'I am Legend' plagued by cartoony CGI characters, cliched ending
Near the beginning of the slightly futuristic, slightly scary and slightly ridiculous "I am Legend," Will Smith goes roaring through the desolate streets of Manhattan in a fire-red sports car, an assault rifle in hand, with a happy German shepherd sitting in the passenger seat.
Weeds and vines have reclaimed Times Square, now a giant parking lot for abandoned vehicles. We can still make out familiar landmarks and billboards for shows such as "Wicked" and "Hairspray," but they look like old and tattered signs in a metropolitan ghost town.
Deer scamper on the streets below, wary of the marauding lions that hunt their prey in New York City, a place that used to be a jungle only of the metaphorical kind.
This opening sequence is a triumph of art direction, a powerful, nearly surrealistic invitation to what eventually will be a horror tale of modern medicine gone awry.
Enjoy it. Because once its too-familiar plot kicks in, "I Am Legend" devolves from an atmospheric thriller into a lackluster "28 Days Later" riff complete with generic, computer-animated super cannibals that would be more at home in a cartoon.
Directed by Francis Lawrence (responsible for Keanu Reeve's overripe satanic tale "Constantine"), "I Am Legend" stars Smith as military scientist Robert Neville, who in 2012, might be the only human alive after a man-made virus purges the earth.
Yes, that's an uncredited Emma Thompson playing the scientist who creates an anti-cancer vaccine that possesses a negative side effect: It turns humans into computer-animated id creatures inexplicably capable of moving as fast the Flash.
Wisely, the filmmakers don't show us the creatures at first. We only hear them shriek in the night as Neville sleeps in his bathtub with his trusty dog. Like vampires, the mutants can't stand sunlight, and that enables Neville to hunt and capture them during the day. As we discover, he uses them in experiments to find a cure.
To say more about the plot would be a disservice, except that "I Am Legend" trots out a disappointingly cliché science-fiction ending. And that the creatures surrender their ability to frighten when they start ramming into buildings, cars and Plexiglass walls without so much as denting their dentures.
(Former Faith No More singer Michael Patton offers his vocal talents for the "alpha male" mutant, a muddled character whose ultimate purpose might be on a digital cutting-room floor.)
Of the three movies made from Richard Matheson's classic 1954 book "I Am Legend," this one has the best set design and sense of menace, at least in the beginning.
A schlocky 1964 version titled "The Last Man on Earth" with Vincent Price put a zombie spin on Matheson's story. In 1971, Charlton Heston starred in "The Omega Man," where Matheson's vampires became an albino cult ("The Family") led by fanatic Anthony Zerbe.
"I Am Legend" requires Smith to carry a large part of the story without much dialogue, a task he's easily up for. As Neville, Smith juxtaposes military discipline with hopeful humanity to create a sympathetic, realistic hero.
Smith's finest moment occurs when the camera remains on his face during a disturbing, poignant "Old Yeller" moment flooded with so much pain and sorrow that we can almost forgive those CGI vampires.
"I Am Legend"
Rating: 2½ of 4 stars
Starring:
Will Smith as Robert Neville
Dash Mihok as Alpha Male
Written by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman, based on the novel by Richard Matheson. Produced by Akiva Goldsman, James Lassiter, David Heyman and Neal Moritz. Directed by Francis Lawrence. A Warner Bros. release, released in IMAX and conventional formats. Rated PG-13 (violence). Running time: 100 minutes.