I Am Legend (Widescreen Single-Disc Edition)

The film’s first half almost suggests that I Am Legend could be one of the finest movies of 2007. Director Francis Lawrence’s extraordinary, computer-generated images of a decaying New York City reveal weeds growing through the cracks of familiar streets that are also overrun by deer and prowled by lions. It’s impossible not to be fascinated by such a realistically altered cityscape, reverting to a natural environment, through which Smith moves with a weirdly enviable freedom, offset by his wariness over whatever is lurking in the dark of bank vaults and parking garages. Lawrence and screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman wisely build suspense by withholding images of the monsters until a peak scene of horror well into the story. It must be said, however, that the computer-enhanced creatures don’t look half as interesting as they might have had the filmmakers adhered more to Matheson’s vampire-nightmare vision. I Am Legend is ultimately noteworthy for Smith’s remarkable performance as a man so lonely he talks to mannequins in the shops he frequents. The film’s latter half goes too far in portraying Smith’s Neville as a pitiable man with a messianic mission, but this lapse into bathos does nothing to take away from the visual and dramatic accomplishments of its first hour. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

• I Am Legend: This was an interesting movie. Not exactly one of Will Smith's best, but a very interesting one.
• Some Nice Touches in a Modern Update : I went into this movie with mixed feelings. I am a big fan of the original Charlton Heston version The Omega Man [Blu-ray] And I am an even bigger fan of the book I Am Legend
  
  If you just take it as a movie it is an average movie and most of the stuff was acceptable hollywood fun. But there are two things about this movie that make it just a little bit special:
  
  Peppered through Will Smith's Mansion are some actual Van Gogh Paintings. I mean the real thing. I read that they actually got to use the real ones in the movie. The camera, director, actors, don't focus on the paintings. They are just there - and they are absolutely magnificent. You can't help but be drawn to them.
  
  And they are there in the movie for a reason. The movie is all about the potential end of humanity and the pictures say (without uttering a word) that humanity, is sometimes capable of a beauty that goes beyond words. Breathtaking.
  
  Also, Will Smith launches into a little soliloquy about Bob Marley that comes very close to the same effect. It will choke you up even if you never heard a single Bob Marley song.
  
  Because they are so different it is almost a contradiction to use Bob Marley and Vincent Van Gogh in the same movie as examples but that is the beauty of humanity.
• DVD unplayable, damaged HD-DVD player: Fresh out of the package, never before played, this HD-DVD pixeleated, skipped and threw my HD-DVD player into an error code and worse yet my HD-DVD player became locled and unrespondant.
  
  NOT Satisied.
  
  
• I Am Legend: I watched the "Omega Man" years ago and loved it. I was aprehensive to watch the new remake. I can tell you I like the effects in the new movie. There are some twists and turns I was not expecting in "I Am Legend" and some tear gerking moments that were not present in the old movie. Overall I liked "I Am Legend", was a bit disapointed in the ending. Entertaining, what else do you want in a movie. I'll watch it again.
• I Am Legend on HD-DVD!!: I have to admit I was a bit scared when the war of HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray came to a halt with Blu-Ray being the winner. But there are still good HD-DVD movies available out there, and this is one of them for sure! Has the original movie that was in theatres, and the alternate version! You get great sound, and a FABULOUS picture on your High Def TV. This is an item that you shouldn't pass up!