MOVIE REVIEW: I Am Legend

I rented the newest Will Smith Movie over Easter weekend. Yes, I know it wasn't much of a "holiday themed" movie, but I wanted to see it, and missed it in the theatres.

All-in-all, I give it a fairly good rating. It seems to be a remake of Omega Man (starring good 'ol Chuck Heston). The general premise of this new version is that a scientist engineers a virus to cure cancer in 2009, and by 2012, 90% of the population of the WORLD dies while the remaining 10% have turned into bloodthirsty zombie-like creatures (altho WAY faster than Romero's kind). Only a handful (well, maybe a couple million, but that's a drop in the bucket when looking at the world-wide population) of people are immune to the virus and remain normal. Will Smith's character just happens to be the lead scientist looking for a cure to the virus when the plague started in 2009, and one of the lucky immune people. He also happens to be the last normal person left alive in New York, and as far as he knows, the world.

A few of my friends saw the movie and were disappointed, because the previews showed a lot of action, but the first half of the movie was basically how he survived day-to-day. Hunting, fortifying his house, researching the cure to the virus in his lab, and just dealing with the psychological pressures of being alone for 3+ years. (in one scene, he goes into a video store to get new movies to watch, and has apparently set up mannequins behind the counter and "browsing" in the store- and talks to them as if they were living people, just to not feel alone) I think the social and personal mental aspect statements were lost on my buddies watching the movie- they were looking forward to a shoot-em-up zombie flick. Some of that happens, but mostly in the last half of the movie.

I won't give away any spoilers, but I will say that if you've seen Omega Man, this movie parallels it quite a bit, including the ending.

I highly recommend this movie if you like post-apocalyptic dramas like Omega Man, Last Man on Earth, and a Boy and his Dog. If you are looking for a Resident-Evil gorefest, you might want to skip this one- this movie is more about the emotions of loneliness, fear, and loss than it is about anything else.