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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 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... [More]
Starring: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Dash Mihok, Salli Richardson-Whitfield
Director: Francis Lawrence
I admire the intent of Mr. Smith, who has made it his mission to mix escapist fare with socially relevant material. Legend seems to split the difference and land in the middle of nowhere. That's a lonely place for moviegoers to be.
What should be shattering is often merely intriguing.
After its promising opening, I Am Legend devolves into a generic zombie slaughterfest, highly reminiscent of Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Weeks Later.
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.
I Am Legend may be the umpteenth variation on the post-apocalyptic zombie genre, but, for the first two-thirds, it's nervy and haunting and creepily adroit.
Go for the thrills, for some nerve-gnawing suspense, for the wonderful production design and for the opportunity to spend some time with Will Smith. But this one is not the stuff of legend.
For the most part, I Am Legend delivers the kind of eerie suspense that will bring joy to the world of casual horror fans everywhere.
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.
Top CriticFor horror fans, Halloween came a little later than usual this year, but it was worth the wait.
The Manhattan movie of the year, Francis Lawrence's I Am Legend, offers a stunning glimpse into how the city -- as we know it today -- might look in 2012 if it were abandoned in 2009.
Is going to be bigger than crucifix sales on Judgment Day. Scary, inventive, exciting and breathless adventure.
The vampires aren't a particularly inspiring creation -- all pale and hairless and red-eyed -- but director Francis Lawrence gets some great effects out of New York itself.
For all the straining efforts of the star and overheated action and warmed-over emotionalism, this is a grim and flat and too often listless film.
I Am Legend, despite its glumness, ultimately feels like a watered-down version of more thoughtful doomsday movies like Children of Men, or Sunshine or 28 Days Later. Or 28 Weeks Later.
Will Smith passes a big test -- let's call it the Tom Hanks-in-Cast Away test -- for any movie star: carrying a movie alone for most of the way.
[Director] Lawrence is pretty good at the spectacular stuff. And he's smart enough to let Smith be Smith. But there's only so much you can do with CGI monsters that don't seem right for this kind of sci-fi scenario.
Smith has delivered the popcorn movie of this holiday season.
It's in the last half-hour that I Am Legend imports new elements that both propel the story to its explosive climax and just aren't as compelling as the day-in-the-life story that preceded it.
[Smith's] powerful performance is not enough to save the movie -- initially a potent meditation on loneliness and an absorbing doomsday action movie -- from taking a wrong turn and never getting back on track.
Top Critic'Nothing worked the way it was supposed to work!' Will Smith rages from his solitary hell in I Am Legend, yet this remarkable sci-fi thriller works a lot better than anyone could have expected.
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...
The New Matilda's Lynden Barber looks at the recent success of low-budget sci-fi -- and asks the question.
TIME offers us a closer look at the characters from the latest Twilight film.
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