Found Not Lost

I am Legend is another movie we managed to drag my husband to over the holidays. After all, it had all the elements sure to pull him to the movies. Will Smith and sci-fi. It was a very entertaining movie enjoyed by the whole family. Although, some parts of it were a bit scary for the girls, we all found the movie entertaining. Entertaining enough to probably get the DVD when it comes out.

I am glad I haven’t read the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, although I have been meaning to since I do love a good vampire story, which the movie is based on. Everyone who has read the novel seem disappointed with this adaptation. But, I find that is the case with novels turned movies anyway. As much as I enjoyed the Harry Potter books and succeeding movies, for instance, I never felt the movie was as good as the book.

I am Legend is a movie about the last man on earth, a premise not new on the big screen, but with a few new twists. In this version, Robert Neville, Wil Smith’s character, is the last man remaining in New York. By this time he has been living alone for three years and has developed strange quirks to combat loneliness and he almost seems at first compulsive with timers going off and rituals performed before doing something. The compulsiveness and rituals are later explained in the movie where mutated, virus infected creatures roam the night because they are harmed by sunlight which is the closest allusion to vampires this movie gets.

The movie, as enjoyable as it is, does have some plausibility problems for me. For instance, where do all the brand new and clean cars come from? It looked like a dang car commercial at times. If everyone died and cars and homes were abandoned, how come there were no bodies or skeletons scattered about? What irritated me the most though, because that dog was adorable and I hated to see him get hurt, was how Neville, as physically fit as he was (shown working out shirtless which elicited excited gasps from some women in the movie), why the heck couldn’t he get off his butt and run with the dog before the mutants got to them? Also, if he’s got all the fancy equipment and even the ability to broadcast over radio waves, why didn’t he have a ham radio or satellite phone to communicate with other survivors?

Well, maybe details shouldn’t be over thought and the movie should be just enjoyed as presented, because it really is enjoyable.