what they are: computer-generated figures you gun down at the malls’ cyber games section.
We are willing to give I Am Legend the benefit of the doubt; perhaps it does want to deliver something serious, like a message of faith and humility. In the first 105 minutes or so of this 114-minute thriller, Neville is shown as hell-bent on surviving, desperately looking for the antidote that would keep him alive and healthy- never mind that he stuffs himself (and his dog) with a longer-than-lifetime supply of sodium-heavy canned beef stew. At one point a character who is not shown as being particular religious says to Neville “You have to listen in order to hear God’s plan.” He dismisses this exhortation as silliness until finally- in the remaining five minutes or so of the movie- he does listen. You would, too, if you’re up against a wall and a horde of indestructible zombies are banging at your glass door. This is one good topic you could discuss with especially the skeptics in the family- the change in Neville’s attitude toward religion. You may also ask how vital it is for humans to socialize- and ask what you’d do if you were the last man on earth.
(Date Reviewed: 11 January 2008)
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