I Am Legend

Script: 4

Cinematography: 7

Acting: 7

Special Effects: 8
Rating: 6.5/10

I went in to see this movie with higher expectations than I should have, so I suppose in a sense I deserved the disappointment that my $10 bought me.

I Am Legend is, of course, a remake/adaptation of The Omega Man (1971) and the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. The fact is, so many movies have followed the thread Matheson first wove that by the time this movie was shown, almost every original element has become a tired cliché.

Put simply, I Am Legend is a loose cross between 28 Days Later and Cast Away. And unfortunately, and not at all surprisingly, it fails to measure up to either of them.

It had its moments, to be sure. I laughed – I even cried at one point. Unfortunately, those moments were all too predictable. Along with the decidedly un-modest American-Nationalist propaganda (3 years after Manhattan has been over-run by wilderness and lies in tatters at the hands of wild animals and the even more vicious and barbaric “Darkseekers”, ever star-spangled banner hanging in the streets is whole and still waving proudly in the breeze), the clichés were a touch more than I could stomach. Even in the face of the total destruction of American civilization, Americanness lives on. Even the climax of the film, I am told, was changed from the original to be much more brash and typically “American”.

All that being said, hunting for deer with a high powered rifle and a red Ford Mustang in the empty streets of Manhattan has to count for something. There were some really cool scenes. I recommend skipping the theatre on this one and renting it to watch on your big screen TV.