I Am Legend

• Genre : Action
• Running time : 100 min.
• Director : Francis Lawrence
• Studio : Warner Bros. Pictures
• Producer(s) : Akiva Goldsman, David Heyman, Erwin Stoff, James Lassiter, Neal H. Moritz
• Screenplay : Mark Protosevich, Akiva Goldsman
• Cast : Will Smith, Alice Braga, Salli Richardson -Whitfield, Willow Smith, Charlie Tahan
  

Based on the book, "I Am Legend", the movie opens with a televised news broadcast and interview with Dr. Kripper (an uncredited Emma Thompson) who has created a cure for cancer (100% cure rate) by altering the measles virus. Suddenly, it is three years later and all the patients that were cured are either dead or have become the "infected" (vampire-like creatures that feed off other living creatures and who cannot tolerate the UV rays of the sun and so must hide all day and come out at night to feed), spreading the mutated virus to the rest of the world's population.

Will Smith plays Robert Neville, a survivor with apparent immunity to the mutated virus (we learn through nightmarish flashback scenes of military-controlled evacuations that the virus becomes airborne at some point) is seemingly the last man on earth. He is living and surviving in an eerily abandoned midtown Manhattan in a town home decorated with art pieces from New York's museums, joy-riding in a suped-up Ford Mustang, siphoning $6.49 gas, hunting (and competing with animal predators) New York's zoo/park animals, chipping golf balls off the wings of docked fighter planes, "purchasing" DVD's at the local video store (he;s up to the "G"s) while conversing (and later heartbreakingly flirting with) strategically placed mannequins, and spending each day at high noon at South Seaport broadcasting via radio his existence and location to anyone who may still be alive. He does all of this with the companionship of his dog "Sam" aka Samantha. The dog is immune to the airborne virus, but can become infected if bitten. This aspect features later in the film.

We see Will's character living through his routine days and battening down at night. He eats in his well-stocked kitchen feeding the dog her vegetables, exercises intensely (the dog, too, on a treadmill), watches old TiVoed broadcasts, and has nightmares that serve as flashbacks. We learn that his wife and child die while attempting to evacuate the island of Manhattan via helicopter (bridges, either all or some, are blown up in a vain attempt to save those on the island from the contagion). At one point, Sam, chasing a deer they are hunting, runs into a darkened building. Will pursues the dog and comes upon a hive of the "Infected". He is pursued, but manages to rescue himself and the dog. He later devises a plan to capture the alpha female by rigging a trap and using his blood as bait. Unfortunately for him, the alpha male sees the capture and apparently is able to deduce the method of entrapment. This device is later used on Will, baiting him with one of the mannequins. Will's character is a military trained scientist, who is conducting experiments on rats (and the captured alpha female) in order to find a cure. He is also able to equip himself, his home, his SUV, and his surroundings with booby-traps, weapons, firepower, a scientific lab in the basement, and electrical and water power. His watch beeps each day to tell him it is time to head home and beeps again to tell him dusk is approaching and its time to batten down. He does so with metal shields across windows and doors and sleeps armed in a tub with his dog. You can hear the awful sounds and screams of the Infected as they hunt at night.



While out driving, Will's character suddenly notices that one of his mannequins has been moved from in front of the video store to the front of the New York Library. Losing it a little, he shoots up the mannequin, approaches it, sets off a trap identical to the one he used to trap the alpha female, hits his head, and his strung up by one leg. He awakens to find Sam nervously barking and that the sun is going down. He notices a huge hole in the wall of the darken library and realizes the Infected may very well be inside. Things are tense as he attempts to get himself down and, badly injured in the leg with shrapnel, must "butt-slide"/crawl back to his well-armed SUV. The Infected set off infected dogs, who at first cannot cross over a path of sunlight which soon fades. They rush at Neville and Sam. Neville is bitten and so is Sam before Neville manages to shoot and kill the dogs. He takes the badly injured Sam into the lab. Examining his eyes and realizing his coat is rapidly falling out (complete hair loss is one symptom), Neville must kill Sam. The method of killing him (injection, strangulation, or smothering) is off camera. Instead the camera stays on Neville's anguished face while he does the deed.

The next day we see Neville go to the video store and attempt to flirt with the mannequin, begging her to please say "hello" to him. Without Sam the loneliness is too much. Neville is pissed now. He sets a trap for the Infected at the Seaport at night, apparently hoping to kill a few by running them over and committing suicide at the same time. Things go badly, the Infected overrun the SUV, its flipped upside down and just as one of them is going in for the kill, we get a bright light (UV) and he is rescued and brought back home (we don't see how). His rescuers are a young woman (Anna) and a little boy (Ethan) who is not her son. They have survived while on a hospital ship. This may explain how they got on the island. Some of the other immunes were killed at some point when they docked to get supplies. Neville's leg has been sown up. He is encouraged to take some antibiotics. The young woman makes breakfast. They sit down to eat and she tells him that she had been waiting for him at the dock all day (the one day he does not go there). After so many years alone, Neville has difficulty relating to her and the boy. Upon questioning, she says that God has brought them together and she is heading up to Vermont where there is a colony of people. She says God is telling her that some such place exists. Neville angrily refuses to go (and he's pissed she fried the bacon he was saving). Says there is no God. And man did this to himself. Also, calling New York "Ground Zero" he's not giving up until cure is found.

That night, the Infected attack with full force, having followed them the night before or somehow figured out where they were by their scent (Neville spreads the front steps each day with vinegar or some substance to neutralize his scent). The attack is relentless despite the booby-traps, bombs, and weaponry employed. The Infected get in. The woman and boy have hided. Neville manages to kill one that got in and torn a hole through the roof to let the others in. The group run to the basement and take refuge in a glass enclosure where the heavily-sedated alpha female is. They see she has been responding to one of Neville's serums. As the alpha male bangs himself against the glass which is giving way, Neville seems to have an epiphany. He suddenly remembers his (real life) daughter's last words as he helicopter is taking off, "Daddy, see the butterfly" as she makes the shape with her hands. He sees a butterfly tattoo on the woman neck. Neville draws a vial of blood, gives it to the woman, and has she and the boy go through a steel trap door in the wall low to the ground, he pulls out a hand grenade and rushes toward the glass just as it gives way, killing himself and the infected.

The next scene shows the boy and woman arriving in Vermont. They approach a fortress, which scans their eyes, and the doors open (eye scanning was one method of determining who was infected or not for evacuation). The woman enters a bucolic setting, replete with homes and a church, guarded by military men. We get a bird's eye view of beautiful Vermont and a voice over saying that Neville has become legend as the sacrificer and inventor of a cure for the virus.



I picked this movie with great interest as I liked most of Will Smith movies his lively acting made me watched his movies and most of them turns out to me excellent (I Robot , Pursuit of Happiness..). I am Legend starts quite well the first 40 minutes are best then Its getting Predictable , the concept itself has been exploited a lot of times in Hollywood before so director really needs to get good grip in this area but he completely fails to do so. I am curious why the movie is so short in duration the characters Will and his dog , the way he goes to Market talk to dummies etc can be more properly crafted and jelled together so that audience can get emotional bounding that they deserve, moreover after some point in movie(don't want to spoil things here) you will feel that director wants to end the movie and every scene is helping it for this purpose only , the natural flow of scenes never takes the lead in the last 40 minutes , questions that should be better answered left void open ....

To sum it up I am Legend is a good acted movie with weak plot and tempo .A classic case of one time watch movie,which with little efforts from story writer and director can be become an excellent one.

My Rating :
I Am Legend : 7.1/10