"I Am Legend" (2007) - Movie Review

The premise makes “I Am Legend” work a great deal. Lonely characters work out of their boredom very well. Robert Neville (Will Smith) has his Sam the dog and a city for himself, well not all the time. Neville is the lone survivor from the deadly virus attack which infected humans into some kind of “dark seekers” a.k.a zombies for horror movies and it could have been more which never develops. The infected humans are sensitive to light (reference to “evil”) which gives Robert a nice outing but no night life. A hide away in his big house tub (which I think he could have made a better shelter than that in this long three years of loneliness) with complete lock down of all openings in his house is his live night mare.

It is an onus task for Smith. I have not seen his “The Pursuit of Happyness” or “Ali” and hence not seen his emotional performance till date. We have seen Will Smith in future and/or attacked by unexplainable creatures/robots (“Independence Day”, “I Robot”, “Men in Black”). It involved comic timing and sarcastic one-liners of Smith and we see the opposite side of it in here. When we see him in the first scene of hunting, his eyes have the hope draining slowly but fighting to stay alive. Three years in a city decaying and deserted, Robert needs to have a sanity check once in a while to have a reason to live. He is a virologist and hence feels it responsible to find a cure in his home city.

It is the thought of living in a once populated, busy city desolated and nothing but the symbols of materialism and economic blanket which helps us in stretching out of the lonely man concept alone. My friend Mathi always says, “Solitude is a place to visit not to stay”. Robert Neville is not by choice to be staying in there. He is constantly reminded by the loss of his family along with the billions which we get to know in flash back sequences. The part I liked and had a twist is that the terror factor was not used as a cheap substitute to run along the story. It aids it but never does it separates from the main avenue of the screenplay.

As I read about the original novel and its content which is Richard Matheson, I some how felt the film did not grasp the thought process of humans being outnumbered by a bigger species ultimately extinction. But beyond that is the concept of the “infected” or “still living” perceiving Neville as the monster. How it is the same on the other side and how it would have been to realize that. “Legend” mildly brings that thought but never dares to get in on the subject. We know the “dark seekers” feed on humans. They even exhibit protective and care when Neville captures one of theirs and a rescuer creature comes out in light (which is deadly for them) to save the captured. I would have loved to see it develop.

Music and Movies are the resort for comfort and solace which too has only dealt in parts than in depth. Art represents us the humans uniquely and may be a purpose too. The thought of when apocalypse happens to eradicate the major race over the earth to live one last of it, what will be the agenda of his/her pursuit in life? The concept of money, work and every other comfort dissipates into the absence of acknowledgment. Neville gets it from Sam and the dolls he has put in places. This is the area at least the film thought of taking us through but failed and did not dare to show us.

But it keeps you posted and updated constantly to not be bored. The thrills are there and the city as such wiped out of the chaos and no presence of fellow soul is the real chill and effect to be thought upon in our heads. When we are in that situation, the reason to get up becomes bleak. The reason for existence hangs on the cliff and suicide looks prospective. When the wealth, the ultimate desire of human is eliminated, the purpose of life is still unclear. It would have been nice to have situation wherein no enemies and just one man to be in the city. What will be his action? If Neville was there, with no work for him as virologist to find a cure, will he be hunting or driving around with no fear of danger? What will be the decision of the last man on earth in that case? Now this is the psychological drama, director Francis Lawrence looked to be concentrating upon, but it ultimately changes into a light at the end of the tunnel concept. “I Am Legend” works far more entertaining than a regular thriller but falls way short as serious conceptual film.