“There's never a cop around when you need one.”
-- Robert Neville from The Omega Man
“God didn't do this. We did!”
-- Robert Neville from I Am Legend
Is it possible to like a performance in a film, but be disappointed with the finished product? That is the question I have been asking myself since exiting the latest cinematic version of Richard Matheson’s timeless I Am Legend. Will Smith does a wonderful job in his portrayal of Robert Neville. He does an excellent job of following in Vincent Price’s and Charlton Heston’s footsteps-- even improving on their performances. Vincent Price played Dr. Robert Morgan in The Last Man On Earth in 1964. Charlton Heston played Robert Neville in The Omega Man in 1971-- the opening scenes of Heston driving on the empty streets of Los Angeles remains one of my favorites. While not a faithful adaptation, I still enjoy this version as it demonstrates for a time that Charlton Heston was the everyman of post-apocalyptic cinema. His roles in The Omega Man, Soylent Green and the first two Planet Of The Apes films cemented this status for me. Will Smith is the film’s centerpiece and main reason the film works at all. His performance is being compared constantly to Tom Hanks character, Chuck Noland in Castaway. The scenes between Smith’s Neville and his loyal German Shepherd, Sam, are being compared to Hanks and his relationship to the ball, Wilson. It is an interesting analogy. To be honest, the relationship evokes memories of the relationship between Max Rockatansky and his dog in the first half of The Road Warrior. The relationship also brings to mind the relationship between Don Johnson’s Vic and the telepathic dog, Blood, in A Boy And His Dog-- granted there is no telepathy coming from Sam. Sam is played by Abbey, the greatest cinematic canine since Lassie. Actually, the first two acts of I Am Legend are very strong thanks to this relationship and a series of flashbacks that informs us of what went wrong.
Robert Neville seems to be the last man on earth. He is the lone human survivor of a horrible epidemic that has destroyed the human race. He is immune to the horrible apocalyptic disease. A cure for cancer is the root of this plague. An uncredited Emma Thompson plays the scientist who finds a cure for cancer which mutates into a plague in the film. Talk about the road to Hell being paved with the best intentions. When we meet Neville, he lives in the deserted New York City of 2012. He lives in a spacious Washington Square town house. He spends his day’s deer hunting, gathering fresh corn in Central Park, and hitting golf balls across the Hudson from deck of the aircraft carrier Intrepid. These are some of daylight activities before the Sun comes down. When daylight fades, it is time to seek shelter from them-- the plague infected zombies known as the “dark seekers.” The empty streets of New York City are the film’s greatest special effects. The first half of the film is truly haunting. Watching Neville and Sam make their way on their rounds is very chilling. New York city has never been this quiet; the film takes this scenario much farther than Cameron Crowe did with Vanilla Sky. The opening scene of Robert and Sam driving through the empty streets is a nice homage to the opening of The Omega Man. They encounter a herd of wild deer and they decide to hunt them. The idea of wild deer running through the streets of New York City is very effective. As Robert is about to shoot a deer, a lion comes out and kills the deer for its family. It is a nice touch; the world has returned the hunting to the animals. These parts of the film have a lot in common with Geoff Murphy’s 1985 New Zealand film, The Quiet Earth in which a man wakes up to find himself as the last living person on earth.
Through a series of flashbacks and dream sequences we learn about how things came to be. At night, Robert and Sam barricade themselves inside the town house from the zombies. While Robert sleeps, we learn about New York City’s final hours before the city is quarantined. We see what happens to Robert’s wife and child. We see the downfall and decay of human civilization through his eyes. Even after the fall of Man, Robert is diligent in finding a cure to the disease. He is determined to find a cure for the virus. He has a state of the art laboratory set up in his town house. He performs tests and experiments on rats and the zombies he is able to capture. His immunity is his greatest weapon and his greatest curse. Will Smith’s performance is amazing in this very flawed film. He sets a daily routine where he wakes up, works out, and performs daily errands like going to a video store. He goes down to the river to broadcast a message to see if there are any survivors. This routine is important to him. He takes every precaution not to become a zombie-- a clear distinction between him and them. Being the last man takes a toll on him. He sets up mannequins in the video store to have some semblance of human interaction. Robert Neville is going mad. I love this element of the film. As long as the film stays on this bleak vision of the future, it works very well. The film collapses in the third act.
If the relationship between Robert and Sam is the film’s greatest asset than the introduction of the zombies is the film’s weakest one. I miss the vampires from the original Richard Matheson story. I even miss the Albino mutants led by Anthony Zerbe’s Matthias in The Omega Man. Once we see the zombies, they are not very effective creatures or villains. I felt 28 Days Later and this year’s sequel, 28 Weeks Later did this sort of thing much better. They are not very scary. In fact, it is their noises the first night we hear them that is far more frightening. I really do not know what the filmmakers have against using the elements of the original story. Vampires are timeless like the story; this would have been better. This is the ultimate one man army against many story. To put it simply, the zombies or dark seekers drain the life from the film.
Will Smith’s performance can only carry the film so far. Will Smith has a knack for even making mediocre films like I, Robot and Hitch bearable. He made The Pursuit of Happyness a very watchable affair. He proved everyone wrong in Ali and he was triumphant in the film. The first half of the film is its strongest part. Director Francis Lawrence and screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman miss the mark in the third act. Francis Lawrence also directed Constantine, another uneven film based on popular source material. The film never regains it momentum with the introduction of several elements that hinder the momentum of the first hour. The ending feels tacked on, almost like an afterthought. They were doing re-shoots on this film recently. Maybe test audiences are not such a good idea. Ridley Scott was attached to this film at one time with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Robert Neville role. I do wish that Ridley Scott had directed this film. It could have used a real director’s touch.
While I Am Legend is based on a Richard Matheson story, it sadly does not feel like one after a while. That honor goes to another film that was met with box office indifference during the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. The film I am talking about is Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novella, The Mist. Stephen King has stated how much of an influence Richard Matheson was on his writing. Matheson’s influence can be felt in a lot of places. His other works such as Duel, Stir Of Echoes, What Dreams May Come, The Incredible Shrinking Man and many others have been adapted for the big and small screen. Frank Darabont’s film is a stunning homage to his work, especially his Twilight Zone episodes. What we owe Richard Matheson is beyond evaluation. Francis Lawrence could learn a thing or two from Frank Darabont. Thanks to Will Smith, I Am Legend has something going for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment