Will Smith’s latest movie, I Am Legend, will go down as a movie with some of the best previews and trailers in recent history. And, for my part, I have to say that it will go down as a major bore for all of the people who had the pleasure/displeasure of sitting through it. This one didn’t just miss the mark, it fired the gun in the opposite direction!
In truth, I hate to give this movie a bad review because there was so much potential in the concept and the original story is pretty entertaining. Yet, as a viewer I found myself wanting to care about the characters, but it just wasn’t possible. You get vague hints of the back story (though I imagine that most people know it thanks to the power of the internet) and the ending is impossible to care about (it’s too rushed, too out of line with 90% of the film, and too “easy”).
Will Smith does the best that can be expected in a role where he plays opposite a dog for most of the movie. The use of rabies-infected zombies is only marginally scary in the movie and the filmmakers missed a major opportunity to explore the zombie world during the middle of the film. Not good planning at all.
It looks like I Am Legend has grossed about $34 million to date (probably more once the Christmas numbers are added). I don’t think the movie has much drawing power left in it – almost every word-of-mouth review that I heard has been negative. Most of them go something like this, “Yeah, it was alright – not what I expected. It wasn’t that good.”
I agree. It was alright – not the worst movie ever, but not really a good movie either. My recommendation is that if you really want to see this movie, make it a Blockbuster night this spring.