I AM LEGEND (2007)

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In Will Smith's latest film, I Am Legend, director Francis Lawrence adapts Richard Matheson's vampire novel into a film that, while it has some flaws, is overall pretty good film.

One of the first things that the moviegoer will notice is that the scenery is absolutely brilliant in the Daytime. The Visual Effects people did a wonderful job in creating an empty desolate New York City in which animals roam freely and vegeatation has taken over in certain areas. It was a marvel to behold and it truly gave off a vibe of majesty but also is very foreboding ( extra points for the fake Superman/ Batman teaser poster)

Another major strength of the film is that Will Smith is amazing in the role. He was able to deftly weave together sadness, loneliness, anger, and humor in a magnificent performance as Dr. Robert Neville. Anybody expecting him to be like "What, What, Haha, Let's get jiggy with it" will be pleasantly surprised to see that he gives a strong, mature performance that is just short of Oscar Caliber.

In terms of plot, The film starts with a news clip of Emma Thompson creating a viral cure for cancer that in turn kills of most of the population and turns everyone else in mindless zombie/vampires. The plot is the main problem in the film as the pacing is somewhat poor. The ending of the film seems to fly by too quickly as they crush together the last important scenes into the ending thus taking away its emotional resonance. The problem seemingly was that director Lawrence had the "snowglobe effect" as he spent too much time showcasing New York and realized that he needed more plot and crushed it together. It felt as if he wanted to showcase too much of New York and got stuck on that.

Finally, the zombie/vampire creature also suffer from something called "videogame-itis" as they looked EXACTLY THE SAME and in many video games. I swear that all you needed was some pentagrams and a lot more of the color brown and it would be like playing Doom on your PC.

All in all, I am Legend is a good film, even with the plot hiccups, in which Will Smith truly shines.

PS- Dark Knight trailer, very nice, and Heath Ledger seemingly was awesome as the Joker. Impressive Heath, Impressive.

PS #2- 10,000 BC trailer, c'mon, when did cavemen speak English and have massive civilizations? WEAK

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