I Am Legend

 

DIRECTED BY-: 
Francis Lawrence

STARRING-: 

Will Smith 

Alice Braga 

Charlie Tahan

YEAR OF RELEASE-: 

2007

PREMISE-: 

Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

THE POSITIVES-:

• Will Smith gives a good performance.

• I really liked the sequences where Will Smith talks to mannequins.

• A tense, ominous and dilapidated atmosphere of New York city is built up very well, thanks to the excellent cinematography and production design. 

THE PROBLEMS-:

• Robert neville is a very overpowered individual in the film. He’s not only a highly revered Lt.Colonel AND a renowned scientist, but he is also extremely athletic, is good in combat, knows hunting, and can run highly sensitive medial tests on the Zombies.

• The CGI of the film does not hold up very well.

• The plot armor of the protagonist kept getting increasingly ridiculous as the film went on.  He’s shown to just walk off the fall from a tall building. He’s shown to be perfectly healthy after hanging upside down for HOURS with a head injury. And, he’s also shown to be luckily saved from zombies by other survivors who COINCIDENTALLY happened to arrive at the same time as he decided to go on a rampage. Due to these instances, among many others, the whole plot of the film appeared to be built on matchsticks.

• Apart from the protagonist, the characterization of the other two characters felt very flat to me. While the character arc of the Neville wasn't particularly ''weak'', it was still very cliched, generic and predictable.

• The idea that the Zombies weren't completely mindless and had some sort of hierarchy was very creative on its own, but it unfortunately wasn't incorporated in the screenplay in any compelling way.

• Considering how stupid the other two survivors behave, they should have been dead long before they met Neville. I mean, the female survivor basically CAUSES Neville's death just out of sheer stupidity. If she was unaware that the zombies had the ability to follow a blood trail, she should have been among the first humans to die. It is a very nonsensical miracle that she and her son were able to survive this long without being aware of the essential protocols of this Zombie-infested world. 

CONCLUSION

‘I Am Legend’ is a very by-the-numbers post apocalyptic film which breaks no new ground and relies on things just kind of falling into place when and where required. Will Smith’s sincere efforts to save the horrendous script was honestly the only reason I didn't turn this off halfway through. I’d recommend this film if you want an introduction into the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ genre or wish to be lukewarmly scared.

RATING -: 4/10