Movie Review: Will Smith’s new zombie blockbuster walks a thin entertaining line

Published 12:08 pm Thursday, December 20, 2007

Director Francis Lawrences’ “I am Legend” is the kind of apocalyptic, special-effects extravaganza you typically get six months before the Christmas season.

New York City is an all but abandoned urban jungle, quarantined years earlier at the outbreak of an airborne virus that was an unanticipated offshoot to the cure for cancer. Robert Neville (Will Smith) – inexplicably immune – is the sole human survivor.

The rest of the unlucky masses have turned into bald, fleshy zombies that must hide from sunlight that burns their skin. As they own the night, Neville spends the hours barricaded and curled up in the fetal position.

Neville’s days, however, are pretty productive. When he’s not mingling with mannequins at the local video store or conducting vaccine experiments on captured zombies in his state-of-the-art basement laboratory, he’s busy surviving.

With his loyal canine friend Samantha by his side, the duo tear down the desolate Manhattan streets in a shiny sports coupe, hunting rampant herds of wild deer.

The film is ridiculous, but it works, drawing you into Neville’s otherworldly existence, a testament to Smith’s powerful screen presence.

Neville is an absolutely unreasonable character – organized, stylish and always well-groomed. He’s also stubbornly committed to saving mankind, even though – for all he knows – he’s the only one left. His delusion is all that keeps him alive and kicking.

I also should mention the human-to-dog buddy relationship is one of the best of any recent film.

Overall, the movie has an interesting setup as long as you check your logic at the door. (What does Neville do with his deer carcasses in that squeaky clean apartment kitchen, anyway?).

But despite a few hints of brilliance, the rest of the film is uninspired monster mayhem.

The first zombie encounter, when Neville chases his dog into a pitch-black building, is a good fright. But by the end of the film, the monsters are nothing but screaming CGI fodder for the purpose of rushing the story to its cliched finale.

The film is based on the 1954 Richard Mattheson novel of the same name. The original title, however, does not transfer well to this particular adaptation, lending the film a sense of prestige that any glorified zombie movie does not deserve.

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Flynn Espe is a reporter for the EO.