The Cutting Room Floor: I Am Legend
The third version of the classic Richard Matheson novel, I Am Legend tells the tale of a world wiped out by a plague that kills 90% of the human race and turns the rest into monsters. The first movie was the 1964 classic The Last Man on Earth and starred Vincent Price in the lead role as Dr. Robert Morgan. The second treatment was the classic The Omega Man with Charlton Heston taking the role of Dr. Robert Neville in 1971.
The current movie, after spending close to a decade in limbo features Will Smith (Independence Day, I, Robot, Men in Black) picking of the mantle of Dr. Neville in a Manhattan sealed off from the rest of the world. What starts out as being a miracle cure for cancer spins wildly out of control and becomes the ultimate super plague. In an effort to contain the virus a decision is made to seal off Manhattan and prevent the infected from leaving and therefore saving the rest of the world.
Three years later the world is a wasteland and Neville and his dog Sam are the only survivors in the city. They spend the day foraging for food and searching for other survivors via an AM radio broadcast. It’s during the night that they’re forced to go into hiding from the vampire like creatures that the virus didn’t kill but rather mutated into savage monsters.
All through the movie Neville remains the scientist, searching for the cure that will tame the savage monsters that roam the night. The story runs fairly true to the novella with an action packed ending but it’s Will Smith’s acting that was the most surprising in the film. While he’s definitely not Charlton Heston, and if they’d had the technology to shoot this movie while Heston was in his prime it would have been THE movie of the year, Will still does a very good job with the character and how he deals with being alone and the tragedy that reshaped his world forever. The film could have used with a little less of the CGI cartoonish feel for the monsters but overall it was worth the viewing. If you’re looking for a movie to kill some time with and you’re either a fan of Will Smith or the ‘End of the world’ scenario then go check out I Am Legend.
Below: Concept art for the film.
Richard Carroll is an avid movie viewer and all around fanboy. You can probably find him at his computer playing Guild Wars when not watching,writing, reading or roleplaying something (Oh and then there’s the real world and work). Check out some of his written works at www.ficofthedead.com. A website in need of a webmaster to ensure it gets updated. (Any takers? Anyone? *grins*)