Cinema has developed a very specific vocabulary for post-apocalyptic stories: Deserted streets, decrepit technologies, nature’s return to power, ruined landmarks. Although Richard Matheson’s novel “I Am Legend” was first published in 1954, this third adaptation of the story, after “The Last Man On Earth” and “The Omega Man,” makes excellent use of the imagery offered by films released after the novel. There’s a bit of “12 Monkeys” in Francis Lawrence’s vision of a world depopulated by a virus, and “28 Days Later,” and “The Quiet Earth,” and many others. But for all the tried and true vocabulary, Lawrence succeeds in overcoming the familiarity to deliver something unsettling and melancholy. When the last remaining human on earth, military virologist Dr. Robert Neville (Smith), scavenges lifeless homes for survival resources, we get a glimpse of interrupted lives – tableaux of domesticity from which the living occupants have been removed. The camera doesn’t necessarily linger on all the details, on all the clues to the lives of people who no longer exist; it’s up to us to pay attention. But paying attention rewards with the unbearable feeling of loneliness Neville must feel as he survives from day to day without any contact.
Making the Slightly Noticed Count
It’s the subtle attention to details that makes “I Am Legend” so much more effective and thoughtful than recent end-of-the-world fare like “Resident Evil: Apocalypse,” whose broad strokes were little more than sufficient for its horror-action purpose. “I Am Legend” begins with the bleak scenario of humanity’s end when a virus intended to cure disease eradicates most of the population and leaves the remainder transformed into vampiric/cannibalistic zombies. On this foundation comes a tour-de-force performance by Will Smith, who, along with a canine co-performer, carries the weight of the film on his shoulders with magnificent pathos. As we witness the routines he follows to stay (reasonably) sane, as we witness his recollections of humanity’s final moments and his desperate attempts to prevent the end, we become fully engaged with every tense encounter with the infected humans and every poignant moment of drama. It’s actually surprising how touching and nail-biting the film can be.
Soft Landing
The film’s last act is somewhat feeble, however, as screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman bring in religion and force a thematic retrofit on what is otherwise a character study of a man alone in a hostile world void of meaningful human contact. Considering that religion doesn’t play a part until the last-act plot twist, the religious parable on the folly of straying from God’s path – and redemption for returning to it, as nailed into viewer foreheads by the final shots of a church – turns Neville into a messianic character and the film into something less than divine. Plot holes, admittedly more obvious after the film rather than during, don’t help. Far better for the film to have picked its pony early in the game – religious parable or speculative fiction on a transformed humanity – and stuck with it to the very end.
But the film’s back is by no means broken by the un-ambitious third act. Disappointment, in this case, is (thankfully) only the difference between a great film and a “merely” good film. “I Am Legend” is smart, relentlessly riveting entertainment.
Entertainment Value: ** (out of two)
Technical Quality: ** (out of two)
“I Am Legend.” Written by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman. Directed by Francis Lawrence. Starring Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson and Willow Smith. 114 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence).