I Am Legend (2007)

I just watched this movie, and I am still processing what I think about it. I thought writing my thoughts out would help me to articulate.

The Good -
The examination of the truth behind God's statement: "it is not good for man to be alone." Smith's character has varying degrees of dementia as he struggles to save himself and humanity without any human contact. The movie does a great job of showing how lonely solitude would be and just how oblivious we are to the masses around us. It attempts to make some small statement about God and destiny, but ultimately fails because it does it so simplistically and without conviction. It was a nice try though.

The Bad -
I was really worried at the first scenes with Will Smith. It was shamelessly commercial and somewhat silly. I was afraid it would quickly go the way of "Minority Report", but was pleased to eventually find that the movie makers apparently just decided to get all the endorsements out of the way in the first 10 minutes. The CGI was a little too much, as well. In an attempt to make the scary creatures scarier, they are given super abilities via CGI. I really think it would have been scarier if they were simply real people in really good makeup; I found the graphics distracting at times.

Lastly, a note on Will Smith. I like the guy and I like his movies, but I've now noticed a trend with him. He is a really great actor when it comes to becoming engrossed in the story. He is not, however, great at becoming engrossed in the character. He is always Will Smith. In every movie, he does great acting at showing you how Will Smith would act if put in that situation. I would love to see a movie where he takes on a completely different persona (Albert Finney is a great example this). If he can do that, then he deserves the laud that is often thrown his way.

Overall, I liked the movie. A little weak in places, but better than a lot of other films.