Will Smith should get an Oscar
Just got home from seeing the movie "I Am Legend" starring Will Smith. Apparently this isn't the only movie loosely based on the book of the same title, written by Richard Matheson. There is a review of the book here. In 1971, the movie "The Omega Man", starring Charlton Heston was one of the others.
As a thriller movie, this one rates up there with the top. I do not understand its PG-13 rating, however. Several jump scenes involving dark corners and once-human monsters earn this movie an "R" in my view. No spoilers here, I do not want to give away the plot.
Re-creations of Manhattan's familiar landmarks are very well done; attention to detail all around, even down to grass growing in the cracks of pavement, indicating a significant amount of time has passed since anyone touched a thing.
The filmmaker must have taken a page or two from Peter Jackson's creation of the creature "Gollum" in The Lord of the Rings when superimposing the CGI over the actors who portrayed the "infected ones".
What made the movie great was Will Smith's dramatic portrayal of a man who is driven by a desperate need to solve a problem, who lives a solitary existence alone, with only his dog for companionship. I would put his performance even above that of Tom Hanks in the movie "Cast Away".
** caution - Spoiler Alert - **
OK the only problem (and it's a minor one) I had with the movie was that it should have ended with the grenade explosion. Instead, as with so many Hollywood films, it ended with humanity triumphing again despite having caused a plague that nearly (and should have) wiped out any human civilization.
And, by the way, the virus turned people into vampire-like creatures. Not zombies as in "The Omega Man".
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