I Am Legend (HD DVD, 2008, HD DVD/DVD Combo)

To the modern eye, the Plot for the 1954 Richard Matheson novel "I Am Legend" might sound something like "Cast Away" with Zombies. Truth be told, that's not a terrible premise, and 'Constantine' Director Francis Lawrence runs with that. Where he takes it works hard, and you are ensured to enjoy this ride.
Will Smith plays Robert Neville, a Virologist investigating a genetically engineered cure for Cancer that has gone very, very wrong. With most of the World's Population wiped out and a small remnant turned into ravenous, infected carriers, Neville ekes out a lonely existence with only a dog for company in the remains of New York City. He hunts, forages, and explores by day and shuts himself in at night. The infected, as it turns out, are vulnerable to ultraviolet light.
Through flashbacks, we see how Neville came to be in this predicament, and how he dedicated himself to finding a cure. Part of that involves capturing infected humans for testing. In doing so, he incurs the wrath of one of the local CHUDs and Neville soon finds out that these creatures are not as mindless as they look.
At first, the film wrings a nightmarish plethora of scares out of Neville's encounters and does an amazingly great job of revealing the monsters bit by bit, until finally unleashing them in their CGI hardcore. By the time they're in full-on assault mode, they are resembling Zombified/Vampirish CHUD's., right down to their wall-scaling and coordinated visceral attacks. This makes for incredibly exciting action sequences., without ever dialing down the horror quotient.
Smith, for his part, does a superb job of communicating the pathos and desperation of the last man on Earth. His slow disintegration into Madness is subtly evoked, and in one particularly emotional scene, he handles one of the most tired clichés of the Zombie Genre with genuine depth.
The script gives him plenty of help. Screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman show plenty of restraint, teasing out the details of the Virus and its Outbreak over the course of the film while elegantly laying out how Neville interacts with this Post-Apocalyptic World in episodic vignettes.
Ultimately, the film seems to be on the verge of asking intriguing questions about faith and humanity. While doing so, "I Am Legend" maintains the power to awe. The Production Design by David Lazan and Naomi Shohan is nothing short of amazing, rendering a Big Apple reclaimed by nature with stark realism.
This film is simple breathtaking....and absolutely cannot fail you !!
DO NOT MISS THIS !!
This was a Long-Time Coming !!
5-Star !!

Years ago, THE OMEGA MAN scared the bejeezus out of me, then again, I was young and even seeing somewhat dated visions of an empty world and rather badly done shots of people collapsing from a viral attack, still scared me. I AM LEGEND, which is the third movie based on the Matheson book, I Am Legend, really is scary for the here and now and thanks to some inventive photography and CG effects, we see a grim but fascinating vision of a completely abandoned New York City from the get-go. A well intentioned virologist Dr Krippen(played uncredited by Emma Thompson) in a news clip as the film's opening production tags play, shows a quick "human interest" story as a TV host talks innocently(and somewhat disbelievingly) with her, about her success with "curing cancer with a genetically engineered 'friendly' Measles virus" and that this was administered to over 10,000 cancer patients who are now "Cancer free". Cut to three years later and a dead, overgrown NYC with Will Smith speeding around it in a new Mustang(In THE OMEGA MAN, Chuck Heston sped around LA in a new 1972 Mustang, one of the film's many homages to it's predecessor) we see the extent of Krippen's horrible mistake to mess with and trust the nature of viruses-which can do mutate without prediction. Will Smith is Robert Neville, military virologist who witnessed the end of mankind-he's watching a tape of news as the illness begins to mutate and media is becoming alarmed. Krippen's Virus had a bizarre side effect-it mutated and became a contagious, airborne rabies-like illness that either kills outright or drives it's victims to become rage-filled, blood/fluid drinking mutants who hide in the shadows and only come out at night. (In THE OMEGA MAN it turned them into psychotic hippies called "The Family" styled after Charles Manson who was still hot news at the time-films are products of their own time) The virus spread very fast as we see in quick flashbacks(Omega Man was told in several flashbacks as effective). Mannequins play a role in THE OMEGA MAN, and they do in I AM LEGEND.

It is Smith's amazing acting talent that holds one riveted. It did me. The "mutants" are styled after the running infected in 28 DAYS LATER the only difference-and the film's drawback-is that too much CGI is used here and we're now so used to seeing CG in movies, that it appears that is what it is. In 28 DAYS LATER and it's sequel 28 WEEKS LATER, dancers were used as the running, screaming rage infected victims to much better effect. The CG FX shine in the visions of a ruined NYC, with grass and weeds everywhere, wildlife roaming, and destroyed bridges thanks to the military quarantine of the city. Obviously, it did little good as we overhear in a flashback, the President saying that "every major world city has taken the same action". Smith reminds us later, in dialog, "nothing was supposed to happen the way it did" It's a frightening vision, and I think the point being made was if, in reality, the Bird Flu hit and became easy to transmit, such scenes of sheer pandemonium, in larger cities would not be so much fiction. It's a terrific film.

THE GOOD
Ok, didn’t think I’d end up saying this… but Will Smith is pretty damn good in this movie. When you think about it, it’s not easy to carry a movie when you’re the only character most of the time. You’re interacting with yourself and a dog…. and that’s it. In that way I am Legend had a sort of “Castaway” feel to it, and while Smith doesn’t quite pull off a Hanks lone performance, he does do it quite well. We see him trying his best to lead something that looks like a normal existence, slowly loosing his sanity a little (there’s a great little scene where he’s trying to think of a way to pick up a mannequin) and yet save the world all at the same time. Lesser actors couldn’t have pulled that off, and Smith did, so kudos to him.

Many people around the websphere are maligning the visual effects in the film… and I’d like to know what they’re comapring it to, because I’ll tell you right now, they did as good of a job as I’ve ever seen making human beings in full lead 3D animation interacting with a real environments.

I love it when a movie can give you that “Oh crap… this guy is totally screwed” feeling, and I Am Legend did that on a couple of solid occasions. Not only screwed because of his general predicament (being the only human left alive with all those infected out there wanting to rip his delicious neck meat out) but also some pretty suspenseful action sequences that had you on the edge of your seat a little.

Oh, and this is a minor thing… but near the beginning of the movie as Will Smith is walking around the now empty downtown New York, there is a giant billboard in Time Square advertising a Batman VS. Superman movie.

THE BAD
This one killed me. Will Smith is keeping careful detailed notes and memos as any good scientist would do. He even makes this video entry into this computer about how he noticed one of the infected guys stuck his head into the light for a second, which was unnatural behavior for them. However, in another scene, one of the infected (minor spoiler) sets an elaborate booby-trap for Smith to fall into.

As good of a job that Smith did in keeping my attention even though it’s usually just him on the screen, the fact of the matter is I had a very hard time buying Will Smith as the world’s leading military geneticist who the US government (when it was still around) is relying on to save the world (he’s even on the cover of Time Magazine). And it’s not because I can’t by SMITH per se… but I couldn’t buy it when held up to all the other characteristics of the character he plays. Warrior, bodybuilder (crap… he’s in better shape in this movie than he was in Ali) Once the infected people are revealed, the film lost a bit of it’s soul. I was really enjoying the simple survival story of Smith, working to save the world, and yes, the THREAT of the infected… but once the infected come out full force, it felt like the movie dumbed down a little.

OVERALL

I didn’t have much hope for I Am Legend, but I’ve got to say I enjoyed it. Certainly not as good as it could have been, but a decent time at the movies nonetheless. Smith is solid, the premise is good than they move around in this eerily empty world very well. Not half bad action and suspence although it could have been a bit shorter since the film starts to slowly loose your attention after the first hour. Still… not a bad film.

OVERALL
7.5/10
A MUST SEE MOVIE (RENT ME FIRST)

Dr. Robert Neville is the last human alive. The rests, mutated thanks to a virus created by us humans. This Sci-fi movie is very well presented. The Theatrical and Alternate versions are shocking enough to keep you in your seat. The HD resolution is simply fantastic. I also looked on the Blu-Ray version and both of them has the same quality. The HD-DVD is just cheaper. This is the type of movie you would like on your collection in HD format.

Even though it kept the title of the book, it really is nothing like it. I would really like to see a movie made with all the story lines the book has. It is not a long book. None the less the movie was excellent, it adds, very well I might add, some of the factors that were not around when the book was written. I also like how the director dated the movie with all the props and posters. In the future when you see this movie you'll get very nostalgic when you see the vehicles, the iPod, the billboards, etc. This movie is a snapshot of this era. Also the change in reasons why the diseases exist is quite possible, but the original idea was quite reasonable as well. I recommend reading the book before watching the movie. It is not a spoiler at all and will give you some insight on Neville's character, which the directors tried to keep.