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The 1954 sci-fi/vampire novel "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson has now been filmed three times: as "The Last Man On Earth" in 1964 originally scripted by Matheson himself (which I have never seen), as "The Omega Man" in 1971 without the vampire elements (which I have viewed three times), and now with the original title and expensive sets and special effects. This time the seemingly sole survivor of the worldwide pandemic Robert Neville is played by Will Smith who is an actor with real charisma and charm and considerable box office appeal who has beefed himself up for the role.

The main strength of this version is the location shots in a deserted New York City (a move from the Los Angeles of the book and earlier films) and, although the filming of these scenes apparently caused traffic chaos and much anger for local residents, they chillingly set the tone for this dystopian thriller. To see the silent streets around Times Square or South Street Seaport or the lone scientist fishing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art or playing golf on the "USS Intrepid" is to view this heaving metropolis as we have never experienced it before. The German shepherd dog who is Neville's sole companion deserves an honourable mention for showing greater thespian skills than most of the extras and stunt men.

The principal weakness of the movie, however, is the realisation of the surviving victims of the virus. The CGI characters are almost as silly as they are scary but, above all, they are presented as more animalistic than human. "The Omega Man" handled these characters much better presenting them as sad as well as scary. The other serious fault is the lack of clarity in the narrative - at times, it is simply unclear what is happening and why and a longer director's cut would be welcome. Finally the references to Ground Zero and God may play well with American audiences but will not be so resonant to audiences elsewhere in the world.

I just saw this movie today, the day it opened here. And was deeply, deeply moved.

I've got to start with the scenes of a deserted New York City post-apocalypse. These were so very, very moving; and very, very convincing. The clips in the trailers for the movie were good, but you really have to see the full panoply of close-up shots, distance shots, etc to really appreciate the sheer scale of what this movie is depicting. There's something of On the Beach and Resident Evil and of any number of disaster movies and zombie movies here. But none of them do justice to the New York depicted here. This is a New York City we see large-scale and micro-scale in order to show us the environment in which the main character is acting.

And Will Smith is simply brilliant as the sole survivor, Robert Neville. Will delivers movingly and convincingly on a script that really focuses on giving us a picture of "what it would be like" ... to be the last man on earth, living off the land in NYC. This is the real strength of this movie: there's really not a lot of blood or gore or zombie scenes at all. Yet I was riveted as Robert goes through his "typical days" in NYC. Every moment was full of pathos and full of menace, too. And occasionally we got some relief from Smith's trademark humor that blended seamlessly with the rest of his performance to give us "what it would be like" with a powerful delivery that just leaves me almost breathless.

There's an effective use of flashbacks that partly tell us the story of how we got to where we're at in this grim New York City; and the flashbacks also serve to give us an overwhelming contrast between Life Before and Life After the apocalyptic disaster wiped out the city. Yet use of flashback was sparing, which I found all the more effective.

Cinematography was excellent throughout, the storyline and script are brilliant, the use of a dog, Samantha, as a key actor was perfect to show us both Robert as companion and Robert as lonely, isolated survivor.

I won't give away the ending, but think it was satisfying as far as it goes, but not nearly as appealing, from my angle, as the foregoing material. That brings up my one complaint: the title. By the end of the movie, we have some sense of the meaning of the title. Yet it still seems to me to feel cheesy and really unworthy of the movie.

But that's a minor plaint. If you haven't seen this movie, and would enjoy seeing a really powerful story about a survivor in post-apocalypse New York City, hey, go check out this flick. It's really worth it.

If I could sum this movie up in one sentence, it would be this: Go Will. Will Smith is the driving force of I Am Legend. His performance as Dr. Robert Neville is impeccable. Living in a deserted NY city, his acting is reminiscent of Tom Hanks in Cast Away, but instead of a volleyball, he has mannequins and a faithful German Shepard named Sam. His basement, a retro-fitted, high-tech lab to find a cure for the disease that has turned the population of the entire planet into mutant, zombie-like, hive mind, blood-thirsty monsters, and, for some reason, Robert is immune. His days, spent hunting. His nights, sleeping with a high-powered rifle and hoping that the mutants don't find him. Keeping the movie flowing are well placed flashbacks that show what happened to Robert's family and why he is there. The movie falters a bit at the end, maybe at the last 5 minutes, but it doesn't ruin the plot or acting put forth. Containing wonderful cinematography and CG, I Am Legend is a spectacular film that I will be seeing again! PS - Shout out to my NY National Guardsmen in this film! Great job!

When I first saw the trailer for I Am Legend, all i could think of was, "I have to see this movie!". Luckily i got to see an early screening of the film with a friend and I have to say that this is a disturbingly realistic film that depicts a post-apocalyptic New York being overrun by the mutated victims of a widespread virus. Overall, this movie delivers great action sequences and a great story, along with a shocking ending. Will Smith's performance is outstanding and makes a great Robert Neville. There are a lot of sequences in the film that are disturbing but along with that, takes you to the edge of your seat! I would have to say that this is one of the best films out this year. It's nice to see an original, amazing movie released before the end of the year. You don't really get a lot of those these days in general. Although there are some things in this film which are left unexplained, the intensity of the creatures and the thickness of the plot makes up for it. All in all, you will not be disappointed. Great way to end the year.

8/10

Two thirds of this film is wonderful entertainment, both in scope and story telling, and in Will Smith we have a cracking central performance that carries the film with consummate ease, sadly the final third undoes all the great promise and tension building that had gone before it.

After a genetic engineered cancer curing virus wipes out practically all of mankind, Robert Neville {Will Smith} appears to be the sole surviving human on earth, the only company he has is the family dog and an army of virus infected mutants that can only come out in the dark. That Neville is a former scientist who is immune to the deadly strain is a bonus as it means he can work on a potential cure.

Yes it's daft, and yes it's contrived, but there sure is a lot of good stuff to enjoy before the films major failing surfaces. Firstly is Will Smith's performance, there is no doubting he is a major star these days, but here he also cements his standing as a bona fide A lister of note. He layers the performance so well, his character not only has to deal with the heavy threat of being killed by the mutants at night, he also has to fight his own isolation, mans inherent need for companionship is a tortured thing when you appear to be the sole beneficiary of gods green earth.

Secondly the setting of a barren desolate New York is eerily staggering, overgrown with foliage and stalked by lions searching for food, it really is a big screen must to embrace the scope of it. Thirdly the mutants themselves are scary enough, but they honestly would have been better served being played by human actors rather than the CGI used that brings very mixed results, and fourthly the tension building is pitch perfect, the makers manage to have you on the edge of your seat gasping for a solution to this cracking story unfolding, but then...

They throw it all away by a rushed ending that had me positively seething, a quick turn of events should be a prelude to a fully fleshed out finale but instead we get a quick wham bam, oh The End. It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth on leaving the cinema and frankly the audience deserves better, and in fact so does Will Smith, did they run out of money? Well that I don't know, but what I do know is that we so nearly had a genre classic to look fondly on for years to come, shame that. 6.5/10

Footnote: Having just watched the alternate version that is readily available on disc formats, I have to say that as weak and as frustrating as the theatrical ending is, the alternate ending is far worse, trite and totally misplaced, they chose the better ending of the two for sure.