Review of "I am Legend"

The new Will Smith thriller "I am Legend" is an intense look at a post-apocalyptic New York City. The story is told through flashbacks from Smith, an Army scientist that has helped cure cancer. While the scientific milestone is revolutionary, the side affects have a much more grave effect on civilization.

End of the world films are very en vogue now. "I am Legend" has an uncanny ability to put people on edge while at the same time showing them a world that we all hope to never see. Though it has only a PG-13 rating, the idea of a disease that can turn human beings into flesh eating zombies has a way of getting under people's skin.

I particularly applaud directors who can use suspense and intensity to raise the bar and scare the hell out of people. 28 Days/Weeks Later did it but there is a fair amount of blood and gore to accompany the R rating. But a PG-13 film that can do it is a real prize and this is where "I am Legend" shines.

M. Night Shyamalan had made his career making films that touch an inner nerve. The Sixth Sense and Signs are lessons in how to scare the hell out of people without the use of hockey masks and chainsaws.

I believe this film will be a welcome respite for all of us traveling home to visit with friends and family for the holidays. We could probably all use a night out with an old high school friend, away from Aunt Eunice and Cousin Jerome. I love my family, but I am hoping my brother and I can get out of the house when our parents decide to discuss the current political climate or the rising cost of gasoline. It would be nice to take a drive to the mega-plex and get whisked away to another world.

If nothing else, "I am Legend" gives you that world. It offers a stark and desolate view of New York City dominated by wild animals during the day and overly aggressive zombies at night. A dreary and uninhabited New York City probably does not sit well with everyone but in "I am Legend," the city itself is the main character.

Movies depicting the end of mankind are great because they feature shots of abandoned metropolises. We have seen other films where New York is transferred into a ghost town. In The Devil's Advocate, Keanu Reeves exits the hospital after his wife attempts suicide to see a completely empty Third Avenue. In Vanilla Sky, Tom Cruise gets Time Square completely to himself for a joyride in a fast Italian sports car. But in "I am Legend" Smith's character is the only human being walking around...for the first 45 minutes anyway.

Smith takes full advantage of the empty city. He decorates his home with priceless paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is also free to go about his usual duties of trying to find a cure for the virus. He balances the stress of his work by shooting golf balls off aircraft carriers and hunting deer with a sub-automatic machine gun. But we also see a more melancholy aspect of his existence. In an effort to stay sane, he rents videos at a store he has filled with department store mannequins so that he can feel like part of a society instead of the last man on earth.



It becomes apparent in the second act of the movie that The Fresh Prince is not alone on the island of Manhattan, not at all. There is an entire clan of rabid zombies that feed on anything that bleeds. These zombies are quick as hell, overly aggressive and very determined to get Smith. The cure for cancer which Smith helped create has morphed these poor humans into a hideous sub-species that are afraid of sunlight but are free to terrorize and run amok in the nighttime.

This monstrous new breed of being is led by a sinister and determined leader that has it out for Smith. Though the zombies cannot speak words, they can communicate with each other through grunts, screams and violence and they display intelligence that is equal to a human being. This isn’t your Mommas boring, slow moving, hands outstretched, mouth open and drooling, zombie. These zombies act like they are strung out on crack, pumped full of adrenaline and have been drinking Jolt Cola all day. And they have a big axe to grind with Smith.



The film producers were smart and gave our hero a dog to speak to as a companion/sidekick. This way he's not talking to himself or a volleyball with a bloody hand print on it like Tom Hanks in Castaway.

The movie opens with a spectacular car chase featuring a cherry-red Ford Shelby Mustang. He is hunting live game through midtown Manhattan and his prey is free to jump over cars, hide in tunnels and crash through deserted storefront windows. It's unlike anything that has been done before and the animals which are digitally created seem very real. What looks a bit contrived in terms of the special effects are the monsters or "Dark Seekers" as they are called later in the film. Though the zombies are based on humans, for some reason they decided to use CGI to depict the creatures. It gives the them a, “Gollum” from The Lord of the Rings feel and it ends up being unnecessary and a bit of a letdown.

Normally Smith is regarded at "Mr. Summer Blockbuster" for his roles in I, Robot, Independence Day, and the Men in Black films. He does not disappoint in this one, but there is a scene where he quotes two minutes of the film Shrek and it makes him look foolish and asinine - not something you want to see from the main character.

Aside from that, "I am Legend" will keep you on the edge of your seat and leave you and your friends pondering the premise of a world deprived of people long after the credits role.

The film has made more than $225 million dollars so far and of course they leave it open for a sequel. Let's hope Hollywood does this original justice because I know they will continue the story. Where there is money to be made, there is a producer willing to exploit and tarnish a great tale. It would be a real shame if they crammed a sub-par story down our throats based on the success of this first movie.

Speaking of shoving crap down our throats...



One of the trailers shown during the previews was "Dark Knight" featuring Christian Bale as Batman. This was our first official glimpse of Heath Ledger at the Joker and boy does he look menacing. The look of Ledger’s character is a complete 180 from the devilish villain Jack Nicholson portrayed in Tim Burton’s version from the late 80’s. Nicholson brought a panache and was always magnificently dressed, with perfectly coiffed hair and manicured nails.



This new vision by Christopher Nolan, (Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige) went in an entirely different direction with the Joker’s look. Nicholson's joker was sleek, refined, charismatic and immaculately groomed with an older man’s control and intelligence. Ledger is wickedly enthralling but he looks like he slept in a ditch - with his mussed hair that looks like he dyed it himself in a gas station bathroom, then smeared the caked-on makeup over his horribly scarred face. It all plays in to his childish and overtly psychotic nature - which is the way the character should be played.



Normally I would not support such a film because the Tim Burton movie is a cinematic classic and Jack Nicholson's performance as the Joker remains one of his best. But I am curious about this new movie because this Batman movie seems darker and more menacing than even the Burton films - which I never thought possible considering how many bad dreams Batman Returns gave to little kids when it first opened.

I hate Warner Brothers for creating this new franchise when the Burton film still stands the test of time and remains as great today as when it came out roughly 16 years ago. But I must admit that I am intrigued because the Joker is probably the richest role anyone could ever ask for. I imagine most professional actors would choose it over Hamlet or Stanley Kowalski from A Streetcar Named Desire because it allows the actor to be sexy, captivating, lethal, dangerous and utterly insane all at once.

I just think it sets a bad example when the Hollywood machine can churn out another one of these movies while the originals are still very fresh in our minds. If they throw Ledger at us now, what's to prevent them from deciding that next year the Joker had a couple of daughters out of wedlock with the Catwoman and the Olsen twins would be a most welcome addition to the famous, criminally-minded family.

In short, NOTHING.

They will keep thinking this dreck up and we will keep paying ten bucks a seat to suck it down. The least they could do is hire a Yank to play one of the more sought after American heroes in one of the most famous comic books story lines to come out in the U.S.(Bale is from Wales, Nolan is from the England and Ledger is from Australia).

I will probably see it rather than be the guy that has to listen to everyone else talk about it, but also because the film was shot here in Chicago. The film crew actually camped out in my company’s office and put lights up to shine down on the streets for some of the chase scenes.

If they had given me an extras part this might be a more glowing review.