I AM LEGEND

Release Date: 26th December
Running Time: 1 hr 40 mins

Starring
Will Smith ... Robert Neville

Directed by Francis Lawrence

I Am Legend, starring Will Smith (and pretty much only Will Smith) is the third film made from the original 1954 novel of the same name. Smith plays Robert Neville, a military scientist and the last man left on earth after a devastating virus turns the surviving inhabitants into vampire-like creatures. Neville takes it upon himself to remain in New York, the ground zero of the virus, to find a cure. His days are spent on research and survival while his nights are spent on avoiding the roving hordes of nocturnal 'Darkseekers'.

The film's plot varies dramatically from that of the novel. Most notably the distinction between good and bad, very much a grey area in the novel, is fairly cut and dry here. This is Will Smith's film and, as such, the story told exclusively from Neville's point of view. Indeed, for much of the film Smith doesn't even share the screen with anyone else - save for Robert Neville's faithful alsation. As the lead actor in what essentially amounts to a one-man show, Will Smith is asked to act better than ever before - and he achieves it. There's humour, drama, suspense and some truly heart wrenching moments, without the film ever losing pace or being overly sentimental. Smith displays Neville's psychological survival methods, his complete breakdown in social skills and exactly what motivates a man to bother to survive when everything is lost to him.

Considering I expected I Am Legend to be terrible, it says a lot that the flaws are quiet minor. The villains of the film, the Darkseekers, are rendered with CGI which fails to convince. While the sets of abandoned New York look very real and desolate the Darkseekers look out of place. 28 Days Later had the same kind of monsters using extras and actors and achieved it better. There are also a few gaping plot holes near the end but they are easy enough to over-look, as the film pelt along at such a pace that the entertainment value more than compensates for the moments of "wait, that doesn't quite make sense".

All in all, in the genre of 'The World is Doomed' films it's an excellent addition. Not quiet as good as Children of Men or as brutal as 28 Days Later but well worth a watch and director Francis Lawrence has rediscovered the lost American art of telling a story in only 100 minutes.

 James Looney