Phillies Shirt Guy, McCarren Pool, 2007
Ready for Opening Day?!?!
Review: I Am Legend
It was little more than a decade ago that Will Smith danced his way atop a defeated alien spacecraft and announced his box office allure. “Welcome to Earth!” burst forth from his mouth after an interstellar sock in the jaw, and immediately, it was clear that this was the man with which boffo bliss could be made. (in Independence Day for the uninitiated)In I Am Legend, we see a more mature, more finely attuned and more ripped actor than we have been watching in the ensuing years. The film begins and ends with Smith, and I don’t mean temporally. Francis Lawrence’s film has much going for it while remaining wrought with problems, but it is Mr. Smith’s impressive on-screen presence that makes it even watchable. In fact, anyone could have directed this film, and many were slated to before the experienced music video director finally took the reins, as this was really a vehicle pushed heavily by Mr. Smith along the way. We can see why he wanted to star in this film: because he’s just that damn good.In the film, Smith plays Robert Neville, the last man on earth after a deadly virus destroys everyone, leaving around a half billion infected and the few immune survivors, like Mr. Neville, who the infected all ate. Gruesome yes? Well at least he’s got man’s best friend with him. The story opens three years into this nightmare, following our hero as he hunts, eats, entertains himself, and makes it home before dark when the scaries make it out (they melt in the dark).Next to Mr. Smith’s phenomenal performance, the reason to see this film is the surreal post-apocalyptic imagery of New York City. There is a mixture of satisfaction and fear seeing what would become of the decaying Gotham three years out. The filmmakers’ recognize the jungle-like setup the city already possesses: streets are the rivers that flow through mountainous buildings. Once the laws that we have impressed upon this space have disappeared with humanity, we get to see alternative possibilities for such a monumental man-made heap of metropolis. Through the magic of boatloads of cash and some digital trickery, the audience is given a starkly accurate (there were a handful of PhDs and MDs in the credits) vision of the end of Manhattan if the end came a hair sooner than the Mayans are telling us it will. Read on…