It is absolutely gripping in its vision of how lonely it would be to be the last man on Earth. It's absolutely dull in almost every other respect.
I Am Legend (2007)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:204
Fresh:140
Rotten:64
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: I Am Legend overcomes questionable special effects and succeeds largely on the strength of Will Smith's mesmerizing performance.
Australian Rating: M [See Full Rating] Moderate horror violence and themes
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Australian Theatrical Release:
Jan 3, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $256,339,571
Synopsis: Will Smith is Robert Neville, the lone survivor in a New York City where streets are overgrown and deer gambol among deserted automobiles. Following an epidemic, the Earth's population has been... Will Smith is Robert Neville, the lone survivor in a New York City where streets are overgrown and deer gambol among deserted automobiles. Following an epidemic, the Earth's population has been turned into an army of nocturnal zombies. Immune to the virus, military scientist Neville searches for a cure in his Washington Square townhouse. Haunted by visions of his family leaving quarantined Manhattan two years prior, he drives through the city with his German Shepherd, Sam, by day and barricades his home from the monsters nightly. But when Anna (Alice Braga)--another immune stranger-finds him, they will have to fight the onslaught twice as hard. Akiva Goldsman and Mark Protosevich's emotionally-charged script showcases the charisma of Smith, who commands the screen alone for most of the picture (aside Abbey, a talented German Shepherd). Director Francis Lawrence (CONSTANTINE) uses music minimally, wisely allowing the eerie cityscapes to remain mostly silent. The set pieces, including an overgrown, deserted Times Square and a lion hunting a deer in the Flatrion District, are goosebump-inducing moments of stark beauty. Though some may question the rendering of the monsters in CGI instead of using actors, it does allow them to be frighteningly acrobatic. A chilling and effective adaptation of a horror classic, I AM LEGEND is also a thought-provoking piece of Hollywood filmmaking. [More]
Starring: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Dash Mihok, Salli Richardson-Whitfield
Starring: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Dash Mihok, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Willow Smith, Charlie Tahan
Director: Francis Lawrence
Director: Francis Lawrence
Screenwriter: Mark Protosevich, Akiva Goldsman
Producer: Akiva Goldsman, James Lassiter, David Heyman, Neal Moritz
Composer: James Newton Howard
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for I Am Legend
The end result is an eerie, creepy, doomsday-laden film with plenty of thrills %u2013 and for anyone so inclined, a smattering of metaphors that pass comment on the human condition.
The actor’s natural charisma carries the movie in I Am Legend, a film in which Smith is left talking to himself most of the time.
In spite of its third-act collapse into obviousness and sentimentality, I Am Legend is among Will Smith's better movies.
What we have here is about two-thirds great and one-third awful, and in that order.
With "I Am Legend," Will Smith has accomplished what Tom Hanks did back in 2000: Effectively star in a movie that involves very little interaction with other human counterparts.
Whether he’s attempting to maintain his sense of bravado or glimpsing his complete and total despair, Smith nails the character brilliantly.
Lawrence's direction is patient, solid and suspenseful, and his vision of a lone fellow wandering through the atavistic hulk of Manhattan yields an indelible portrait of post-cataclysmic solitude.
if not a classic, at least memorable as it aspires, but doesn't quite succeed, in being more than just a horror flick as mindless as the roving mutants it showcases
A largely terrific, meanly gripping movie ... nearly upended by the use of some noticeably lousy CGI effects. Ditch the computers, slather some greasepaint on some extras, and we'd be talking a minor classic.
... does its job very well: we jump, we cringe, we even weep. Sometimes it goes just a little beyond the predictable as well.
The stunning set pieces (the production cleared and dressed the streets of New York for every outdoor scene) serve as the backdrop to Smith’s rending performance as a man struggling against guilt, hope, and God.
I Am Legend is a depressing experience. For everything it gets right, dozens of things go horribly, horribly wrong.
Eerie and breathtakingly evocative, the solid I Am Legend nevertheless tries to be too many things to too many people, weighed down with cheap horror-film shock effects and barely passable CGI, instead of trusting in its legitimately captivating
Fits comfortably among a spate of recent films -inclusive of dramas, thrillers, action pictures and anxiety-infused comedies -which all can be boiled down to: we are lost.
Scary, thought-provoking, jump-in-your seat suspenseful, it conjures up a 'Cast Away' meets 'Dawn of the Dead' concoction full of simultaneous solitude and nightmares.
Smith turns in a terrific performance, nailing Neville's angst while allowing room for humor.
It doesn't serve I Am Legend to give you too much time to think. Better when it's galloping forward at top speed, dodging caribou and translucent zombies and putting the dog in peril.
Latest News for I Am Legend
December 08, 2008:
Will Smith Outlines "Fantastic Prequel Idea" for I Am Legend ![]()
Never mind all that stuff about the next "I Am Legend" movie being a sequel -- Will Smith gave the straight scoop to Collider recently, and outlined his ideas for the "Legend"... More...
November 25, 2008:
A Sequel for I Am Legend? ![]()
It's utterly unverified, but AICN has started a rumor that the upcoming "I Am Legend" prequel may not be a prequel at all, but will instead pick up the story of Will Smith's... More...
September 25, 2008:
Will Smith Is Still Legend ![]()
Warner Bros. is moving ahead with its rumored "I Am Legend" prequel, and has hired D.B. Weiss to write a script based on an outline by Will Smith, Francis Lawrence, Akiva... More...
July 28, 2008:
Weekly Ketchup: TRON, I Am Legend, Hercules, Red Sonja, And More
In this special edition Weekly Ketchup, the sequels, prequels and comic book heroes keep coming, as we have the latest from Comic Con. More...
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