Movie: I Am Legend

I am Legend

The wife and I braved the weather to see this film. And overall we liked it.

This is not, as you might think, Will Smith versus the zombies. At least, not for the whole movie. This is more a movie about him dealing with the loneliness and isolation as being the last person on Earth.

This also is not a direct adaptaion of the novel. It is quite a bit different, not only in location but also with Smith's character's motivation.

Will Smith does an excellent job in a very demanding role. The fact that he is a likeable actor helps us feel even more for his plight. And the moving of local to NYC helps. As a person who has been in NYC numerous times, it being a barren city really makes an impact.

There are scares aplenty, but not much gore. Most of the graphic violence takes place of screen, but there are plenty of well-rung "jumping out of shadows" kind of frights throughout.

There is also a whole lot of sadness and heartbreak as well. Several times it crosses over into tearjerker territory.

All in all, it is a good movie. A few hiccups here and there, especially the awkward religious discussion that comes in towards the end.

Oh, there is a treat for the comic movie fan within the first half hour (look at the billboard in the grown over Times Square). And an unbilled cameo hits within the first few minutes.

Trailers:

• Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins: Martin Lawrence plays a Dr. Phil type who brings his bride to be back to meet his disfuctional family. Not really my type of movie, but then it's not trying to be.
• Rambo: Yeah, Rambo. More of the same, if you like it.
• 10, 000 BC: When I first saw adds for this movie, I thought nobody would be at all interested in seeing it. However, this version of the trailer seems to be recut to maximize its 300-like appeal. Good luck.
• The Poughkeepsie Tapes: It's a "documentary" about a stash of tapes taken by a serial killer of all the people he's killed over the last 10 years. Released to the public after he's been caught. Since I have never even heard of this killer before, and, lets face it, we would have, I smell Blair Witch Project. Glad to see they are stealing the most innovative gimmick from that moivie and using it over for this one.
• The Dark Knight: I hesitate to say this, but I wasn't that impressed. I'm not saying that it won't be good or that I won't see it. It's just that it showed nothing of the Joker's motivation, nothing of the storyline, and nothing about the movie. And my wife, wise woman that she is, says that the make-up job on Heath Ledger reminders her of the Crow. Doubt that was what they were going for.