Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a brilliant scientist, but even he could not contain the terrible virus that was unstoppable, incurable...and manmade. Somehow immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City...and maybe the world. But he is not alone. He is surrounded by "the Infected"--victims of the plague who have mutated into carnivorous beings who can only exist in the dark and who will devour or infect anyone or anything in their path. For three years, Neville has spent his days scavenging for food and supplies and faithfully sending out radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. All the while, the Infected lurk in the shadows, watching Neville's every move, waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But his blood is also what The Infected hunt, and Neville knows he is outnumbered and quickly running out of time.

The story of I am Legend has been told many times, once officially and many more times unofficially. For a book that is over fifty years old now, interestingly enough the story still resonates in our world today. We still fear chemical warfare and man's ego destroying the very world itself that in all honesty not much has changed in all the years since the book was first published. Of course the most famous of the unofficial rip offs of the book is George Romero's Night of the Living Dead which brought the fear of zombies roaming the world for food, human flesh. But the story is so much more than just a simple tale of zombie's roaming the world. The story is also of loneliness and one man copying with the folly of mankind. His journey, his tale is an important as the disease-infected masses that roam the now desolate world. What if you were the last man on earth, would you do in the solitude, in the desolation, in a world with all human contact deleted by one virus. The tale is of madness, desire and about one man who refuses to give up on humanity.

I recently watched Omega Man, the official version of I am Legend book and in all honesty the movie was a terrible B movie from the early 1970’s. Which is odd because Night of Living Dead the most famous of the rip offs came out three years earlier and was vastly better. And so is I am Legend, the film takes all the elements of Omega Man that made the film passable and all the elements of Night of the Living Dead and remerges them back as one tale. I haven’t read the book so I have to wonder if the new movies follows the original tale more closely or that in all the years since its release and subsequent rip offs if the film had to update itself to our times to make it more relevant for us. The film reminded me more of 28 Days Later with its eerie loneliness and then it’s rampaging madness once nightfall hit.

I am Legend is one of those rare films that mixes scenes and genres. It is almost like two films in one, a drama and an action film with a little horror thrown in merged by day and night. During the daytime the film it is more drama, with some harrowing scenes of loneliness and Robert Neville filling the days until he can try and fix a cure for the disease. Then at night the film switches to action/horror as Neville is forced to fight of the teeming masses of zombies and creatures that attack once the sun sets. I have heard a few complaints about spoilers for this film in regards to it’s ending and I will spare you such information except to say that I am with many that the ending was a little bit of a let down. All said and done the story enthralls you and the characters interest you and the ending just doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the film. It kind of ruins an amazing film and the performances therein.

I have always been a fan of Will Smith, he had that cocky demeanor and arrogance that was perfect for a lot of light action popcorn fare that he was starring in. I didn’t think of him as one of the best actors in Hollywood but I did respect him and thought he did a great job in most of his films. But recently I have begun to think of him as one of the best actors in Hollywood as he has shown emotional range and acting chops in his last few films that we had not seen before. There is one point in I am Legend when his alarm goes off that he gives this harrowing, haunted look that is absolutely fantastic and sets up the film from that point. Later on when the madness seems to set it in, he still manages enough light humor and that Will Smith charm that you come to realize how good of an actor he really is and how far he has come in the last decade or so. There are few actors that can fill a screen by themselves with little else to react with and still make it an amazing film, I can now think of two Tom Hanks in Cast Away with just a volley ball to talk to and Will Smith with just his dog. The film is a fantastic telling of an oft done story that is fun to watch and worth the price of admission.

Grade: B+