I Am Legend

April 27, 2008

Very few actors could carry almost an entire film on their shoulders, but Will Smith is definitely one of them. He’s on his own for 80-85% of the film and he owns it. If I had bothered to watch Cast Away, I could compare the two – but I think I am safe assuming that Tom Hanks put in a good performance.

Will Smith is definitely one of the most likable actors out there today. (Will Smith: The Black Man Everyone At Work Can Agree On) I’d like to see him branch out and play a character that’s downright nasty and despicable. Something like Kevin Spacey in Se7en would be interesting. He’s never played a bad guy before…even his buddy Tom Cruise has tried it once!

I love zombies and I LOVE vampires – so a film with Zombie vampires should be doubly awesome, right? Not if the zombie vampires are CGI. It was a ballsy move and would have been revolutionary if it would have worked – but it didn’t. The “Dark Seekers” were fucking lame and I was too distracted by their smooth skin and flip-top heads to be scared by them. The dead eyed kids on The Polar Express were scarier.

I haven’t read the novel yet, but while researching the film for my review, I read enough to know that the film doesn’t deliver the same message that the original story does. The alternate ending included on the DVD reportedly comes closer, but still doesn’t capture the same meaning. *sigh* This makes me like the film less. I was ready to give them film a 3 BOB rating, but this information will make me kick it down to 2 BOBs. This is NOT because the film doesn’t adhere to the original source material. I changed my mind because I realized that I had been TRICKED…tricked again by what I call the “noble martyr Hollywood ending.” Although I constantly grouse about “Hollywood endings” in which everyone lives and all the loose ends are tied up, I am equally irritated by endings in which the main character martyrs him or herself for the greater good. Maybe I am still irritated by the fact I cried at the end of Armageddon. [Oops, I swore that I would carry that piece of information to the grave, but what the hell…] Films don’t make me cry – EVER – but for some reason, that moment when Bruce Willis sent Ben Affleck back to continue fucking his daughter really got to me. Within a few minutes though, I was angry, not sad. Angry that I had fallen prey to Michael Bay’s patriotic, tearjerking bullshit. Anyway, learning that the ending of I Am Legend had been changed for the film made realize that I had fallen for it AGAIN. For the record, I didn’t cry – not even earlier in the film with Sam.

At least there won’t be a fucking sequel.