I Am Legend 2007
This was a movie that I had heard fairly good things about, but still knew very little about, and never got around to seeing it. Will Smith plays the last man left in New York City after some kind of horrible virus outbreak kills everyone off. He is looking for a cure to the virus, but must protect himself from mutants who come out at night. He lives the life of a sort of Bruce Wayne person: rich, comfortable, smart, but with some issues. The less you know, the better, and I may have given away too much by mentioning the mutants. I didn’t know about them, but you know pretty quickly that something is out there.
The movie is very effective, showing us a decaying New York that is still familiar to most people through visits or movies. It also kept me on the edge of my seat as he takes chances in interacting with the mutants. There are lots of eerie hallways with doors where you just want to say “Don’t go in there!” Because he is usually by himself, Will Smith’s role is sort of similar to Tom Hanks’ role in Cast Away. That presents some challenges, but Smith is definitely up to it.
After watching it, I read a couple of Netflix reviews where people were disappointed because the movie didn’t follow the book, but I thought it was fairly tight and totally worked, even though it goes downhill towards the end.
Written: 24 Jul 2010
Owned on: Digital