My Review of “I am Legend”

I am Legend came out back in 2007 yet it feels like the movie could have been created today. There is so much that this movie did right but I understand why some people don’t really like the ending of it. It’s not a movie for everyone but horror fans might have a good time with this one.

It all starts out with a little exploration of the timeline of what happened in the past. They do a pretty good job at helping the audience keep pace with the jumping from timelines. The news is pretty much explaining that there’s this new cure for cancer and they’re testing it on humans. Everyone is overjoyed but 3 years later this supposed cure takes a turn for the worse.

We then get introduced to Dr. Robert Neville. It seems as though he’s the sole survivor in New York city. He’s out there hunting deer with his dog in the middle of the city. I’m in awe at how they were able to make New York look so dilapidated and overrun with weeds. The problem is that the animals don’t really look very authentic. Still it’s a very cool sight to see.

Along with Robert is his trusty dog. The two have a tight bond but the dog constantly gets into trouble. As the dog gets into trouble we learn how eerie and dangerous this New York city is. They play these scenes quite well in a horror point of view. Each shot is meticulously selected to increase the tension of the scene. I could feel the anxiety of Robert as he has to explore an abandoned building to save his precious dog. It is horrifying and will have you at the edge of your seat.

Robert is also quite lonely and you see him slowly losing his mind. This helps the movie transition to reveal more of Robert’s past and what had happened to New York as well as his family. As the movie continues we start to understand why he is the way that he is. I love this character development that they did for him. It really helps us root for our hero as well as his trusty dog.

Though there's not a huge cast to this movie, the few cast members in this movie did a good job. Will Smith is the big draw here as he's the main focus of the whole movie. He puts in a huge performance showing us some range of happy to full out crazy. Surprisingly throughout the movie I could understand why he was feeling these emotions as we follow him throughout his journey.

I totally forgot how intense this movie was. It really will have you nail biting from scene to scene. Again a very well crafted movie as you can tell they did careful homework for this movie. The selection of songs and lack thereof really helps build our empathy for Robert. Surprisingly they don’t have a crazy load of action but you still feel the tension as if there was a lot of action throughout the movie.

Overall, it’s really about how much fun you can have with this movie. I am always shocked at how interesting and fun this movie can be. I had a great time with it from start to finish and that’s why I have to give this one a 7 out of 10. It is definitely worth a rewatch, and I kind of wished I watched this one during the pandemic.