Not so mega man

I AM LEGEND

“I Am Legend” is the 3rd film to be based on the book of the same name by Richard Matheson. I’ve never seen either of the previous incarnations or read the book (though I fully intend on doing so), so I was able to go into this film with no preconceived notions or wild expectations.

Robert Neville (played by Will Smith) is the last man on earth. Emphasis on the “man” part, cause as the tagline of the film states, he’s not alone! Three years previous, a catastrophic virus (to which he was thankfully immune) infected humankind, wiping out most and mutating others into brain-dead zombie monsters. Neville spends his days alone in a quarantined New York, trying to come up with a cure for the virus, but at night he holes himself up in his house to avoid the attacks from the monstrous mutants.

The story (or the one that was promised) was a genuinely intriguing one. Lets put aside Nevilles struggle against the mutants and his quest to find a cure for the moment. What was most interesting to watch was one mans battle to stave off insanity. Cause let face it; even with the most grounded of personalities, after 3 years alone with only your dog for companionship, little cracks would start to appear! Neville tackles this by maintaining a strict daily routine, but that ends up being supplemented by having conversations with mannequins in stores, just to maintain the illusion of other people in his life.

And it has to be said, given how the whole film rests on his shoulders; Will Smith carries it quite well. As always, he does a good job of making his character relatable to the audience. What I was pleasantly surprised to see was his decent attempt at demonstrating how someone would behave after being isolated for so long (although I’d have preferred a little more “crazy” on my corn flakes).

The movie also succeeds in swallowing the viewer in a sense of extreme loneliness, with its overgrown city streets and deserted buildings. The build up to the reveal of the mutants is also handled quite expertly. The scene where Neville creeps along through the darkened corridor in a desperate search to find his doggie chum, was one of the tensest pieces of cinema in recent memory. And the first sighting of the creatures, huddled around the corpse of the deer was completely unnerving. Sadly, that was the highpoint of the film and it went a little downhill from then on.

The main thing about the movie (looks-wise at least) that bothered me was the decision to use CGI creations as the mutants in the film. And these were fully CG, at all times (not just for complicated shots which would be impossible to humanly replicate). But CG monsters, no matter how well done, are never as believable or scary as a physical creation. It baffles me as to why the director didn’t choose to use regular people in make-up (see “28 Days/Weeks Later”), or even make-up enhanced with a little CGI (a la “30 Days of Night”) instead. Surely this would have been less costly and it certainly would have been more effective. Instead, any time one of the mutants appeared on screen, the tension and fear that had been created just evaporated from the scene.

The plot was filled with many little unexplained quirks and there were story points that were mentioned but never followed up on. The end of the film was particularly contrived and felt like the writers had hit a brick wall and needed to wrap things up quickly. Having been subsequently informed of the books original ending, it makes me wonder why the writers of this movie subverted the original ending as much as they did. It’s a crying shame that as yet, no one has had the courage to make a film based on the superior ending in the book. Maybe for the books forth movie incarnation perhaps?

I Am Legend was a decent film (and I loved the teeny-weeny cameo from Emma Thompson), but it was let down by misused CGI and a hasty (all too convenient) ending.