I Am Legend

This is definitely Will Smith's masterpiece. I have never seen finer acting from him, and he's a legend in and of himself. Very, very well done. For two hours the camera focuses on him, his face, and pretty much nothing else. It is difficult to captivate an audience for that long, particularly when the only source of interest is Smith's face. But he really does pull it off.

A cancer wonder-drug backfired, went airborne, and wiped out all of human existence. Save for one man. Dr. Robert Neville, a brilliant scientist, for some reason survived the onslaught and lived to fight back. He is the last human on Earth, but he is not alone. Mutated humans, little more than animals now, now roam the streets at night looking for a snack, sniffing for blood, hungry. For three years Neville has been searching for a cure, desperate, and hoping that he's not alone, but for three years he's been utterly disappointed. How long can he hold out? How long can the last human survive in such hopelessness, such madness, such fear, and so hunted? Every day is a fight for his life.

Brilliantly directed by Francis Lawrence, Legend really takes the cake as one of my favorite movies this year. Excellent, really excellently done on Smith's part. You truly believe in Neville, his character. And you see yourself in his place and wonder what you would do in his position. Of course, all zombie movies, even the glorified Will Smith versions, must have ubercounts of jump scenes, but it really adds to it all. It makes you just as paranoid as Neville. Give yourself a good scare without the horror of something like Saw. It's fun.

Conclusion: If you're looking for a good scare without the blood and gore of a normal movie like this, then Legend is right for you.

Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence.


Trivia:

• The studio spent an estimated $5,000,000 for a 6 night shoot in New York involving the Brooklyn Bridge. To film in this location, the producers needed the approval of up to 14 government agencies. The producers had to bring in a crew of 250, plus 1,000 extras, including 160 members of the National Guard in full combat gear.


• In the scene in Times Square, there is a billboard for the fictional "Superman/Batman" movie, slated to open 5/15/10.