Directed by:
Francis LawrenceCinematography:
Andrew LesnieComposer:
James Newton HowardCast:
Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Willow Smith, Darrell Foster, April Grace, Dash Mihok, Steve Cirbus, Emma Thompson (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Robert Neville is a brilliant scientist, but even he could not contain the terrible virus that was unstoppable, incurable, and man-made. Somehow immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and maybe the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone. Mutant victims of the plague - The Infected - lurk in the shadows... watching Neville's every move... waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered... and quickly running out of time. (Warner Bros. US)
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Reviews (13)
Right after setting my noise interference device to channel 4, I was engulfed in the great atmosphere of an empty New York. The scenery is really impressive and the silence, the silence (even above my noise interferer, the sound of crunching potato chips and giggling) is chilling. Frances Lawrence really approached this from the right direction. Will Smith acts very convincingly, despite the role not being... let’s say, right for him. Especially in the second half he shows that he is able to be serious too. As for the “vampires" or, if you will, the light-shy, I’m convinced that people in makeup could never look so vacant and inhuman. I certainly understand Lawrence’s idea to do them digitally, because like this they really terrified me. Even though I admit that they were far from perfect. But what prevents me from giving it five stars is the fact that the screenplay begins (especially toward the end) to behave too “American" and changes from before unseen into a clichéd genre with an inevitable ending. This might have worked before, but today at least I am unimpressed. Can’t a movie just end normally? And they should have translated the title in Czech properly. I’m adamant about that.
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Francis Lawrence confirms his reputation as a versatile director, but unlike with Constantine, his higher budget also meant a noticeably lower quality screenplay. Mainly because of it, the excellent action and grand yet suffocating atmosphere are somewhat wasted. Some compromise is missing here at least. The line between drama and sci-fi spectacle is very winding here, confusing the viewer with transitions from bombastic yet "only" personal scenes to occasionally intimately portrayed fights. The biggest betrayal of the story is ultimately the whole theme. It mixes 28 Days Later, The Day of the Triffids, Planet of the Apes, and other battles of individuals against a mass of enemies, but the trailer promised much more than that. A satisfying conclusion and some ideological depth were sought in vain here.
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I'm going to be brutally honest. I Am Legend is a stupidly written and routinely filmed B-movie that has nothing to offer besides decent post-apocalyptic visuals. I don't know anything more cliché than the motif of a destructive virus that turns humanity into an army of bloodthirsty mutated zombies - and here, diplomatically speaking, it is handled unoriginally. Nothing is clever in this film. Will Smith doesn't even manage the minimum of psychological acting that is required of him, and it is better not to contemplate the existence of the depicted world and the behavior of the hero of the story. The idyllic community of survivors with a pristine white church in the middle felt more like a raised middle finger to me. The film is an easily forgettable endeavor only worthy of being broadcast on late-night TV. Overall impression: 25%.
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The cartoonish abilities of the infected are a shame. They are so strong that they could perhaps shred an armoured car and so fast that they could leave Asafa Powell behind in a short sprint. That clashes a bit with the rest of the film, which is actually a kind of intimate story about the lonely life of a single survivor, his feelings and sadness. An "intimate piece" with phenomenal visual effects, it must be added, because you have never seen New York depopulated by digital magic like this before and you may not see it again for a long time in the future. This is a one-man show about a guy who hardly leaves the screen for the whole movie, and Will Smith proves that if you have the acting chops, you can sell it, even the poignant dialogue with the artificial mannequins in the shop window. Who would have guessed years ago that this Fresh Prince, who rapped to the world his wisdom about the 'gangstas' of the neighbourhood, would become such an acclaimed film star. Despite the pathetic ending, it was two interesting hours, although the lady sitting in the cinema behind me had words for it: "....more American crap." She clearly didn't mean it.
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In an amazing opening that reminds us that Lawrence is simply talented, you don't even think that a monumental betrayal is about to happen. The director is innocent in this because having to make something out of Akiva Goldsman's scripted nothingness is unenviable. It does give a few scenes a proper edge, and Will Smith's charisma works quite well, even if he’s not exactly comfortable in the dramatic scenes. However, the rest of it is a drawn-out boring 100 minutes. This was supposed to be a two-and-a-half-hour drama with proper action and fancy special effects, not a big-budget theatrical play with no balls. Someone forgot how to work with dramaturgy and let the creators of post-apocalyptic sci-fi and family soap opera onto the same set. This year, no film deserves the label of disappointment more than this one.
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Gallery (62)
Photo © Warner Bros. Pictures
![I Am Legend - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/159/890/159890593_e824bc.png)
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