The 1st Half - Stellar! The 2nd Half - Worthless
I am a long time fan of Will Smith, and enjoyed Richard Matheson's novel "I am Legend". I thought the combination of the two would be a little bit of heaven. The first half of the movie met, and exceeded, my expectations for a decimated world populated by feral humans, and Will Smith. Exciting, with amazing visuals, and Will Smith's portrayal of the last man on Earth - Neville. Torn by loneliness; racked by horror at the terrible turn his efforts to help humankind took; and survivor's guilt. The efforts to live day to day, and the constant fear wearing away at Neville's humanity. The first half of the movie is electric! The last half of the movie is so bad, it seems that a different movie was tacked onto the end.
SPOILERS----SPOILERS----SPOILERS
Those infected with the virus are not shown until half way through the movie. The director was wise to take the "Jaws" approach in not showing the antagonists, as their appearance is more cartoony than frightening. The infected people have the energy level, and attitude, of an angry house cat, with the appearance of, well, hairless CG people. The director always uses the startle factor to introduce the infected onto the screen. Probably because the infected aren't particularly startling in, and of, themselves. At least one of the infected show that they are capable of higher thought, through cunning and tool use, but for some reason - a) Neville does not seem to notice this fact, even though he is a victim of it; and b) the infected folks ability to do more than scream, run, and eat is abruptly dropped from the film, as though it had never happened.
The human acting performances in the second half of the film go from 60 to zero in 10 seconds. There is a lot of staring between the actors at this point. Perhaps, they were emoting, but it came across as simply staring. Lifeless. Boring. Kind of silly. The movie finally ends (thank goodness) with a big unhappy (Boom!), and a big happy (Hurray. We're not alone.).
The movie starts as a fast-paced roller coaster ride, and ends as a slow, dull, still photo. The first half of the film is 5 star, all the exciting way! The second half of the film is minus 7 stars, all the boring way. Overall, a 2 star; don't-waste-your-money; just-catch-it-on-television; film.
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