I Am Legend (2007)

With Will Smith's next film due to come out over July 4th, I decided to catch up on his previous film available on DVD. This is I Am Legend, but it quickly became apparent to me why I generally can't stand horror films.

The premise is that Will Smith is some military scientist. A few years ago, in an effort to cure cancer, a virus was reengineered into a vector to be able to kill the tumors. Faster than we can say "Jurassic Park," the virus is mutated into a killer and most of humanity is wiped out. A few of humankind are naturally resistant (mutants if you will), and Robert Neville (Smith) is one of these. He ends up in NYC, which was his predisaster post. He searches for a cure in his basement lab, and drives around a desolate city, unless you count the wildlife, and folks that have been turned into zombies by the virus. Zombies? Yeah, that's when I realized that I Am Legend went from far fetched to ridiculously implausible.

There are hordes of zombies wandering around the city, and they come out at night. The otherwise impressive job the special effects department did in converting many iconic NYC spots (Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge, USS Intrepid) into post apocalyptic shells of their former existence is completely undone by the poor costumes of the zombies that would fit in alongside any 1950's monster movie. Yup, it's that bad.

Meanwhile, the cure is right in Smith's unprocessed blood that he sends along at the end. Duh! While the cure may be in there in the form of an antibody, that doesn't mean anyone can do anything with it, so a tube of his blood is not particularly valuable. If you were upset when DISH dropped their Monster HD channel, then this film is for you. Other than that, the rest of us can steer clear of I Am Legend.

Overall Grade: D+

Reviewed by Jonas