I Am Legend (2007) Review

I went with a diverse group of family members to see "I Am Legend" on the first night of its release, and none of us were very impressed.  As always, Will Smith doesn't disappoint, and the crumbling and overgrown Manhattan set is very convincing.  Additionally, Sam the dog is probably the best thing in the movie, but I don't think there is anything else I can recommend about this pic. 

The premise is only minimally convincing, so the movie is somewhat set up to fail.  Throughout the film, there are flashbacks that explain what happened to everyone in the world, and how Will Smith is left as the only one still alive, but the flashbacks are intrusive and interrupt the flow of the story.  One might expect it to be interesting to see how Smith's character goes about his day being all alone, but even that its a bit humdrum - and depressing.  Who wants to be left all alone - always? Thank goodness he has Sam...

The only action in the movie is with the mutants, where it suddenly becomes a horror flick. The mutants are grotesque and scary, and you end up "thankful" that certain characters die instead of becoming mutants.  Isn't that depressing?  Also, the doctor's intense devotion to finding a cure seems a bit outrageous, considering he knows there's only one of him and hundreds or thousands of mutants.  So, the ending becomes really predictable and ties everything up a little too easily. 

I don't think I've ever seen "Omega Man", but I have heard it is better than this.