I Am Legend (2007)

Director:

Francis Lawrence

Writers (WGA):

Mark Protosevich (screenplay) and
Akiva Goldsman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

14 December 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The last man on earth is not alone

Plot:

Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure.

Plot Keywords:

Survivor | New York City | Cure | Scientist | Plague

Awards:

7 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

Will Smith	...	Robert Neville
Alice Braga	...	Anna
Charlie Tahan	...	Ethan
Salli Richardson-Whitfield	...	Zoe (as Salli Richardson)
Willow Smith	...	Marley
Darrell Foster	...	Mike - Military Escort
April Grace	...	TV Personality
Dash Mihok	...	Alpha Male
Joanna Numata	...	Alpha Female
Abbey	...	Sam
Kona	...	Sam
Samuel Glen	...	Military Driver - Jay
James Michael McCauley	...	Male Evacuee (as James McCauley)
Marin Ireland	...	Woman Evacuee
Pedro Mojica	...	Sergeant

Also Known As:

I Am Legend: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-15 | UK:15 | Malaysia:U | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Hong Kong:IIB | Taiwan:PG-12 | France:Unrated | Australia:M | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Brazil:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:16 | Slovakia:12 | Czech Republic:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43988) | Denmark:11 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Sweden:15 | Germany:16 | Australia:MA (DVD) | New Zealand:M | Venezuela:PG-13 | Peru:14 | Netherlands:12 | South Africa:13V | Austria:14 | Japan:U | India:A (cinema release) | Iceland:14

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

All of the paintings in Dr. Neville's house were provided by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Neville is able to drive around the city after 3 years of isolation. Gas starts degrading in three months in the tank of the car, but in a closed tank (such as those at a gasstation) it can be kept for several years. The degradation is due to the fact that it evaporates and mixes with oxygen, but that doesn't happen in an airtight tank.

Quotes:

[first lines]
TV Personality: The world of medicine has seen its share of miracle cures, from the polio vaccine to heart transplants. But all past achievements may pale in comparison to the work of Dr. Alice Krippin. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Dr. Alice Krippin: Not at all.
TV Personality: So, Dr. Krippin, give it to me in a nutshell.
Dr. Alice Krippin: Well, the premise is quite simple - um, take something designed by nature and reprogram it to make it work for the body rather than against it.
TV Personality: You're talking about a virus?
Dr. Alice Krippin: Indeed, yes. In this case the measles, um, virus which has been engineered at a genetic level to be helpful rather than harmful. Um, I find the best way to describe it is if you can... if you can imagine your body as a highway, and you picture the virus as a very fast car, um, being driven by a very bad man. Imagine the damage that car can cause. Then if you replace that man with a cop... the picture changes. And that's essentially what we've done.
TV Personality: And how many people have you treated so far?
Dr. Alice Krippin: Well, we've had ten thousand and nine clinical trials in humans so far.
TV Personality: And how many are cancer-free?
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)

Soundtrack:

Stir It Up

A missed opportunity

Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way - Will Smith is excellent, as usual. The scenes of an abandoned New York are amazing, in much the same way as the shots of a deserted London in 28 Days Later.

Now on to the disappointing stuff - the CGI work throughout the film is terrible. 14 years after Jurassic Park, and this is seriously the best they could do? I could live with the CGI animals, but the CGI 'infected' are just beyond belief. They all look the same, they all behave in ways that are clearly opposed to the laws of physics, and they all look as though they've stepped out of a cartoon or a computer game.

It's hard to overstate just how unconvincing the CGI work is; about half-way through the film stops being 'real' and turns into an absurd mix of the real world and sub-par animation. It's more 'Mary Poppins' than '28 Days Later'.

Real people with prosthetics would have made a much greater impact, and may have added some genuine thrills into what is otherwise a fairly dull film.

The ending - and I won't use any spoilers - is very weak. Ultimately, 'I Am Legend' is a wasted opportunity; worth watching, but only just.