I owe a friend an apology...

I Am Legend

* * * 1/2

I remember shortly after Christmas having a discussion with a friend about I Am Legend and the merits of Will Smith films in general. I was very, VERY leery of Legend based on my love of the original story by Richard Matheson.

Well, low and behold, look what I went and rented. And loved. A lot.

Now, granted, this movie is more of a "loosely based on the story by..." and not so much of a direct adaptation, but it is still amazing. There a lot of differences between the original story and the movie. So much so, that the main similarities are the idea of a world-wide plague and one guy surviving in New York.

But this movie is a well-crafted piece of suspense. At 100 minutes long, I found myself on the edge of my seat for the first hour. Then there is a direct turning point in the movie, and it takes a change that isn't near as good as the beginning. That first hour is so good, I almost feel like sitting down and re-watching it right now.

This movie does have its faults. It is not perfect. Without ruining anything too big for those who haven't seen it, the writers of this film have added some new characters to the story that do not fit at all other than for story development.

As I said before, the first hour of this movie is incredible. The other thing I found, is that Will Smith's solitary scenes with only him and his dog, Sam, are well acted. Well beyond anything I've seen Will Smith do before. Instead of having those other characters added, I honestly would have rather seen him with the only screen face time. The first hours is probably the best solitary film performance I've seen since Tom Hanks in Castaway. Smith's performance almost passes Hanks' because of the intense fear he has to live in during his days and evenings.

This movie is a definite see-er. Check it out for sure.

And Adam Richardson. I am sorry. You were right. I Am Legend is awesome.

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