I Am Legend: Review By ParkWilliams

I Am Legend was a wonderful film. Will Smith's was convincing and complex as the solitary Dr. Robert Neville. The first half hour of the film, aside from flashbacks, he is the only human character at all. His performance allows us to see inside the character's mind as we experience with him the loneliness of his 10012 days alone searching for a cure to the deadly virus that has mutated the human race. We follow him in his emotions through grief, anger, hopelessness, and fear. His roll reminds of Tom Hank's character in Cast Away and just as well played but with a different feel to the situation.

The story in the movie starts off wonderfully. A cure for cancer discovered in the year 2009 has mutated the human race into zombie like creatures who cannot live in sunlight and thus hide all day coming out at night to hunt. Robert Neville, a doctor commissioned to remain at ground zero and search for a cure, is now the solitary survivor in New York city trying to survive. The beginning is compelling and edge of your seat type action and suspense that is accented by the eery feeling of loneliness but yet not being completely alone. As the story progresses however, it begins to fall into the classic survival/horror cliches that are seen all too often and it continues toward the end which I can't tell anyone who hasn't seen it yet so I guess you'll see what I mean when I say it pretty much falls on its face by the end.

Despite what I just said about it, "I Am Legend" is probably the best movie of the year so far. It combines good visuals with a good story and excellent acting. It is a powerful story with a powerful message about humanity's danger to itself.