There's a book-to-film adaptation out in theaters right now that has some people up in arms. It takes place in a world like ours, but not quite. It has an ending that's is alternately seen as confusing and frustrating. It features an animal in one of the main roles.But I reviewed The Golden Compass a few days ago. (Like you didn't see that one coming.)
The truth is, there doesn't seem to be nearly as many people upset about the adaptation of I Am Legend as there are about Compass. This could be because either not many people have read the book or because those that have barely remember it (it was first published in 1954). However, I think this is more due to the fact that the movie has almost nothing in common with the book. As I read and have seen, this movie shares its lineage more with Cast Away and 28 Days Later... than it does with the story of a man who hunted vampire-like beings in mid-70s Los Angeles.
Not that that should matter much, except maybe to the book's author, Richard Matheson. The film stands up pretty well on its own two feet, thanks largely in part to the charisma of Will Smith. Though he has more to work with than Tom Hanks ever did (who was stuck with only a volleyball to bounce lines off of), Smith is one of the few stars I can think of in today's Hollywood that can not only hold the screen alone (mostly) for 90 minutes, but keep you more than entertained and wanting even more. You heard right - this is the rare blockbuster that left me wishing it was 30 minutes longer; with a 101 minute run time, there were a number of places the filmmakers could have gone with the story or holes that could have been filled.
It's not all wine and roses, though. I Am Legend has a number of problems, the most prominent of which is the undercooked yet overdone "infected" humans. With CGI quality echoing that of a PlayStation 2 game, you are immediately taken out of the movie every time they appear on screen. More vexing, though, is their behavior - I'm not giving away anything when I tell you that Robert Neville (Smith) is "alone" on Earth because most of the humans on earth have been killed. The remaining few that survived are either turned into the aforementioned vampiric infected or the immune (like Neville). That said - the infected are still human at their core. They have a virus that affects their behavior, skin tone, sensitivity to light, etc, but they remain homo sapiens. Why then (why?!?!) are they running, jumping and slamming into things as though they are not only impervious to pain, but have the strength of a rhinoceros, the speed of a gazelle, and the agility of a spider monkey?
If you manage to get past that, though, you'll likely enjoy the film.
Fletch's Film Rating:
"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you."
