I Am Legend
I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, has broken all sorts of box office records in America
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Monday, 24, Dec 2007 05:31
Directed by Francis Lawrence, out Wednesday 26th December in cinemas, starring Will Smith, Alice Braga and Charlie Tahan. Running time 101 mins.
In a Nutshell:
Apocalyptic, vampires, darkness, muddled, misfire
What's it all about?
The year is 2012 and a deadly man-made virus has wiped out the human race. The strain, originally designed to cure cancer, has killed 90 per cent of the population and turned the rest into mutant vampires who fed on human flesh and survive only in the darkness. Dr Robert Neville (Will Smith), a military virologist, remains immune to the virus and is the last survivor in New York. Neville and his trusted sidekick, a German shepherd named Sam, spend their days charging around the desolate city looting empty buildings, hunting wild deer and fighting off the vampires. The heroic doctor also continues to try and find a cure for the virus, by capturing and experimenting on the mutants, convinced he will be able to reverse the deadly strain and thus escape his desperate isolation.
Who's in it?
Will Smith (Ali, I, Robot) once again plays the reluctant all action hero, destined to save the world for the umpteenth time in his career. This kind of role is bread and butter to Smith and yet again he does not disappoint.
A story based primarily on a man alone in the world doesn't leave much room for other characters. Alice Braga (City of God) and Charlie Tahan turn up late in the film but are utterly redundant. The only performance of interest is that of Willow Smith, continuing the family tradition started by her older brother Jaden (The Pursuit of Happyness) of staring with their father.
As an example:
"My name is Robert Neville. I am a survivor living in New York City. I will be at the South Street Seaport everyday, at midday, when the sun is highest in the sky."
"Everyone you've ever known or loved is dead! They're all dead! There is no God."
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
The film has done astonishingly well in the US box office, breaking all December opening records, taking $72.6 million (£36.6 million) in its opening weekend, and thereby beating the benchmark set by Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003 as the best December opening in film history.
If there is any justice in this world, and if it were possible, the dog that plays Sam would get a nomination for best supporting actress at next year's Oscars. It's a blinding performance and she is a worthy accomplice to Smith, much more entertaining than Martin Lawrence ever was.
What others say
"By day, it's a limber, thoughtful and supremely effective drama. By night, it's a drooling, lurching, crushingly stupid and clumsily executed VFX disaster" - Empire
"Smith is worth watching; the move is not" - Detroit News
"One great big stinking pile of missed opportunity" - Film Freak Central
So is it any good?
The faults of this film, and there are many, may well lie in director Francis Lawrence's past. Whilst his debut film, Constantine, was an entertaining voyage into the supernatural genre, the main bulk of his previous work involves producing MTV videos including such gems as Britney Spears' Greatest Hits. With a film of this scale and grandeur it's the small details that really make the difference. It's not difficult to get an entertaining performance from Will Smith, simply switch on the camera and let him go for five minutes and you've already got box office gold. However to produce a good film you need to surround him with certain vital ingredients. This is where I Am Legend falls completely flat. Smith's character lacks any real depth and you don't really feel the utter desperation his character is experiencing. Also, the special effects are woeful. A horror / science fiction film requires the monsters to at least be realistic. The decision to create them by CGI and motion capture was a terrible one. There is no real scare factor, they look completely fake and as such the very foundations of the film fall away.
The introduction of the Anna and Ethan (Charlie Tahan) characters towards the end smacks of desperation as does the cobbling together of religious undertones and the 'climatic' ending. There are two unbearable scenes where Lawrence's shortcomings are highlighted to the extreme. The first is a scene where Neville comes downstairs to find Ethan watching Shrek on DVD and proceeds to start quoting the film. The sign that this film is not scoring well is that you find yourself annoyed at Smith for talking over Eddie Murphy's Donkey and are more interested and amused by the Shrek action than whatever the characters watching it are up to. The second is the frankly ridiculous exchange of dialogue where the pointless Anna character claims she has never heard of Bob Marley and so Smith starts singing to her. Cringe-worthy is not the word and you find yourself laughing out-loud at how bad the script has become.
There are some positive aspects here though. The driving scenes through the desolate and abandoned New York are very striking and extremely well done. There is a real apocalyptic sense and hopes are raised early doors of the potential for an impressive sci-fi thriller and a justified adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel.
This early promise though is quickly extinguished as there are just too many things wrong with this film. The special effects do not work and the inability to scare in a supposedly 'scary' film undermines everything. The story lacks depth and while Will Smith is at his usual entertaining best, even he can't save this outing.
5 / 10
Richard James