First of all, I'd like to apologize to Richard Matheson. His novel I Am Legend has been translated into film at least four times already (with the latest being the Will Smith film of the same name playing in theaters today. ) and I don't think any have done the source material justice. Whether it was The Omega Man to the newest, none seem to retain the urgency, terror and isolation that the novel held. The Omega Man was filled with seventies camp and the latest is just another sci-fi muffin for todays audiences to devour and then pass without even remembering a single detail.
The story goes like this: A cure for cancer has been discovered, one with a 100 percent cure rate. Three years later the cure mutates into a viral, airborne sickness that kills 85 percent of the world, leaves 12 percent immune and the other 3 percent become nocturnal, blood-thirsty mutants. Enter Robert Neville, one of the few immune survivors and a military doctor specializing in finding a cure. He is alone in the heart of Manhattan Island, his only friend a three year old dog named Sam. He treks around during the day, when sunlight prevents the mutants from striking, hunting for food, driving cars and finding a cure. To break the monotony he talks to mannequins, goes through the local video rentals- alphabetically- and sends a radio signal calling for any survivors.
To me, there seem to be three primary goals for this film. A: Robert's Survival, B: His search for a cure and C: the discovery of survivors. At no point in this briskly paced film did I ever feel the urgency or importance of any of those goals. Never did I feel as though Robert's survival was at stake, even after he was confronted by the mutants several times. His search for the cure just felt tedious and without immediacy and more like an obligation to a dead promise than an actual end-goal and when the discovery of survivors finally does happen it seems like it's only to serve the conclusion of the film and make way for a happy ending that felt forced and contrived.
I walked out of the theater wanting so much more and I don't think a film like this should do that. Especially after teasing me with so many great setups. For example when Robert builds an elaborate trap to capture a mutant to begin biological test on it, he comments about the loss of basic mental capacities in them. Then, just scenes later, the "dumb" mutants actually set the same trap that Robert used on them. Obviously displaying some form of intelligence. Yet the film never elaborates on this, it never attempts to explore the dynamic within the mutant hive. The Hive is clearly lead by an angry and driven mutant, yet the filmmakers never explore the peking order within this society. Heck they don't even show what they do at night, other than some periodic squaking and yowling that sounded more like two cats fighting than some evil unstoppable force. this film is filled with all kinds of missing characterization like this. When Robert finally discovers that his cure his working and reversing the effects of the virus, it's comes across as more of an afterthought than the big, tide-turning moment it should've been.
I know people complain about films being too long or filled with too much story, but I Am Legend is a case where it would've actually benefited the film tremendously. This film could've been so much more than a quick paced action film. But it isn't. Even the action felt empty. For a film that promises thrills and eerie scenery it certainly fails even at that. Even the expected visual eye candy of a desolate and CG-ed New York didn't do anything for me. The one or two "action scenes" (you know where stuff blows up or our hero must overcome the baddies) felt weak and unenthusiastic. In the wake of the intense fight sequences of the Bourne Trilogy and post-wirework action scenes that litter almost every big action film, I Am Legend felt like a step backwards. EVEN Will Smith's usually enjoyable sarcasm and humor that's made him so popular couldn't get me sucked into this film and to tell the truth I started getting annoyed by it.
I remember reading the original Mark Protosevich script several years ago. Back when Arnold Schwarzenegger was to be Robert Neville and Ridley Scott was to direct it. I can only imagine how much of a better film that would've been. It felt bigger, I could imagine it being more intense, more like Alien! Instead this felt soft, Smith's interpretation of the character felt more scared and wimpish than heroic and determined. Where Ridley Scott would've brought the terror and emotion, having helmed greats like Alien, Legend and Gladiator, the director of this version has only Constantine (another watered down take on a richly layered source material) and some music videos. What a disappointment!
The sad thing about this is that this film will still make Big Money this weekend. Probably somewhere in the fifties or sixties (million) come monday. And to me, I don't think this film will have earned that kind of success. But the people love them some jive talking Fresh Prince and that'll be enough to suck the money out of any pocket. Oh well, that's today's audience. Se Le Vie!
till next time,
Chaz