It’s not for nothing Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I AM LEGEND has now made it to the big screen three times: 1964’s THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, starring Vincent Price; 1971’s THE OMEGA MAN, starring Charlton Heston; and now last year’s I AM LEGEND, starring Will Smith. The only one to retain the title, it’s this latest and greatest version that seems most faithful to the spirit of its source.

By now, even those who have never read the novel know its premise, which can be accurately summed up in a simple phrase: the last man on earth vs. vampires. But the reason the novel remains so well-regarded is the amount of heart and humanity built into its shack of shocks, and CONSTANTINE director Francis Lawrence’s film takes care to preserve this as well.

Will Smith isn’t the likeliest actor to take the role of the solitary Robert Neville, but he wears it well. Depressed and near-despondent, he drives through the weed-ridden playground of New York City by day, hunting deer and renting DVDs, with only his faithful German shepherd as a companion.

At night, he holes up like a prisoner in his own multilevel apartment so as not to become the midnight snack of the “hemocytes,” vampire-like creatures who are sensitive to light and travel at super-speed. They once were humans, but a cure for cancer mutated into a strain that changed all that, for everyone but the immune. The hemocytes have made mincemeat out of those precious few, but Neville has been street-smart enough to survive this long.

Smith plays Neville with a quiet intensity; it’s a grounded performance that never gets showy, even when the special effects kick in. He’s not an action hero, but a methodical scientific mind still at work, trying to find a cure – more actively than Matheson’s protagonist ever did.

In other words, this is not the kind of motor-mouthed role that made Smith such the box-office superstar he is today. Gone are winks to the audience, absent are supposedly witty catchphrases. (Ironically, the DVD begins with a trailer with a most egrerious counterpoint, with a wooden-implement-gripping Corey Feldman staring directly into the camera, asking the fanged bloodsuckers of the sure-to-suck LOST BOYS: THE TRIBE, “Who ordered the stake?”)

After a really strong first two acts, I AM LEGEND does come to a halt when – big spoiler here – Neville learns he’s not exactly the only human left (shades of Matheson’s Ruth character), and it derails the film for about 15 minutes, before picking up steam again for the expected slam-bang finale.

It is the end that’s likely most responsible for so many viewers’ negative perception of the movie. People are so used to seeing Smith kick butt and succeed no matter what the odds that – even bigger spoiler here – they can’t believe that not only does his character die, but that his character chooses to die. Again, this is not the “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout!” Smith they know and love; but a Smith whose character is true to the end of the novel.

Those who have a problem with that can rejoice in the two-disc set’s alternate ending, which gives you the Hollywood feel-good close. I’d argue it’s nowhere near as effective, and worthy of excision. –Rod Lott

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