Movie Review - I am Legend

I am Legend is unique in it's design. Mutants, Zombies, Vampires, whatever you want to arguably call them, inhabit the world, and the only man left standing is Robert Neville, who is a lieutenant in the Army, and a scientist.

For whatever reason, Neville is immune to the virus.

And though the world is crawling with these creatures, you very rarely see them. And as time goes on, you realize that they just might not be the mindless creatures you assumed them to be.

When the movie begins, you see an interview with a doctor who has discovered the cure for cancer. And after that, things go horribly wrong.

It skips ahead 3 years, and the camera pans you through what is left of New York, now abandoned, with grass and weeds growing in the streets, and wildlife roaming the city.

For a movie about zombies, or mutants, or what-have-you, there is actually very little zombie killing. The movie focuses on human behavior, and that's where it really shines.

Though you know something has happened, it doesn't just shove it down your throat. You learn what happened with Neville's family through flashbacks and dreams. You learn about his immunity (and the partial immunity of canines) through the things he says during his research. His only companion is his dog, who he treats as if it were his own child, and the mannequins that he has set up at the video store he frequents.

The creatures can't go out in the sunlight, they burn up, as if they were vampires. So Neville has set up many precautions, such as his 2 watches with alarms to tell him when the sun is about to set, and the metal shutters he has on his windows.

It's quite a long time until we actually see any of these creatures, and during this time you just get to learn the story in bits and pieces while he interacts with his dog, Sam.

If you want to watch a movie to see a bunch of zombies getting killed, then this is probably not the movie for you. But if you want to see what someone might actually do if they were the last person standing, in a world over-run by hideous mutations, and maybe see a few zombies get shot, or run over, then you should definitely pick up this movie, it's a great find.

The only real complaint I have about it is that not much is explained, even by the end of the movie.
It doesn't explain why/if the mutants are becoming more intelligent, and it doesn't explain why he is immune to the virus. If that doesn't bother you, then you should probably pick this one up.

My rating: 8/10

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