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I AM LEGEND
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SYNOPSIS
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.
REVIEW
Without realizing I was going to see this film later in the day, I got to watching an early episode of 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' during the day that happened to catch my eye while I was flipping through the channels. Will Smith has obviously come a long way: Rap star turned Sitcom star to gigantic Movie Star. But you can always tell (and the many people who helped push his career) that this was a man with a whole lot of charm -- and charm can take you very far.
I am Legend is a terrific film. And The Artist Formerly Known as the Fresh Prince is reason #1 why it is. He literally carries this entire Hollywood film and will probably turn it into one of the best movies of the year --- which will also make a lot of money.
Based on Richard Matheson's novel, I am Legend tiers away from the plot from the book but the changes it makes actually are better for our time and in the film medium. It's a tight script that centers on Dr. Robert Neville (Will Smith), the last survivor in New York City, fighting to come up with the cure to rid the planet of the virus that destroyed mankind.
Neville has been alone for nearly 3 years and of course this is getting to him. He seems to live day by day in a very meticulous routine -- done on purpose so he can deal with things and fight to survive.
This is just a fine piece of film-making and they told the story that they wanted to make. I really have nothing bad to say about it except that the film is much better when Will Smith is all alone without the plot setup flashback scenes and when the 3rd Act begins and a new character is introduced.
It did get a tad overly sentimental in the end, but that's Hollywood. I guess it thinks it needs to do that in order for them to sell their films around the world. Too bad. But besides that personal problem, this is a much see film.
3 1/2 stars out of 4.
