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I Am Legend, the latest Will Smith movie, is based on Richard Matheson’s novel written all the way back in 1954. Updated to fit our times, I Am Legend tells the story of a cancer vaccine gone horribly wrong, killing billions and turning the survivors into zombies. Not Resident Evil zombies… think 28 Days Later super-strength and somewhat intelligent zombies. Will Smith plays Robert Neville, presumably the last remaining human survivor, who is immune to the anti-cancer vaccine and is constantly trying to develop a cure that will turn all the zombies back to their normal lives.

For the first half, the movie is breathtaking as you can see what New York would like if all humanity was gone for over 3 years. And for the majority of the movie, Will Smith is the only human character on screen, which isn’t too bad as he is charismatic and vulnerable enough to believe he is actually the last man on Earth. His daily routine is interrupted by the nightfall when all the infected people come out as they cannot survive in sunlight. Maybe they are more vampires than zombies… The original novel actually did feature vampires, but I am somewhat happy that idea was dropped as a vaccine that turned humans into vampires is clearly ludicrous.

Not that I Am Legend is airtight: for example, almost towards the end, Robert Neville is rescued by a woman and her son who are also immune to the vaccine. Of course it isn’t really explained how they got into the city as all the bridges (and presumably tunnels) into Manhattan were destroyed. Or if you think you are the only survivor, and then you find other normal humans, wouldn’t you be ecstatic instead of pulling gun on them? Or the fact that all utilities function even if the entire world is abandoned, and presumably there would be nobody left to take care of the utilities…

Overall, this movie is good but it requires you to suspend your sense of belief even more than an usual Hollywood fare. First half of the movie is great, but unfortunately the ending ruins the entire movie. It is hard to imagine the main character doing what he does at the end, without any character development that gets him there. I Am Legend had the potential to be more than just a zombie/vampire movie, but it never rises above average.

Rating: 60%