Directed by: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Will Smith
Rating: PG-13

Will Smith in I Am Legend. (Courtesy photo)

There’s a very important message hidden within the new science fiction horror thriller I Am Legend: do not cure cancer. It turns out that a cure will very quickly kill most of the population and turn the rest of us into flesh-hungry vampire zombies. Extremely athletic vampire zombies, in fact. I Am Legend has some strange corners to it. It isn’t really telling us not to cure cancer, but it does toss out some half-baked ideas about our role in the bigger scheme of things. Those parts don’t work. Most of the rest of the movie does. I Am Legend is a very intense, often quite scary movie hoisted almost entirely on the shoulders of Will Smith. He has the shoulders for it. As Tom Hanks was to his deserted Island in Castaway, Smith is to Manhattan in I Am Legend. Until the inevitable third act let-down, I Am Legend is a thrilling exercise in survival.

Have you ever planned your survival ritual? What supplies you’d hoard, how you’d move about, how you’d protect your home? This is that exercise acted out by Mr. Smith. He plays Robert Neville, butt-kicking doctor in a New York City that has turned wild. By day, Robert and his dog Sam explore the city ruins, hoping to find other immune humans. By night, they lock down in Robert’s apartment, while the infected humans come out to feed. Robert’s basement is also his lab, the place where he hopes to finally find a cure for this horrific disease. But each day presents new dangers and Robert’s grip on reality grows more tenuous.

The original novel by Richard Matheson has been turned into two earlier films, most notably 1971’s The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston. This latest attempt to film the novel has been in the works for years. Arnold Schwarzenegger was once attached to the project, as were Tom Cruise and Michael Douglas. Smith had been considered for the role since 2002, and Warner Brothers finally committed to the extraordinary budget in 2006. The scenes of an abandoned, overgrown New York City alone make the movie worth seeing. Considering the long and winding road of the screenplay, it’s a wonder the film succeeds to the degree it does. Mark Protosevich (Poseidon) wrote the first script more than a decade ago. The immortal Akiva Goldsman (Batman & Robin, A Beautiful Mind, and myriad other appalling screenplays) updated the script, shifting the story away from the Matheson novel and closer to Omega Man. Scripts that go through this much turmoil seldom work at all. It certainly helps that the movie is, not surprisingly, rather low on dialogue. Still, there are pitfalls aplenty in I Am Legend, not the least of which are the computer-generated infected humans. They don’t look remotely real, but they move with enough agile fury that they’re still shocking. The only thing Smith can’t quite carry off: the gradual disintegration of his own psyche. Frankly, that’s okay. It’s the type of character journey best left to novels and indie films, not colossally budgeted blockbusters like this one.

Will Smith is not just the last man standing in I Am Legend. He’s also the only current movie star still able to open a movie, no matter the genre. Smith is such an irresistible talent, equally loved by Hispanic teens and white grandmothers. The fact that I Am Legend has firmly placed him atop the movie star ladder is fairly significant. Not long from now he’ll be recognized as someone who charmingly, gracefully broke down barriers of prejudice. For now we’re too busy enjoying his movies. Abbey, the rescued German shepherd who plays Sam, ably assists him. The two make a very sweet couple, though the presence of a dog does make the danger much harder to bear. I can handle grown-ups in all sorts of turmoil, but I wish they’d leave the animals out of it.
I Am Legend is rated PG-13. Maybe I’ve become incredibly wimpy, but that’s ridiculous to me. The movie is as cruel and grotesque as it is scary, so younger teens beware. The name “I Am Legend” carries a kind of mystical grandeur. It’s a lot to ask the movie and its title character to live up to such a name, and in the end, neither does. So I Am Legend is a very effective exercise, as opposed to a modern sci-fi horror classic. And it’s a good reminder that when the time comes to pick the last human on Earth, you probably couldn’t do better than Will Smith.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California, and works for the Cartoon Network. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.