Eye Candy #56 - "I Am Legend"

I Am Legend: Not really a horror movie at all and a great leap forward from the hokey "Omega Man" script on which this film is based (much more closely than on Matheson's original book), this is a film about a man losing his sanity due to isolation, living alone for years at a time and then having all his conventions and the accepted parameters of this new life challenged in a catastrophic way. This movie is arguably Will Smith's best performance to date. He has to carry the movie through the first 3/4ths on his ability alone and he is successful. He's a pathetic character, a likable character, a flawed character, but he is worlds removed from the Bruckheimer-Bad-Boys vein. In fact, one could argue that he's not a hero at all, just a man who has to react because he makes bad choices. Another departure is music - gone is the slick overproduced music video quality of Bruckheimer replaced by a movie with almost no incidental music. This film is QUIET. Also, we've got the handicam as the primary camera angle, a la Blair Witch. When Smith is running away from the dark walkers, we are running with him. A well-made movie all around, but it will be a disappointment to those who dearly love the book. Those who loved "Omega Man", however, should be ecstatic (and no, Smith doesn't wear a scarf rakishly tied around his throat like Charlton Heston did through most of the 70's).