Scan and Pan
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
I Am Legend
The film opens with an announcement that a cure for cancer has been found. Cut to three years later, where New York City is an abandoned wasteland. We learn that the cure for cancer was a virus that instead killed 90% of the world's population and transformed most survivors into flesh-eating zombies. The only apparent surviving human is Robert Neville (Will Smith), a military scientist who spends his time searching for any other humans and trying to find a cure, all while hiding from the sunlight-averse zombies.
Director Francis Lawrence (Constantine) began his career in music videos and is known as a visual stylist, so the film really plays to his strengths in scenes of a post-apocalyptic New York City that's abandoned, overgrown with weeds, and filled with wild animals. He provides a vivid glimpse of a city bereft of civilization. He also generates some suspense when needed and there are some decent action scenes, but the film is mostly an atmospheric study of a man in isolation. The problems with the film don't stem from his direction.
Matheson's novel was previously realized on film as The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price in 1964 and The Omega Man with Charlton Heston in 1971. The former was the most faithful to the novel, while this film is based on both the novel and the latter film (with its screenwriters John William Corrington and Joyce H. Corrington receiving credit). For the first two acts, the screenplay by Mark Protosevich (The Cell, Poseidon) and Akiva Goldsman (Batman & Robin, The Da Vinci Code) provides an interesting profile of a man who's been alone and suffering from emotional trauma for three years, with his only companion a dog.
However, it often seems more like a series of set pieces strung together rather than a complete film, which reflects that it went into production without a finished script and with re-writes by Goldsman continuing throughout shooting. It starts to sag a bit in the second act until it falls apart in an overly compressed third act that culminates in an unsatisfying ending. There are also some lapses in story logic that are never properly explained.
Cinematographer Andrew Lesnie (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong) and production designer Naomi Shohan (American Beauty, Constantine) create a very believable setting for the story, as disturbing as it is sometimes beautiful in a state of ruin, and a combination of location shooting and CGI are fit together seamlessly. Where the CGI isn't as successful is in the creation of the zombies, who just aren't as believable as the low-key vampire-like monsters of the novel. The brooding score by James Newton Howard (Batman Begins, King Kong) is a plus mark for the film.
Smith's combination of movie star charisma and acting ability is the key to I Am Legend's success. So many scenes are essentially monologues that it could quickly become tedious if the actor delivering them wasn't able to hold your attention. He does, and in doing so makes us believe in who he is and what he has to do to survive. At times you wonder if the isolation has finally driven his character over the edge, and Smith achieves this effect with subtlety. The rest of the cast is solid, including Emma Thompson as the scientist who creates the virus, Salli Richardson as Neville's wife, Willow Smith (Will's actual daughter) as Neville's daughter, and Alice Braga (niece of noted actress Sônia Braga) as a survivor who escapes from Brazil on a Red Cross ship.
I Am Legend is above average for entertainment value, and that's entirely due to the presence of Will Smith and the visual sensibilities of Francis Lawrence, who keep the film afloat despite a leaky script.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
The third film adaptation of Richard Matheson's classic 1954 novel offers a winning performance by its star and some stunning visuals, which are just enough to offset its flaws.
The film opens with an announcement that a cure for cancer has been found. Cut to three years later, where New York City is an abandoned wasteland. We learn that the cure for cancer was a virus that instead killed 90% of the world's population and transformed most survivors into flesh-eating zombies. The only apparent surviving human is Robert Neville (Will Smith), a military scientist who spends his time searching for any other humans and trying to find a cure, all while hiding from the sunlight-averse zombies.
Director Francis Lawrence (Constantine) began his career in music videos and is known as a visual stylist, so the film really plays to his strengths in scenes of a post-apocalyptic New York City that's abandoned, overgrown with weeds, and filled with wild animals. He provides a vivid glimpse of a city bereft of civilization. He also generates some suspense when needed and there are some decent action scenes, but the film is mostly an atmospheric study of a man in isolation. The problems with the film don't stem from his direction.
Matheson's novel was previously realized on film as The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price in 1964 and The Omega Man with Charlton Heston in 1971. The former was the most faithful to the novel, while this film is based on both the novel and the latter film (with its screenwriters John William Corrington and Joyce H. Corrington receiving credit). For the first two acts, the screenplay by Mark Protosevich (The Cell, Poseidon) and Akiva Goldsman (Batman & Robin, The Da Vinci Code) provides an interesting profile of a man who's been alone and suffering from emotional trauma for three years, with his only companion a dog.
However, it often seems more like a series of set pieces strung together rather than a complete film, which reflects that it went into production without a finished script and with re-writes by Goldsman continuing throughout shooting. It starts to sag a bit in the second act until it falls apart in an overly compressed third act that culminates in an unsatisfying ending. There are also some lapses in story logic that are never properly explained.
Cinematographer Andrew Lesnie (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong) and production designer Naomi Shohan (American Beauty, Constantine) create a very believable setting for the story, as disturbing as it is sometimes beautiful in a state of ruin, and a combination of location shooting and CGI are fit together seamlessly. Where the CGI isn't as successful is in the creation of the zombies, who just aren't as believable as the low-key vampire-like monsters of the novel. The brooding score by James Newton Howard (Batman Begins, King Kong) is a plus mark for the film.
Smith's combination of movie star charisma and acting ability is the key to I Am Legend's success. So many scenes are essentially monologues that it could quickly become tedious if the actor delivering them wasn't able to hold your attention. He does, and in doing so makes us believe in who he is and what he has to do to survive. At times you wonder if the isolation has finally driven his character over the edge, and Smith achieves this effect with subtlety. The rest of the cast is solid, including Emma Thompson as the scientist who creates the virus, Salli Richardson as Neville's wife, Willow Smith (Will's actual daughter) as Neville's daughter, and Alice Braga (niece of noted actress Sônia Braga) as a survivor who escapes from Brazil on a Red Cross ship.
I Am Legend is above average for entertainment value, and that's entirely due to the presence of Will Smith and the visual sensibilities of Francis Lawrence, who keep the film afloat despite a leaky script.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
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