.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

$76 million. Before I even get a chance to put thoughts onto paper, the weekend is behind us and I Am Legend has amassed an astounding $76 million at the domestic box office. Wow.
Then again, should we be surprised? Will Smith has been doing this his whole career (The Legend of Bagger Vance notwithstanding). Men in Black, Bad Boys I and II, I, Robot, Independence Day. Even Hitch made more money than me, my family, my children, my grandchildren and my dog will make in a lifetime (my dog for those that are wondering doesn't make money, but I needed another noun to complete my thought process). The guy is as close to a sure thing as you can get - not Hanks or Cruise or Ford is on the roll Mr. Smith has been on.
His new film is I Am Legend which is based on the novel by Richard Matheson - the same genius that penned Jaws 3 (I couldn't resist) - which has had many incarnations, most memorably The Omega Man staring Charlton Heston back in 1971.
The movie version pits Will Smith against a virus that has left him the last man on earth. Or at least the last man in New York from what we can tell. For years, Robert Neville (Smith), a scientist working for the government - has been trying to reverse the effects of a virus that went airborne and turned those surviving the infection into zombie like creatures that are sensitive to sunlight (by 'sensitive' I mean, in a vampire-ish kind of way). By day, Neville, who is immune, and his dog rummage through the empty streets of New York looking for food before heading back to their lab in an attempt to continue progress on lab rats injected with various potential antidotes.
But by night, Neville's life takes on a different phase. When the sun goes down, the zombie's come out and you can hear them rummaging and fighting outside. Neville sleeps with is firearms handy and his windows and doors are sealed shut protecting him from his enemies.
I Am Legend takes an interesting path towards its much talked about conclusion and the film is like a futuristic Castaway where for most of the film, Smith is alone and talks only to himself or to his pet. To break up the silence of the theatre, we are treated to flashbacks of Neville as he tries to get his family out of the city right before the military shuts off the exits. We witness the beginning of the virus and are informed of its origin which was suppose to be a cure for cancer if we were to believe an uncredited Emma Thompson.
For the next hour plus, we watch as Neville tries to keep his sanity by talking to dressed up mannequins as if they were real people and as he attempts his experiments alone in his lab.
This is what makes I Am Legend both fascinating and not for all people on the other side of the coin. The fascinating view of the bleak future is dramatic. The empty streets with deer running amok throughout Times Square. The eeriness of the empty buildings and the quiet roads and buildings where a once bustling community once ran rampant. The vision of the city post virus left as an indelible impression on me as did Chinatown in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (Ridley, funny enough was set to direct this film with the Governator attached to the project in the 1990's. The film was abandoned due to budget escalations).
But for those that can't sit quiet in a theatre and need a dialogue interaction between people to keep from snoozing, I Am Legend will be a disappointment. Only later in the film does Neville finally have the opportunity to communicate to something other than his test subjects and if you are not a fan of Smith, then you might just want to skip this one.
For those that do venture out and try and catch a glimpse of the future (and due to $76 million, I know there are a lot of you), you will be entertained as any summer flick could titillate. The action is there, the suspense and thrills are there. And the story, which quietly goes about its business, is there. Enough to make you forget about The Omega Man and enough to make you fear for the future.