Picture New York City with lions and deer roaming through knee-high grass, a cornfield in the middle of Central Park, abandoned cars and Will Smith racing down the streets in a 2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500. In the amazing thriller I Am Legend, Smith is Robert Neville, a brilliant scientist striving to find a cure for the virus that eliminated the majority of the population in 2009.
Neville is somehow immune to this virus, which was initially created to cure cancer but instead killed most of the world and caused the surviving population to mutate into zombie-like creatures that thrive in the dark. Occasionally, Neville captures one and takes it back to his lab to perform tests with the hope that he can defeat the virus that conquered mankind.
Smith’s performance in I Am Legend is exceptionally convincing and provoking. Each scene of the film keeps the viewer enthralled, from mutants popping out of nowhere in an effort to destroy Neville to his frustration when none of his tests on them are successful. Skip the popcorn because you won’t want to be distracted for even a moment.
And as difficult as it may be to picture an empty New York City, it looks remarkably real and eerie. Christmas decorations hang from lamp posts in the summer and Christmas trees decorate the apartments where Neville searches for food.
Neville and his dog Sam spend the day roaming the city in search of supplies, hunting deer with a high-powered rifle and visiting the video store to borrow DVDs and talk to the mannequins. Neville browses through the movies and looks at a female mannequin a couple of times. After he leaves the store, he promises Sam that he’s going to talk to the mannequin tomorrow. After about three years without humans to converse with, his loneliness is evident.
In desperation, Neville sends radio messages asking if there are any other survivors, telling anyone listening that he will stand on the pier every day at noon. He also kills time by teeing off from the deck of a boat in the harbor.
It’s no doubt that Smith uses his acting talent to his full potential, bringing a fresh look at the novel on the big screen. It’s a survival story and a horror flick that reaches far beyond the average movie.
