So went and saw I am Legend with Willy Smith on sunday, without really thinking about it too much. First movie of 2008 I go to, so it’s good that i did come out with a smile on my face. Sure it was no 28 Days Later (not seen the sequel so I can’t comment on that one) because that movie was a lot more closer to home for me, since it was based in my current home town of London and I am Legend is based in NYC.

My favourite parts in both movies are what the survivors of these plagues actually do in their free time and the scenes around the completely deserted cities. From that aspect this movie really does capture this element in a great way. In a surprising way, Smith actually does a good job in his role as the military scientist who’s lived through the plague that hit mankind. He does seriously come off as a very likable character and the co-star Sam is also a great positive to the feel of the movie.

Ok, spoiler alerts from now on, so move along if you’ve not seen the movie yet.

So what fell for me? The main area for me which didn’t really resonate that much was the fact that Will Smith was a military scientist who is actively trying to find a cure. He doesn’t come across as that sort of character. Scientists don’t look or act like him (well at least not the scientists i’ve met in my life). They put far too much Hollywood gloss over it by making sure I saw him work out without a shirt on. From that respect it was just pandering to the female population which I just kinda rolled my eyes at and asked for the movie to move along with the story. I’m glad he didn’t fight for another shower scene again (like he did in I robot,..hmm must be a bit of a theme going on there with the ‘I’).

I wasn’t all that impressed with some of the effects for the zombies or nightwalkers or whatever they decided to call them. Something about their design just fell extremely flat for me. However having said all that many of the concepts surrounding the story were pretty fun to see pan out. Like why the movie is called I am Legend was a good one and the fact that they were created after a cure to cancer.

There are several plot holes in the movie, however overall it was a fun movie to watch. Nothing you can’t watch on a dvd or something, since I don’t think it’s terribly necessary to have the full cinema experience past the first 20-30 minutes.