I Am Legend (2007)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Francis Lawrence

Writers (WGA):

Mark Protosevich (screenplay) and
Akiva Goldsman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

14 December 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The last man on earth is not alone

Plot:

Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure.

Plot Keywords:

Survivor | Cure | New York City | Blood | Scientist

Awards:

7 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

Will Smith	...	Robert Neville
Alice Braga	...	Anna
Charlie Tahan	...	Ethan
Salli Richardson-Whitfield	...	Zoe (as Salli Richardson)
Willow Smith	...	Marley
Darrell Foster	...	Mike - Military Escort
April Grace	...	TV Personality
Dash Mihok	...	Alpha Male
Joanna Numata	...	Alpha Female
Abbey	...	Sam
Kona	...	Sam
Samuel Glen	...	Military Driver - Jay
James Michael McCauley	...	Male Evacuee (as James McCauley)
Marin Ireland	...	Woman Evacuee
Pedro Mojica	...	Sergeant

Also Known As:

I Am Legend: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-15 | UK:15 | Malaysia:U | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Hong Kong:IIB | Taiwan:PG-12 | France:Unrated | Australia:M | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Brazil:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:16 | Slovakia:12 | Czech Republic:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43988) | Denmark:11 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Sweden:15 | Germany:16 | Australia:MA (DVD) | New Zealand:M | Venezuela:PG-13 | Peru:14 | Netherlands:12 | South Africa:13V | Austria:14 | Japan:U | India:A (cinema release) | Iceland:14

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Guillermo del Toro, Will Smith's first choice, turned down the offer to direct this film so he could make Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: Shortly after Neville finishes quoting 'Shrek', a shot of the lounge as he walks into the kitchen reveals that the audio from the film does not actually match the visual images.

Quotes:

[first lines]
TV Personality: The world of medicine has seen its share of miracle cures, from the polio vaccine to heart transplants. But all past achievements may pale in comparison to the work of Dr. Alice Krippin. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Dr. Alice Krippin: Not at all.
TV Personality: So, Dr. Krippin, give it to me in a nutshell.
Dr. Alice Krippin: Well, the premise is quite simple - um, take something designed by nature and reprogram it to make it work for the body rather than against it.
TV Personality: You're talking about a virus?
Dr. Alice Krippin: Indeed, yes. In this case the measles, um, virus which has been engineered at a genetic level to be helpful rather than harmful. Um, I find the best way to describe it is if you can... if you can imagine your body as a highway, and you picture the virus as a very fast car, um, being driven by a very bad man. Imagine the damage that car can cause. Then if you replace that man with a cop... the picture changes. And that's essentially what we've done.
TV Personality: And how many people have you treated so far?
Dr. Alice Krippin: Well, we've had ten thousand and nine clinical trials in humans so far.
TV Personality: And how many are cancer-free?
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Goodfellas (1990)

Soundtrack:

Stir It Up

Great possibilities, but poor execution.

I am Legend stars Will Smith as Dr. Robert Neville, a military virologist living in New York City in 2012, who is the last known survivor of a worldwide viral epidemic called KV that has infected or killed nearly all of earth's population. KV, originally developed as a cure for cancer, caused severe side effects in test patients which resulted in mutations as well as physiological and biological changes in the human body structure. Humans infected with KV have become nonsensical, irrational, and bloodthirsty nocturnal monsters that will hunt, mutilate, and devour any living thing that is not also infected. KV proved to be highly contagious and became airborne at its epicenter in New York City. For some reason, Neville is one of the small percent of humans which is immune to KV and this allows him to traverse the empty streets and buildings of NYC without worrying about contracting the disease.

The film focuses heavily on Neville's methods of survival and his noticeably deteriorating psyche. When he is not preoccupied with seeking basic necessities, Neville works in his basement lab attempting to develop a vaccine for the disease. Will Smith does a superb job of portraying Neville's solitary character, who everyday is searching for solutions to the problems in his future as well as the future of mankind. Smith's acting is the highlight of the film and is really the driving force that could have actually made this film legendary.

Now for the bad stuff.

I am Legend is severely hindered by its sub-par screenplay. The first 1/3 to 1/2 of the film is a joy to watch, but suddenly holes and diversions become extremely visible.

The climax of the film is very rushed and the ending was typical clichéd nonsense. Pointless religious and philosophical overtones and dialogue are added to try and create a moral- based story, but just turn into fodder that is annoying to have to listen to. Certain important questions are never even answered like why certain people like Neville are immune or why KV drives its victims insane. Finally, the infected humans look more like sci-fi monsters than actual mutated and deranged beings and are not present nearly enough until the end of the film.

Final Verdict: 5/10. Pretty much only worth seeing for the first half of the film and for Willy's powerhouse acting. Such a shame really. The post-apocalyptic genre is very interesting to me and I love films like 28 Days Later, Mad Max, or Escape from New York, but Legend's poor narrative pulls it down.