Return to the Main Page

Summary:
After a genetically engineered strain of measles made for curing cancer turns people into light sensitive vamp--- er, uh - "rage induced CGI maniacs", the sole known survivor resides in New York. Robert Neville is THANKFULLY a genetic engineer military Lt. Colonel (yeah, crazy huh?) who roams the streets at day with his dog Sam, and works at making a cure to the infection.

Review:
The first half hour is the best part of I Am Legend. After that, the short pre-disaster flashbacks aren't enough of a reprieve for the boredom that sets in when Robert is left to fend for himself and his dog in the future/movie's present. I give credit to Will Smith for carrying the movie as well as he did. He is still buff as all get-out, too! Yummy, right? If I was a chick, I'd want to do him.
Things were moving along pretty smoothly for me actually, until the main CGI bad guy is introduced. While Robert snatches up some CGI monster prey to do further genetic strain cure testing, one of the rage-induced-that-isn't-a-vampire jumps out the door into the sun and hisses at Robert. It's obvious enough that the CG creature is pissed off and emotionally distraught, but Robert refuses to believe it. So he takes the CGI female onto the real-life medical bed in his basement lab for some tests. On the wall are several picture-like printouts of previous CGI incarnations of his lab test failures, and on the other wall are a slew of cages with what I guess are computerized rats that are infected as well.
I don't get what the point was with using shoddy effects to replace an ever more satisfying human made up to look freaky. I mean my God, these are HUMANOID monsters! Why are you fucking up my enjoyment by about 7 notches with these unimpressive effects? Damn you!

This movie is moving along swimmingly, especially when the dog Sam runs into an abandoned building, which is the darkness - where the non-vampires dwell. I had a decent amount of suspense built up, and was grooving to the stylish use of the flashlight as the only source of light within the monster infested quagmire. Things started going downhill for me around the same time as so many OTHER creature movies tend to do: once we actually see the evil force that was lurking out of frame and in the darkness. After that, it just becomes one mob of loud hissing CGI blurriness after another. Even worse is the last act, when the main bad guy is brought into full play, and Mr. Robert Neville - the bad-ass soldier - can't hit him from 3 feet away, even after unloading 100 rounds within the vicinity. Could it be that he really WAS hitting "Mean Dude", but he kept zoning in and out of reality due to dropped animation frames? That's probably what it was. He was probably hitting his target, but the bullets kept hitting between the 27 frames within each second, and real life moves at an unlimited amount of frames per second. Since this baddie is nothingness, it MUST be the only reason Neville can't hit him!
I Am Legend was sitting on a solid "B" for my rating, until the shitiness factor really hit the fan in a lot of different ways after the solid first half. After that, I kept begrudingly knocking down points. The last 2 minutes really helped seal the deal. The pointless voice over (once AGAIN I bring up voice over shit! Damn!) didn't top off the legendary status of Robert Neville. The story really finished 3 minutes before the fade to black. Not only that, it was already stumbling its way to the finish line, so the ending after the ending just lowered the bar that much more.

With a great first half, a couple of nicely done moments of suspense and Will Smith's performance, I Am Legend still pulled off a decent viewing experience. It's a shame that after the first half it kept slowly declining downward in logic and suspense. I don't get why these dudes weren't just slightly sentient vampires. What's the dealie with this CGI light-sensitive rage induced zombie thing? I don't get it. It didn't help the story in this case.
Well anyways, I still liked this movie enough to recommend it. It just could have been a lot better.

GRADE: C

Reviewed: 12/19/07