Will Smith puts forth a strong performance as a man driven by guilt and suffering the pressures of being completely alone. His only friend is a German Shepherd named Sam. We watch Smith's Neville work desperately to find a cure all while slowly cracking up from his solitude. For the first half of the film he is alone. We follow him through his daily routine, filled with his attempts to keep himself sane, like putting mannequins in the DVD store to talk to. However, despite all efforts to the contrary, he begins to lose his grip. There is one act that pushes him to the edge of a very dark precipice. It is here that the film takes its turn and starts steaming towards its conclusion.

The film is brave to put Smith in the driver's seat for so long. Not because it is Will Smith, but because you are leading what is essentially an action film with a performer who is by himself for a large part of the running time. You have to keep it interesting. Director Francis Lawrence (Constantine) keeps the interest level high with the use of flashbacks (which I am sure were in the script, but are handled nicely by Lawrence) to a time just prior to the catastrophic event that leads to the present predicament. These help break up the alone time and allow the Neville character to grow a bit more.

The problems with I Am Legend lie in the fact that it moves from character-driven plot to plot-driven characters. There is also a subversion of the title's meaning that reveals itself in its climax that diverges from the previously filmed versions. There is also the removal of the intelligence quotient of the creatures. In the prior versions, and the story, the infected retain their intelligence and know who Neville is and what he represents to them as they work to create a different society.

Overall, this was better than I had thought it was going to be, and Will Smith turned in a better performance than I had hoped. It may not be a true adaptation of the source, and the end may be a bit of a letdown, but there is no denying the film's entertainment value. I was impressed with the level of emotion that was achieved; I truly felt involved in Neville's life and was concerned with how his story would play out.

I Am Legend is smarter than your average Hollywood science fiction blockbuster, and is definitely worth seeing for the complexities of the lead character and its scary, yet believable vision of a potential future. (Plus, if you pay attention early on you will see a poster advertising a Batman/Superman movie in the year 2010.)

Recommended.