Avoid like the plague? (I Am Legend (DVD))

Member Name: clownfoot

Product:	I Am Legend (DVD)
Date:	06/01/08 (462 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A rather good opening 40 minutes...

Disadvantages: ...gives way to a shoddy finale devoid of everything that made the original novel brilliant!

I AM LEGEND

During the early and mid-nineties it was often mooted that Ridley Scott would adapt Richard Matheson's sci-fi vampire novella 'I Am Legend' to the big screen and cast Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead as Robert Neville, the last living human. Boy, I'd like to have seen that film! Of course, casting the monochrome Austrian oak in a story vast on acting ability and little in action is questionable, but with Ridley at the helm it's likely a sci-fi masterpiece would be imagined. After all this is the man who crafted Blade Runner so astonishingly without losing any of the depth or integrity from Philp K. Dick's equally marvellous novel 'Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep?' Alas, Scott's vision was never realised, yet an adaptation was always on the cards considering The Last Man on Earth and The Omega Man (previous adaptations of Matheson's novel) are now far removed from the consciousness of modern day movie goers. Time for an update! And when it was announced wicki-wa Will Smith had picked up the rights, would star as Neville and would keep the title as 'I Am Legend' many fans of the novel began to say 'Boy, I'd like to see that film.' What naïve, pitiful muppets we were...

A plague has wiped out the human race and, to his knowledge, Robert Neville (Smith) is the only man alive. Living day by day in a ghost town New York City with his dog Sam, Neville spends his existence scavenging for food and resources; sending out an AM radio transmission to locate other survivors; conversing with clothes dummies at the local video rental store; and, thanks to his training as a military biologist, locating a cure for the plague. For whilst he is the last human, he is not alone! Once the sun sets, Neville locks himself in the sanctuary of his boarded up home to hide from the dark seekers, survivors of a different kind from the plague, whom prowl the streets for sustenance under the cover of darkness. There lives inter-twined, Neville realises he needs the dark seekers to assist with his viral studies in the hope that he might be able to save all of them from this virtual apocalypse.

At first hand everything sounds vaguely similar to the book. Dig a bit deeper, however, and you find that beyond the basic premise this is not the I Am Legend as we know it. Whilst it's obvious to suggest one should disassociate the film from the book that's easier said than done, especially when the use of the books full title suggests they would be one and the same. Comparatively, the problem with the film is that it over-simplifies the whole story and the characters involved, and removes all traces of vampire intelligence in order to craft a bog-standard CGI monster fest that is low on tension and high in clichéd gubbins - your now common place big screen disaster blockbuster. That a needless post 9/11 end coda is attached, which blithely misses the whole point of the books finale, just illustrates further how far removed the subtlety and intelligence (well, the ropey science apart) of Matheson's novel is from this rather mediocre adaptation.

It's actually a shame as the first forty minutes are fairly engaging and enjoyable, featuring some great event movie sequences. The opening shots of a desolate Manhattan Island is superbly realised, if not quite as spooky as that provided of London Town in 28 Days Later. Even though the deer hunt through the streets of New York features some poorly implemented CGI, the rip-roaring nature of the hunt via a Dodge Viper adds an early injection of action to the suitably slow burning nature of the first third of the film. Indeed, it's very well paced with welcome minimal dialogue and Neville's internal monologues (played out via video recording) offset superbly against the noise and clutter of flashbacks preceding the plague, and tensely claustrophobic encounters with the Dark seekers which drive the plot. The former includes the destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge to prevent the spread of the disease and is certainly a stand out sequence. As is Neville scampering about in pitch black whilst looking for Sam in a dark seeker stronghold. Certainly, the first time we see the creatures cowering together chattering in the darkness is one to make the old nerves quiver. And holding all this together is Will Smith. Whilst not quite reaching the emotional heights of someone slowly losing his marbles after three years of loneliness, Big Willy's edginess throughout, coupled with a few stand-out scenes (the first dark seeker encounter for instance) makes him well worth the watch.

However, even within this first third all is not what it seems. The sparse development of plot and characterisations beyond the basic good (Neville) or bad (Dark Seekers) alignment significantly impacts on the rest of the film to its eventual detriment. Prime concern here is that both Neville and the Dark Seekers are bland one-dimensional creations, missing the vital complexity of the novels structure to develop the plot past the last man alive predicament. Gone is the disillusioned, whiskey drinking, anti-heroic nobody survivor of Matheson's novel who begins hunting the vampire infestation with determined conviction and malice, replaced by the clichéd military trained biologist (yawn) capable of humanities salvation. Likewise, the subtle intelligence and crafty deception of the vampires is completely null and void, replaced with fairly awful CGI creatures seen previously in a whole manner of other movies. The fact the word 'vampire' has been eradicated from the screenplay entirely is telling. Any pathos for these creatures is instantly removed by crafting them as the contrasting evil to Neville's survival and, devoid of any additional substance, it means the film can only head in one predictable direction.

Such a direction makes everything feel a little flat and due to the concessions made in the story the middle third of I Am Legend is embarrassingly short. The pace of the movie adjusts and before you know it a half-baked action finale is resolved and the film ends. What? Yes, that's right; devoid of Neville's one-man war against the vampires and the questioning of his slow burning insanity (one breakdown scene is not enough to convey such a development) the film has virtually nothing to say and therefore ends as soon as the dodgy CGI creations have finished being half-rendered, which is complete arse.

In fact, the more I think about I Am Legend the more I loathe it. The action sequences are mostly derivative; the initial scares dwindle once we see the shockingly poor CGI dark seekers; and there is a lack of tension throughout to keep audiences hooked. You never really believe that Neville has been alone for three years and the plot flaws, due to the way the movie rushes towards its conclusion, become more obvious as little time is allowed for suitable resolutions. It does something incredibly daft, but somewhat expected, half way through that spoils the whole concept of the scenario, but the most unforgivable occurrence is the awful ending. Hell, even The Omega Man's poorly implemented Christ allegory was better. And all it makes you want to do is go for a lobotomy in order to help forget the crass, simplistic bobbins you've just sat through.

It's unfortunate that this is the way I Am Legend heads after a rather good first act, and yes, that first 40 minutes is good. A shame that the build up leads to such a fundamental let down. One can't help thinking that if the subtle characterisations of the vampires had not been simplified into a group of snarling animals, then there would have been more scope to produce a film with depth and substance. Essentially, by removing the vampires, the vampire mythology, and Neville's war against the vampires not only does it mean I Am Legend suffers from a wafer thin plot, but it also completely misses the point of the book and why Neville becomes legend in the mind of the vampires (read as "when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back into you"). Within the bastion of film, 28 Days Later has already done this concept much, much better and 30 Days of Night has recently shown how to do convincing, subtle and unnervingly chilling vampires that would have been more than welcome here. Oh, how welcome they are...


Overall - Enriched with disappointment, I Am Legend is a missed opportunity to create a truly great film from a wonderful source novel.


Director: Francis Lawrence

Screenplay: Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman

Cast:

Will Smith... Robert Neville

Rating: 15

Running Time: 101 minutes

Genre: Drama/Science Fiction/Thriller


© clownfoot, January 2008.

Summary: Big screen adaptation for Richard Matheson's vampire sci-fi novel.