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 Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Hong Kong:IIB | Taiwan:PG-12 | France:Unrated | Australia:M | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Brazil:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:16 | Czech Republic:12 | Slovakia: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:

While doing a press conference in Japan for the release of the movie, Will Smith accidentally revealed the ending to a collection of entertainment reporters. Warner Brothers asked the reporters and all those present to withhold the ending and the reporters all obliged without any payoff or consideration.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Neville fires his gun (an M4A1 carbine) at the dark seeker in the house and runs out of ammo, the weapon can be heard clicking several times. An M4A1 will not click when the magazine runs empty. The bolt carrier group will lock to the rear holding the hammer down; pulling the trigger has no further effect.

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 Strangers on a Train (1951)

Soundtrack:

Three Little Birds

Has its share of thrills and poignancy

I am aware of the fact that this 2007 blockbuster is a remake of a remake. It's a remake of "The Omega Man", which is a remake of "The Last Man on Earth". All three films are adaptations of the novel, "I Am Legend", by Richard Matheson. I haven't seen the previous two versions, but definitely intend to. However, for now, since I've just seen this 2007 version of "I Am Legend", and haven't seen the rest, I'll just have to judge it strictly as a movie, not how it compares to the previous two, or the book. So, while this particular version of the story seems to be polarizing, I was definitely impressed.

In 2012, three years after a genetically modified virus which was supposed to cure cancer ended up wiping out most of the world's population, a scientist named Robert Neville, immune to this virus, appears to be the only uninfected human left in New York City, maybe even the world, and his only companion is his dog, Sam! Neville does research in his basement laboratory to try and find a cure for the virus, and regularly sends out radio messages, calling for other survivors to come and meet him, if there are any out there, but so far, this has not worked. Eventually, the scientist discovers people in New York who have not been killed by the virus, but have been mutated by it, and as a result, they have become dangerous monsters! Worse still, there are many of them in the city, and Neville is still waiting to see another uninfected human, so he is grossly outnumbered!

This film is slow-paced around the beginning, but this works well, starting with the introduction to the virus which was yet to fail, and going from there to views of a deserted New York, which are reasonably intriguing. Some scenes may be a bit tedious, such as Robert Neville looking through the dark building before finding the mutants, and the camera is sometimes a bit unsteady, but to make up for the flaws, there's quite a bit of tension (which includes scenes with the mutated, zombie-like humans and they're chases and attacks, even though I'm sure we've seen scenes like that before in movies), as well as some poignant moments, with Neville and his loneliness. Also, for Bob Marley fans, the main character is a big fan of his, and at one point, he talks about Marley and his philosophies. As someone who listens to his music and has read a lot about his short life, this part definitely touched me, and it obviously isn't featured in the previous two adaptations, as they were both made before Marley became an international superstar.

Yes, this film has its flaws, and seems to have gotten a lot of positive feedback as well as negative, but personally, I have to give it a positive review. While not quite a masterpiece, I still found it to be a memorable sci-fi/horror film, with a fair amount of suspense, action, and poignancy. Once again, I don't know how it compares to the book or the previous two adaptations of it, and clearly, it seems to be widely considered inferior to those, but while that may be true, I cannot join the naysayers on this one. If you see this version of "I Am Legend", I guess you could easily end up on either side, but if you want to see a combination of sci-fi, horror, and drama, and you're a Will Smith fan, I think it's worth a try, and yes, it just MIGHT help a BIT if you're a Bob Marley fan.