"I Am Legend" movie review

This week we watched the box-office dominating Will Smith vehicle, I Am Legend (PG-13). Smith plays a man who seems to be the last person on Earth after a plague in 2009 kills 90 % of the population and turns the rest into zombie-like, vampiric non-humans. Music video veteran Francis Lawrence directs.

Andy: I should probably start off by saying that I actually enjoyed this movie, and I understand why most people would as well. But the more I thought about it, the more it became clear that this movie was much, much better when it was set in London , directed by Danny Boyle, and called 28 Days Later. The only real upgrade is that you've got one of the biggest movie stars in the world playing the lead. He does it well, too. Acting without other actors for the majority of a movie is something I would have never believed Will Smith could have pulled off as recently as a few years ago, but he does it very easily here.

Ryan: I'm not the biggest Will Smith fan but it is hard to argue against his star quality. He can successfully carry not only action movies but romantic comedies (Hitch) and dramas (The Pursuit of Happyness) as well. No doubt about it, his specialty is definitely in the sci-fi/action flick genre. I Am Legend is one of his better action pictures mainly because it is not dependent on the action. I Am Legend is a very nuanced sci-fi movie. There is as much attention paid to the details of the story as there are to the ingredients of the several action scenes. In some ways I Am Legend is an ideal sci-fi flick because it has a good balance of action and traditional sci-fi themes.

Andy: Will Smith' performance is just about the only thing this movie has going for it. Luckily, almost every scene has Smith, so the movie ends up being pretty entertaining and captivating. There is a degree of paranoia that is played up by Smith being the only person in the city, and scenes of him walking cautiously around or driving way too fast feel like something terrible is about to happen (and of course, something terrible is about to happen). That terrible thing is zombie people who only come out at night, and that' where the movie starts getting kind of dumb. When the film allows Smith to carry it, it is pretty good, but toward the end there is too much other stuff going on and it doesn't work out very well.

Ryan: Smith's range as an actor is limited but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Plenty of Hollywood icons (Wayne, Eastwood and McQueen) have proven that they can still be major stars without being Lawrence Olivier. With I Am Legend, Smith demonstrates (yet again) that he is a box-office star. With the recent demise of Tom Cruise's popularity, Will Smith is now Hollywood 's only legitimate box-office star; whereas his name on the marquee will bring moviegoers to the theatre. That might not be good news for Hollywood but it is definitely good news for Smith. What is good news for Hollywood is that the opening weekend for I Am Legend (77+ million) was the largest December opening in history.

Andy: I don't know why, when you have a star as popular and able as Will Smith, performing at the height of his craft, you would allow your film to deteriorate into a CGI-laden fiasco that looks like the opening montage to a Resident Evil video game. Perhaps I'm overstating things a bit, but this movie was pretty good in spite of its minor-league 28 Days Later status until the zombies started showing up. When they scream, for some reason their heads elongate to unnatural proportions, hammering home to the viewer the fact that this is a cartoon zombie, not a real person. I should have been tipped off early in the movie when there was a scene with some really fake looking lions that things were going to take a turn for the worse, but I didn't think it would get quite as silly as it did. The lack of originality, bad effects, and unsatisfactory ending aren't able to overcome Smith's positive performance. Final grade: C-.

Ryan: My biggest issue with the movie was with some of the special effects. I say some because the special effects showing a deserted Manhattan were phenomenal. Somebody should win an award for that. What they shouldn't win an award for are the CGI zombies. I don't know if the special effects budget was used up on making Manhattan a wasteland but the CGI zombie creatures were some of the cheesiest special effects that I have seen in awhile. The creatures are a significant part to the story so the fact that they look so campy does bring the movie down a notch. Final grade: B.