Upon speaking to a colleague of mine about I Am Legend, he was very quick to say: "Will Smith is something of a serial offender in my book. First he bastardises iRobot, then shits on I Am Legend." He has a point. Though I have not read iRobot, I Am Legend really is a soft Hollywood version of a far superior story. The bleak, pessimistic (and utterly brilliant) ending is gone, as are the vampires and their endless quest to break down Neville's psychological barrier. In fact, so is most of what made the book a classic. Smith's performance is excellent and the day set scenes with he and his pooch roaming an empty New York are very impressive but the film looses it's way quite catastrophically by the half way point, becoming a lame CGI ghoul fest that comes off as sub-par rip off of 28 Days Later. Boggles the mind why the director opted for CGI monsters when guys in make up would be more effective (rumour has it he thought the make up looked too fake. Go figure).
Include a tagged on, upbeat, Hollywood ending and you have the very definition of a wasted opportunity. Such a shame, as there really is some excellent material here.
2.5/5
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