Review by: Dawnrazor
Date: 7th March 2008
Richard Matheson's classic novel “I Am Legend” is filmed for the third time. Previously done as a
low budget affair with Vincent Price, “The Last Man on Earth” and with Charlton Heston as “The
Omega Man”. Now, Will Smith takes on the role and the results are disappointing.
More a remake of “The Omega Man” than an adaptation of Matheson's novel, (the Omega Man's
writers even get a credit on the film), the film tells the tale of Robert Neville, apparently the only
survivor of a man made plague that has ravaged the world, or at least NYC. He spends his days
with his dog, scouring the city for food and occasionally one of the infected to experiment on.
Being as he was a military doctor and immune to the plague he's trying to find an antidote,
without much luck so far..
All of this is intercut with flashbacks to the coming of the plague and the end of civilization as we
know it. These are meant to build sympathy for Neville as we see him lose everything including his
family. Unfortunately these sequences are so obvious and poorly done that they had me wishing
for a fast forward button on my seat's arm rest. A shorter, and silent, montage would have done
the same thing much more effectively.
And then there's the infected. Nasty, brutal semi human creatures who drink blood and have a bad
reaction to sunlight. The studio was adamant they not be the novel's vampires, but why they
made them unthinking creatures is beyond me. Only “Last Man on Earth” portrayed them as
vampires, but “Omega Man” at least let them keep their intelligence and cunning, stalking and
ambushing him hating Neville because he's immune to the plague, a reminder of what they once
were. Here they're animals looking for a quick meal. And it's makeup effects were miles ahead of
“I Am Legends" CGI, which is some of the worst I've seen in a major studio film, hell I've seen
better on the Sci-Fi Channel. It's doubly disappointing when you consider they shot a lot of the
footage with actors in makeup, then scrapped it to go with the animation.
The film does have some good scares, and the scenes of a deserted New York City are effective.
But the script never really comes together and when he finds a woman and her son is still alive it
quickly all heads downhill. And then there's the ending...I didn't expect the book's ending, but
what we got wasn't as bad as “Omega Man's" Neville-as-Christ analogy though it was close, with
a touch of “Damnation Alley” thrown in for bad measure.
When all is said and done, "Last Man on Earth" is still the closest to the novel and the most
successful as a horror film. It's out on several public domain DVDs and well worth seeing if you're a
fan of the book and/or Vincent Price. "Omega Man" is the most enjoyable of the three overall,
but works much more as an action film than sci-fi or horror, (it stars Charlton Heston, so that
should be a given). "I Am Legend" just proves that a bigger budget doesn't mean better results.
I'd say it's worth a rental if you like Will Smith or are a sucker for end of the world films, but I'd
also recommend waiting for the DVD. “I Am Legend” will not become one I'm afraid...
Date: 7th March 2008
Richard Matheson's classic novel “I Am Legend” is filmed for the third time. Previously done as a
low budget affair with Vincent Price, “The Last Man on Earth” and with Charlton Heston as “The
Omega Man”. Now, Will Smith takes on the role and the results are disappointing.
More a remake of “The Omega Man” than an adaptation of Matheson's novel, (the Omega Man's
writers even get a credit on the film), the film tells the tale of Robert Neville, apparently the only
survivor of a man made plague that has ravaged the world, or at least NYC. He spends his days
with his dog, scouring the city for food and occasionally one of the infected to experiment on.
Being as he was a military doctor and immune to the plague he's trying to find an antidote,
without much luck so far..
All of this is intercut with flashbacks to the coming of the plague and the end of civilization as we
know it. These are meant to build sympathy for Neville as we see him lose everything including his
family. Unfortunately these sequences are so obvious and poorly done that they had me wishing
for a fast forward button on my seat's arm rest. A shorter, and silent, montage would have done
the same thing much more effectively.
And then there's the infected. Nasty, brutal semi human creatures who drink blood and have a bad
reaction to sunlight. The studio was adamant they not be the novel's vampires, but why they
made them unthinking creatures is beyond me. Only “Last Man on Earth” portrayed them as
vampires, but “Omega Man” at least let them keep their intelligence and cunning, stalking and
ambushing him hating Neville because he's immune to the plague, a reminder of what they once
were. Here they're animals looking for a quick meal. And it's makeup effects were miles ahead of
“I Am Legends" CGI, which is some of the worst I've seen in a major studio film, hell I've seen
better on the Sci-Fi Channel. It's doubly disappointing when you consider they shot a lot of the
footage with actors in makeup, then scrapped it to go with the animation.
The film does have some good scares, and the scenes of a deserted New York City are effective.
But the script never really comes together and when he finds a woman and her son is still alive it
quickly all heads downhill. And then there's the ending...I didn't expect the book's ending, but
what we got wasn't as bad as “Omega Man's" Neville-as-Christ analogy though it was close, with
a touch of “Damnation Alley” thrown in for bad measure.
When all is said and done, "Last Man on Earth" is still the closest to the novel and the most
successful as a horror film. It's out on several public domain DVDs and well worth seeing if you're a
fan of the book and/or Vincent Price. "Omega Man" is the most enjoyable of the three overall,
but works much more as an action film than sci-fi or horror, (it stars Charlton Heston, so that
should be a given). "I Am Legend" just proves that a bigger budget doesn't mean better results.
I'd say it's worth a rental if you like Will Smith or are a sucker for end of the world films, but I'd
also recommend waiting for the DVD. “I Am Legend” will not become one I'm afraid...
| "The Last Man On Earth Is Not Alone" |
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I Am Legend
THEATRICAL/APPROX. 101 MINS/2007/USA PG13
THEATRICAL/APPROX. 101 MINS/2007/USA PG13
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