I Am Legend: Review By Melcapone

How could a possible cure for cancer bring about so much death? And so much uncertainty and lonliness? At first I thought this movie was going to be a clever new story of vampires. But was I wrong. Although the mutation of the cure gives a lot of population the same symptons like a reaction to UV rays and a thirst for blood, they are however not vampires in the traditional sense. They are truly only creatures trying to survive.

Robert Neville, played by Will Smith, is now the only one left to try and cure them. He is a lieutentant in the army and a brillant scientist. His only companion is his dog, Sam. Everyday he sends out a signal to any survivors, he goes hunting, and rents movies from the local movie store, where he has set up a group of manicans to serve as possible people who might be in the store. He also spends time using his own immune blood to try to come up with a cure for the mutation. It is as if he is trying to find a cure for another "cure." And he is beginning to believe that he is the only survivor. Of course this changes.

Will Smith is excellent in this film. His powerfull portrayal of a man who has been alone for so long really brings the audience into his situation. He makes you truly believe that he has been alone for years and you feel his suffering. He eventually loses faith and the will to keep going after his companion dies. Will brings the emotion and character to Robert Neville that is needed to become truly involved with this story.

The story is great but doesn't fill in some blank spots. Whe the girl and the boy show up, the audience is in shock. Where are they from and how did they get there? Eventually you find out where they are from but how did they get there without dying. What about the rest of the world? It kind of reminds me of 28 Days Later where the audience is questioning if this is all over the world. But eventually you find out it is not. Here there is no answer to the question. Is this done on purpose or would it have made the film to dogged down with information and taken away from the real story? I could go either way. I would like to hear more about the mutation and where else was affected but I can see that to much info would have taken away from what Will Smith was able to do in this film, showing vast emotion and fragility but also strength and endurance.

Overall I really enjoyed this film and plan on seeing it again in the theater. I give it a double viewing in the theater:)