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I Am Legend

Vampires won’t stop interrupting Will Smith’s “Me” time

By Matt Pais

December 14, 2007

Critic's Rating:

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Three years after a doctor thinks she has cured cancer, nearly the entire population of the world has been wiped out thanks to a virus that infects people like rabies. (Oops.) Military virologist Robert Neville (Will Smith, sufficiently batty), who's still trying to cure that sickness, is the only survivor in New York City, but there are plenty of ravenous, infected creatures to keep him company.

Big question: Can Smith—Mr. Big Budget sci-fi flick himself—guarantee scares and sociology behind the latest adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel?

Skip it: Luckily "Alvin and the Chipmunks" is around so that the disappointing effects in "I Am Legend" look better by comparison. The vampires replicate all the fun of someone screaming in your ear for an hour, and the movie says so little about human nature that you'll long for the social commentary of, uh, "30 Days of Night."

Catch it: To be motivated by Neville and his pet pooch running on a treadmill. If a dog can do it, so can you.

Bottom line: If you're someone who's always a bit creeped out by psychotic rats and snarling, attacking dogs—I'm one of those people—"I Am Legend" will give your palms reason to sweat a bit. But the only perspective you'll gain about being the last man on earth is that other cars never move and TV's always in reruns. Eerily similar…

Bonus: If you need a role model for honesty, Neville's your man. He's the only guy in the city, and he still brings DVDs back to the store after watching them!

mpais@tribune.com