Movie Review: I Am Legend

Director: Francis Lawrence

The first time I watched I Am Legend, I was 14; I was in high school. That information might not feel important, but given the world’s current circumstances, it is. I was 14. I didn’t know what holding a job, providing for myself, or living alone was like. Looking back, I had no idea about life’s greatest fears or the fragility of human life itself.

Spoilers Ahead!

Fast forward to 2020: The world is experiencing a pandemic; Covid-19 to be exact. The disease is reported to spread more rapidly than the flu, and is taking more lives as well. As of writing, there have been over 1.5 million cases and roughly 88,000 deaths. As people surviving the pandemic, we are social distancing, we aren’t working, and we often feel alone.

For the first time in my adult life, I barely have a job, I’m providing solely for myself, and living alone. Thankfully, I have my dog, just like the main character in I Am Legend. 

Going straight into the film, the viewer discovers that New York City is seemingly empty. The last we heard about civilization was through some television news flash: Someone developed a cure for cancer. The following scene, however, like in any post-apocalyptic movie, is what pulls me in. Robert Neville (Will Smith), along with his German Shepherd, Sam, are on the hunt for deer, assisted by the use of a Mustang. Pretty sweet if you’ve got a city of ruins at your fingertips, which seeing as this is our only surviving character (so far), seems about right.

Re-watching this movie and letting myself become swallowed by the idea of our “new normal” somehow converging into what Robert is living in, the fear feels more real than when my 14-year-old self first experienced it. The idea of a virus taking many around you, is terrifying, and nothing traditionally “scary” has even happened yet, other than a cheap jump scare featuring a deer.

In learning about Robert’s life as the movie progresses, we see: he hunts; he covers his scent with vinegar; he times when the sun rises and sets; he puts his home on lockdown in the evenings; and he goes so far as to converse with mannequins during the day. In seeing just his stock of food and paper products, I feel like although it's been some time (given city-overrun-by-nature aesthetics), he strikes me as much more prepared than our recent real-life panic shoppers.

Soon we learn that what comes out at night is not friendly. It screams and sounds violent, and most of all, it shows us how much Robert has been suffering before we meet him. He is terrified and clearly dealing with some kind of PTSD. Soon enough, through some additional flashbacks, some pieces are put together that New York City had been placed under a military-enforced quarantine. Robert is fighting to get his family out, although he will have to stay behind to try to find a cure. (We find out later that Robert has been testing possible cures on rats.)

In discovering this information our movie begins to take a turn. During one of Robert’s daylight runs, a poster sticks out to me: “Infected DOGS CAN COME OUT AT DUSK.” Some lovely foreshadowing for Robert and Sam’s scary situation in one of the abandoned buildings. Although that scary circumstance does finally give us a look at our creatures. Robert decides to trick and trap one, briefly mentioning that neither he nor Sam can catch the virus.

This is where I sort of get confused: While Robert reports on his vlog that these creatures have lost all human attributes and emotions, when he captures a girl to continue testing, one of the infected actually puts himself in the sun—something that can kill them if they are in it too long—to scream and appear threatened. That, to me, was a clear indicator that these creatures don’t just run through the night angry, bloodthirsty, and unaware of their surroundings, as well as their actions and intentions.

When we hear it is only day 1,001, in regard to Robert’s vlog and search for a cure, I am kind of shocked. Could NYC really be that overrun by now? Could Robert really not have found anyone not infected, like himself? Or maybe he has. Someone moved Fred (the mannequin). Or, maybe the infected are a lot smarter than Robert wants to give them credit for. Yet, paired with the fact that Robert could be slowly losing it after being alone all this time, it’s safe for the viewer to assume that the infected moved him during the night hours.

Bingo, it's a trap. Captured by suspense, I watch as the infected release their demon dogs, waiting for the sun to fall behind a skyscraper, giving the green light to attack Sam while Robert is still crawling to his car. It’s scenes like this where, because I have immersed myself in the possibility of living through an apocalypse and only having my dog by my side, that I’m metaphorically sitting on the edge of my seat. Not only are these dogs pretty creepy—given what 2007 animation was like—but, SAM!

“As humans, I think the idea of an empty world entices us. Is it because we want to survive, driven by that primal instinct?”

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For those who missed out on this movie over a decade ago, I won’t spoil exactly what happens next. As for those of you who did see it, this is probably one of the scenes you remembered most. However, the scene is important. For the first time, we see that not only did the disease start as an airborne-like virus, but that it could also be transmitted from one infected person to another, in this case, by a bite.

It certainly doesn’t take long, and within what we can only assume to be a few hours, the infected are bloodthirsty and filled with rage. After you put together the pieces or watch the movie yourself, Robert has pretty much gone off the deep end and no longer seems to care about his work, or his own life. Luckily, someone does. YES! Another human and her son. While the glimmer of hope doesn’t last long, it tells us the whole story about the virus. It tells us Robert’s story about his family and how only a fraction of human life has survived this epidemic;  most of the survivors are believed to be hidden away in some secret community in Vermont. (At least that is what God has told our lady-savior, Anna.)

Unfortunately, when saving Robert from what was essentially a suicide mission, no one remembered to cover their tracks, so when night falls the next day, a herd of the infected have marched right up to Robert’s doorstep. This is where the movie actually upsets me. Robert—the smart and cunning guy that he is—had already rigged explosives around his home; this I’m okay with. 

But, while it worked for the initial herd of infected, the aftermath only causes more damage to his iron doors, making it easier for the infected to make it inside. And they do.

Given the nature of the infected, they seem fast, athletic, and hungry. Yet when one of them and Robert duel, the infected only manages to throw Robert around like a rag doll. And although Robert is immune to the disease, when bitten––which looks like a pretty long gnaw session––the injury doesn’t draw much blood or even rip Robert’s shirt. I don’t mean to sound cynical, but I was just expecting more.

Soon enough, everyone becomes trapped in the basement by the infected, including the one who was upset about their own being taken. The afflicted is bashing his head off their super sturdy lab-glass, making eye contact with Robert and honing in on his own rage.

Realizing that the girl has actually started to heal, Robert screams through to all of the infected flooding his basement that he can help them. Although they seem to have enough sense to build traps and feel emotions for another infected being, they are too angry to understand what Robert is trying to do, continuing to crack the glass between them.

Looking over the movie as a whole, I really appreciate the ideas that Lawerence was going for. Given the time, this was an era where apocalyptic instances were a big hit. Look at Doomsday, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later––all of which came out within just a few years of one another. As humans, I think the idea of an empty world entices us. Is it because we want to survive, driven by that primal instinct? Or is it because we know some kind of havoc, whether it be another big war or a pandemic, is coming for the human race? Maybe we just always have and always will simply love the classic zombie take.

Whatever the case may be, I think our current situation sets the stage for revisiting the film. Could the cure for Covid-19 have a similar outcome? I guess that’s what we can think about when we lay awake at night, wondering when or how life will return to normal.

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Article written by Destiny Johnson

Destiny writes about true crime and thrillers. She likes movies and stories that make you question the world around you, more so than what makes you jump.