I Am Legend-The Movie-My Thoughts April 7, 2008
Posted by 54071 in : Comic Movies , add a comment
It’s been almost three weeks now since I viewed this movie with the wife, so while the movie is not as fresh in my mind as it was after the viewing, I will do my best to review the movie anyway…
Will Smith has the title role as Robert Neville a ( Military ) virologist who believes he is the last surviving human, not affected by a virus that was supposed to be a cure for cancer, but instead turned into a viral catastrophe that changed other humans into mutants ( no, not X Men Mutants ) and Neville believes only he can cure mankind.
So this is basically the story of Neville’s battle to find the cure for the mutant virus, and survive through the night when the mutants leave their hiding places to hunt for anything not affected by the virus, which just happens to be Neville.
Okay, first, in the adaptation that I read of Richard Matheson’s literary novel, the infected humans are not turned into mutants, but rather Vampires, and again, in the adaptation Neville is captured by a group of humans not affected by the virus, who want to use Neville as a cure because his blood is resistant to the virus.
While these little twists to the adaptation I had read really did not affect what I thought of this movie, they were ( for me anyway ) noticeable changes. Aside from this, Smith’s performance carries the movie, and he really makes you believe that he is the only survivor of this viral catastrophe, and the special effects do not overpower Smith’s performance, but rather enhance it.
With flashbacks, showing how the virus mutated, to showing New York City being evacuated, you can feel the sense of urgency that the movie’s plot is supposed to elicit in the viewer.
Smith’s Neville in the end sacrifices himself in order to save a young woman and her son, but not before giving her what should be the cure to the virus, which she takes with her to a sanctuary town which is populated by people who somehow survived the spread of the virus.
All in all, this was a good movie to watch, with Smith giving an excellent portrayal of a man who thinks he is the last surviving human, in a New York that is devoid of human life in the daylight hours, while just trying to survive the loneliness and the memories of the family he lost, while trying to keep his own sanity and humanity.