DVD: I Am Legend

Having seen the previous two versions of Richard Matheson's classic SF novel, I had to watch this despite low expectations, though I waited until I could get the DVD for less than £4.00. And...

It's well made, no question about it. The scenes of an abandoned New York are very impressive with its herds of deer and predatory prides of lions roaming the streets. Will Smith is always a likable, watchable and very competent actor. Here he portrays an intelligent, capable, and sensitive man finally beginning to fray around the edges as loneliness and paranoia set in.

I suppose the degenerate humans are more plausible than novel's virus-created vampires but they would have been better if real actors rather than cgi had been utilised because the cgi monsters just look just like cgi monsters. Although the altered humans seem as if they may be developing some kind of intelligence most importantly, in the book and both previous movies, they never lost it in the first place and nothing is made of it here.

But the worst thing about it is the ending which is completely different from the book's and which is the entire point of the book (and the first movie). On this double-disc, the alternative ending is even worse -Neville doesn't even die. It's like doing a movie of the New Testament and having Jesus avoid being crucified and living happily ever after with Mary Magdalene. (Hmm, is there a story in that I wonder.)

Basically this is just an uninspiring post-apocalypse piece without a trace of the powerful and poignant resonance of the book. This Neville isn't legend, he's just a very nice boy.