I Am Legend

Last night, I went to go see the Will Smith latest box office smash (77.4 million according to deadlinehollywooddaily.com), I am Legend. As a person who has read the book, I went to it understanding the basic plot of it. Yet, whenever you watch a movie, it can be more or less than what you read. This movie nevertheless, has suspense, and it has action and drama.

The movie is set in New York city in modern times. A vaccine that was thought to cure cancer, killed 5.4 billion people, transformed 588 million into into a primal state driven by cannibalistic hunger burnt by sunlight, and 12 million immune. Of the 12 million immune, majority of them are killed.

The movie has you watch the mental deterioration of a Robert Neville(Smith), a virologist who was assigned ground zero in New York in order to work on a cure to the virus. His only companion is a dog that he promised his daughter that he would watch.

There are moments in the film where all you here is silence. One scene is set in the center of Time Square. The quietness and emptiness is quite a view. To see Time Square sounding and looking somewhere in the center of a forest is something that bring a different feeling among you. The sound of each bird and the herd of deers running and the lions attacking in Time Square is an awe struck moment that leaves you speechless. The director makes sure that you feel you are there as the camera shakes as if you are running with him just observing him, which in essence is the idea that the director might have been trying to get across. What is the effect of a man being left alone for such a long time.

The movie does have problems. The movie does not explain what went wrong with the virus or how the virus went airborn. The movie does not fully explained Neville's solntion to the problem either. Unlike the book, the movie fails to show comparison to historical figures to show how the ending justifys the actions.

I like the movie, but for a good understanding, I say watch the movie, then read the book. It it will help you understand a wonderful story to a limited timed movie.

B-