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:

Helicopter Accident | Exploding Bridge | Injection | Dystopic Future | Loss Of Family

Awards:

4 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

Will Smith	...	Robert Neville
Alice Braga	...	Anna
Charlie Tahan	...	Ethan
Salli Richardson	...	Zoe
Willow Smith	...	Marley
Darrell Foster	...	Mike - Military Escort
April Grace	...	TV Personality
Dash Mihok	...	Alpha Male
Joanna Numata	...	Alpha Female
Abby	...	Sam (as Abbey)
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)
Soy leyenda (Argentina) (Mexico) (Peru) (Spain) (Venezuela) [es]
Je suis une légende (Belgium: French title) (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Eu Sou a Lenda (Brazil) (Portugal) (literal title) [pt]
Ben efsaneyim (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
I Am Legend (Germany) [de]
Io sono leggenda (Italy) [it]
Já, legenda (Czech Republic) [cs]
Ja sam legenda (Serbia) [sr]
Ja sam legenda (Croatia) [hr]
Jestem legenda (Poland) [pl]
Ma olen legend (Estonia) [et]
Som legenda (Slovakia) [sk]
Zontanos thrylos (Greece) [el]

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:

Peru:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Venezuela:PG-13 | Norway:15 | Malaysia:U | Hong Kong:IIB | UK:15 | Finland:K-15 | Taiwan:PG-12 | New Zealand:M | Portugal:M/12 | Austria:14 | South Africa:13V | Ireland:15A | Australia:MA (DVD) | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Czech Republic:12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | France:Unrated | Denmark:11 | Sweden:15 | South Korea:12 | Netherlands:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43988) | Brazil:14 | Argentina:16 | Slovakia:12 | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Warner Bros. Pictures has owned the rights to the book since the 1970s. The studio first attempted adapting it as The Omega Man (1971) with director Boris Sagal, starring Charlton Heston. Then as 'I Am Legend' with director Ridley Scott, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which fell through when the production went over-budget. And then in 2002, Michael Bay was set to direct Will Smith, but they decided to make Bad Boys II (2003) instead.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Robert Neville is a Lieutenant Colonel, but his insignia in the shots portraying him in his military dress uniform are golden, which indicate the rank of Major.

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 Southland Tales (2006)

Soundtrack:

Three Little Birds

A missed opportunity

Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way - Will Smith is excellent, as usual. The scenes of an abandoned New York are amazing, in much the same way as the shots of a deserted London in 28 Days Later.

Now on to the disappointing stuff - the CGI work throughout the film is terrible. 14 years after Jurassic Park, and this is seriously the best they could do? I could live with the CGI animals, but the CGI 'infected' are just beyond belief. They all look the same, they all behave in ways that are clearly opposed to the laws of physics, and they all look as though they've stepped out of a cartoon or a computer game.

It's hard to overstate just how unconvincing the CGI work is; about half-way through the film stops being 'real' and turns into an absurd mix of the real world and sub-par animation. It's more 'Mary Poppins' than '28 Days Later'.

Real people with prosthetics would have made a much greater impact, and may have added some genuine thrills into what is otherwise a fairly dull film.

The ending - and I won't use any spoilers - is very weak. Ultimately, 'I Am Legend' is a wasted opportunity; worth watching, but only just.