Will Smith tackles one of his most complicated characters yet, and pulls it off well!
A scientist obsessed with finding a cure, a man condemned to live alone because of the billions of people who once lived, he may well be the only survivor, the rest of the race either dead or zombies ... so bitterly alone, he talks to mannequins, sleeps in a bathtub at night, roams the streets of deserted Manhattan in search of game, finally desperate enough to commit suicide, then saved by another survivor whom he doesn't believe, and finally, in one desperate move, saves the one who saved him only to give his life in destroying a clutch of zombies/vampires seeking to kill both of them.
Great, great special effects ... a huge story jammed into a 100 minutes ... intense, scary, powerful.
The story begins with a "cure" for cancer using a modified virus. The cancer is cured, but the cure is worse than the disease; ultimately, a new virus emerges that transforms people into vicious creatures ... the night of the living dead: they sleep during the day, are ultra-sensitive to light, and ravage the world at night.
Charleton Heston, 1971, "The Omega Man" was the same story - well-done for the time - based upon 1954 novel entitled, "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson.
The film suffers slightly from editing ... couldn't really suggest anything, but it felt a little disjointed now and then, but aside from that small note, a movie worth seeing. One also wonders: if the Island of Manhattan is cut off because the bridges are blown, how did another survivor find him? Yes, he was broadcasting a daily radio message, so we know how she knew, but was it boat that got her to the Island? Small potatoes, I guess, but a question nonetheless.
Unsettling, unnerving and definitely engaging ... with enough ethical and other such questions to keep folks chatting for a long time.
And what about the cameo from one of my favs, Emma Thompson?
