There’s a lot that’s right and there’s a lot that’s wrong about this third try in translating Richard Matheson’s sensational 1954 novel for the big screen, but one of the masterstrokes of this version was casting Will Smith in the lead role of Robert Neville. He overcomes a lot of the script problems to make this work fairly well for the first two-thirds of the running time. The movie gets away from him in the last half-hour or so with an ending that doesn’t really satisfy. Aall the material with just Robert and his dog walking around desolate New York City is sensational. But when the movie resorts to CGI monsters and special effects, the enjoyment level just drains away.

The premise is chilling and honestly feels like something that could happen in the near future if we aren’t careful. A cure for cancer has apparently been found, but the formula backfires, killing most of New York City’s residents and zombie-fying (is that a word?) the undead into creepy creatures that lurk in the darkness. Robert Neville is apparently the only one in the state to be immune to the disease, yet he searches every day for others and hopes that more exist out there like him. He and his dog walk around the city by day and lock themselves up and stay in at night, when the creatures come out searching for human fleshily kind of food (there I go making up more words again). Neville seems to have the situation under control, but he can’t keep the creatures away forever.

Enough works well in this film for me not to get too upset at the fact that this new version still isn’t the definitive film version of Matheson’s book. I haven’t seen the two previous films starring Vincent Price and Charlton Heston, respectively, but word is that they weren’t all that great. Arnold Schwarzennegger and Ridley Scott, I think, were signed to do a remake in the 90’s, but that fell apart. Now that would’ve been something. There will probably be a better movie based on this book made in the next 20 years that will truly give the book justice. Maybe a film with a lower budget, one that requires the filmmaker to be more creative with the claustrophobic atmosphere of the story. But this one will do for now.

Will Smith is terrific in the film. All the smaller moments where he’s dealing with his loneliness are fascinating to watch. My favorite scene may be one in which he goes into a video store and lets all of his emotion run free in front of a female mannequin, constantly repeating, “talk to me, talk to me.” It’s moments like these that work beautifully in the movie. The film works better as a drama of dread and solitude than as an action picture. Some of the suspense early on works well, like when Robert walks into a dark building chasing after his dog, and we follow him for a few minutes on end, not seeing anything, but knowing around any corner there may be one of those creatures. Great stuff. But then we actually see one…

I usually don’t care so much about computer generated effects if the story holds up and the acting doesn’t disappoint, but the effects in this film are truly a let down. But not always. All the early shots of New York City completely abandoned are some of the best effects I’ve seen in years! Did every cent in the SFX budget go to these shots? How come these shots look amazing, and then everything with the creatures looks terrible? The most frustrating thing about this criticism is that the criticism shouldn’t be made to begin with, because the creatures shouldn’t be CGI at all. The creatures should’ve been played by real people. While they wouldn’t have had that superhuman quality of jumping two hundred feet into the air down onto Robert’s car, they would’ve been much more frightening and much more believable. When you read Matheson’s book, you picture fairly human kind of vampires. And that’s scary. In this film, they’re just cartoon characters.

The movie also falls apart in the end a little after a certain mystery is resolved and Robert dodges a dangerous situations. We’re given about twenty minutes of dopey scenes like Robert reciting lines from the movie Shrek and discussing the merits of Bob Marley that really stretch out to a less-than-manageable length. It’s not awful material, but it doesn’t work as well as the filmmakers probably intended. We’re supposed to be moved by all this because it’s showing aspects from the world that used to be, when now it’s nothing but a quiet planet of land and water. The last action scene makes up a little bit for all the waiting but the scene is so insanely overblown that any sense of believeability is completely obliterated.

I Am Legend has a lot going for it. It features an outstanding performance from Smith, some great shots of empty New York, a handful of suspenseful scenes in the first half, and a haunting story that feels more timely than ever fifty-three years after the novel was written. But I can’t stress enough the disappointment in the look of the undead creatures, not to mention the fake-looking animals that roam the city. At least Robert’s dog is real, that’s all I have to say. It’s a worthwhile film that I’m sure will have its devoted fans, but it’s not a great film by any means, and the true classic film to be based on Matheson’s novel is hopefully still to come.