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I
Am Legend
(2007)
 
I Am Legend? You Are Mediocre.
For those of us from New York it's been tough to avoid I
Am Legend. The barrage of ads, the posters, the reviews,
and for months before the movie came out film production was
shutting down whole neighborhoods and sending Blackhawk helicopters
through southern Manhattan airspace. Yup. It's been tough.
And for those of us who are fans of Richard Matheson's novella
(and only readable work) it's even harder.
I bought the book. I've sat through its previous adaptation, The Omega Man. But I Am Legend may be the
last straw. You hear that world? I'm washing my hands of I
Am Legend! No more books, no more movies, no more comic adaptations.
I'm out. And I had been, for whatever reason, pulled out of
the movie before the last act (and introduction of Anna) I
wouldn't feel this way. I'd be full of optimism that someone
finally got it right. This, however, is not the case. Anna
killed it. Thanks a lot American Consumers. Your influence
makes everything worse.
For the first hour I hung with the changes to the story that director Francis Lawrence
had made. New York is more visual than an LA suburb. No reason
not to make it take place in the present/near future. He gets
a healthy dog and early. Fine. Hunting deer seems improbable,
as do lions (which do not run about and hunt as nuclear families),
but I can suspend my disbelief with the best of them. And it's cool. I mean, I like lions. I like New York. I'm willing
to work with this.
Keeping Neville military, as he was in Omega Man, also works. He's informed.
He has expertise and equipment. And this makes his research
significantly more believable than it was in the book. And,
regardless of what I'm about to say, Lawrence knows how to
pace a movie. The first two-thirds are pretty solid. In fact,
it's pretty much great. Other reviews will babble on endlessly
about the movie's 'taut' structure, and 'edge of your seat'
thrills. Not me. I'm gonna concentrate on Anna.
Anna is Neville's savoir. Literally, figuratively and annoyingly true. When Neville
hits rock bottom, and you really feel for him because to this
point the I Am Legend is fantastic, Anna swoops in and rescues
him. Shortly there after she's pontificating on God's plan
for her, and on the ability to hear God in this quitter world (which
Neville points out is quitter because of the sudden death of
nearly 6 billion people).
Of course the relationship of I Am Legend's adaptations and religion has always
been strained. Some have argued that Charlton
Heston's Neville was a Christ figure in The Omega Man. Being tortured, even
stuck with a spear, before dying for Humanity's ultimate sin,
tampering with that which ought not be tampered with. This
is not only a cliché—it is, in fact, the oldest cliché in science
fiction. (The history of which can be tied back to Mary Shelly's
Frankenstein.) It's unsubtle and unwatchable. It lacks the
nuance of Matheson's novella.
It's this change, above everything else, which cuts the legs out from under Lawrence's
adaptation especially since there were hints pointing toward
the novella's grimmer, more intelligent ending. We saw that
some of the dark seekers (really though, why avoid the word "vampire"?) could
act cooperatively and displayed loyalty toward one another.
It seemed clear that the baddest dark seeker was motivated
by an attachment to the female dark seeker that Smith had caught
earlier in the movie.
It was so close. It fell short. And somehow that makes it worse than completely
missing. I'm left with the impression Lawrence knew what he
should have done and instead caved.
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All contents ©
2004-2007 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Francis
Lawrence
Writer: Mark
Protosevich, Akiva Goldsman, Richard
Matheson
Starring: Will
Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Distributor: Warner
Bros. Pictures
Runtime: 101
min
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: December
14, 2007
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