I Am Legend (2007)

Based on Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name, I Am Legend is the third feature film adaptation of a book that has proven persistently attractive to Hollywood. Matheson's story of a lone survivor in a world transformed by a plague had already been brought to the screen as The Last Man on Earth in 1964 and The Omega Man in 1971, and the 2007 version transplants the action from suburban Los Angeles to a deserted, eerily overgrown New York City. The premise is a gift to any filmmaker with a flair for atmosphere: a scientist who is immune to a man-made virus that has wiped out or transformed most of humanity, spending his days alone in a city of silence, broadcasting radio messages in the hope that someone, somewhere, might still be listening. The film arrives in a period when post-apocalyptic science fiction was finding renewed energy on screen, with questions about pandemic, genetic engineering, and the fragility of civilisation feeling less like fantasy than uncomfortable possibility.

Francis Lawrence, who had made his feature debut with Constantine in 2005, directs here. He would later go on to build a strong relationship with large-scale studio filmmaking, as anyone who has read the site's coverage of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) will know, and more recently The Long Walk (2025). I Am Legend was produced through a consortium of studios and production companies, including Overbrook Entertainment, which is Will Smith's own production company, giving the film a star-driven genesis that shapes much of its DNA. The script was written by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman, the latter a writer with a track record of polished but unremarkable studio work. The production reportedly involved a significant shoot on location in New York, including the now-famous sequences on an empty Fifth Avenue, which required closing stretches of the city in the early morning hours, a logistical undertaking that gives those scenes a genuine, unusual quality.

Will Smith is the film's overwhelming focal point, appearing in virtually every scene, and his screen presence here is put to a very different test than the kind of thing you'll find in, say, Men in Black 3 (2012) or Suicide Squad (2016). There are no ensemble scenes to fall back on, no banter to coast through; it is a film that asks him to hold the audience's attention largely on his own, through routine, silence, and creeping dread. Alice Braga and Charlie Tahan appear in supporting roles as the film progresses, though the bulk of the running time belongs squarely to Smith and his German Shepherd companion. The film runs at 101 minutes and carries a tagline that does its job well without giving too much away: "The last man on Earth is not alone."

I Am Legend (2007) starts with a strong, haunting premise. A near-empty New York City, overrun by darkness and disease, where Dr. Robert Neville (Will Smith) is seemingly the last man alive. For stretches, it works: the silence of Times Square overgrown with weeds, Smith’s solitary routines, his bond with his dog Sam, these moments are eerie, powerful, and beautifully shot. Smith carries the film with dedication, delivering a performance that swings between clinical focus and raw loneliness, and for a while, you’re pulled into his reality. But then the cracks appear. The infected “Darkseekers” look more like CGI ghouls than believable creatures, their movements too fast, too exaggerated, robbing them of true horror. The action scenes trade suspense for jump scares and chaotic chases that feel more generic than terrifying. And the ending was a huge misstep. The theatrical cut wraps up with a rushed, underwhelming climax that abandons the isolation and psychological depth that made the first two acts compelling. It turns a potential tragedy into forgettable action, robbing the story of its weight. There’s ambition here, exploring grief, survival, and what it means to be human, but it never fully lands. It wants to be The Omega Man meets 28 Days Later, but ends up feeling like a glossy blockbuster afraid of its own darkness. Strong atmosphere, solid lead performance, but let down by weak effects, inconsistent tone, and an ending that betrays the film’s best ideas. Not bad, not great. Just… average.

I keep coming back to those first forty minutes or so, which genuinely feel like a different, braver film than the one we end up with. The emptied streets, the crumbling routines, the mannequins in the video shop window. There's a version of this story that holds its nerve all the way through and ends up being something quite special. What we got instead is a film that starts with real confidence and then gradually loses its footing the moment it decides spectacle matters more than unease. It's frustrating in the way that only films with genuine potential can be frustrating. Close, but not quite.

Rating: ★★½  | Year: 2007  | Watched: 2025-10-15

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Trailer

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from Francis Lawrence: The Long Walk (2025) · The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
More with Will Smith: Suicide Squad (2016) · Shark Tale (2004) · Men in Black 3 (2012) · Men in Black II (2002)
More from United Kingdom: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) · Blue (1993)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
More science fiction: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Fantastic Planet (1973) · Nightmare City (1980) · The Long Walk (2025)