Warner Bros.
101 min., dir. by Francis Lawrence with Will Smith, Alice Braga, and Dash Mihok

Disappointed. That is how I Am Legend left me feeling. Kind of like opening the greatest Christmas present ever and finding that the batteries didn’t come with it and every single store is closed.

It’s 2012, and Robert Neville (Will Smith) is the last survivor living in New York after the “cure” for cancer mutated the rest of the population into bloodthirsty, light-sensitive monsters. During the day he hunts and hits golf balls with his dog while waiting for other survivors to find him. But at night he hides in fear of the mutated population that wants to kill him. Why? We don’t know. And Neville just happens to be a scientist trying to find a cure.

I Am Legend starts strong with sweeping shots of a New York City gone to seed, slowly being reclaimed by nature. We learn what Neville does every day with little spots of Will Smith’s trademark humor. Intermittently told through flashbacks and dreams is the story of what happened to the world and Neville’s family in particular.

Will Smith does a great job of carrying the film pretty much on his own, being that he is the only actor onscreen during most of it. By taking mannequins and posing them in a video store, his character creates some semblance of the way life used to be. While this could be construed as crazy, you can plainly see that this is just a step in keeping his own sanity. He does have the required crying scene that seems to be in most of his recent films, but it is understandable in this film and I won’t penalize Smith for it this time. Not much more can be said about the cast except for a neat little cameo by Emma Thompson as the doctor who found the “cure.” Also, fans of the Sci-Fi Channel’s “Eureka” may recognize Salli Blake as Neville’s wife.

Before I get to why the movie was disappointing, I want to say that the first three quarters were really good. It takes a combination of talents to keep a movie with mostly only one cast member interesting. Director Francis Lawrence does this quite well. The effects are top notch. New York looks extremely creepy, reminiscent of the establishing shots of London in 28 Weeks Later but with the style of WETA’s work on Peter Jackson’s King Kong. The creatures are creepy without looking too dehumanized.

What doesn’t work is the end. Feeling truncated and incomplete, I Am Legend could have easily added another 20 minutes to its running time of an hour and 40 minutes to provide a better sense of closure. I can’t say any more without giving it away, sorry.

All in all, I cared more for the dog than I did Robert Neville. What does that tell you?