Strong Will

I was telling a friend at work on Friday that I was headed to see I Am Legend, and had high hopes. After all, had Will Smith ever made a bad movie? After wracking our brains for a minute, the best we could come up with was Independence Day, which was technically an ensemble in which he was the strongest piece. I can't hold the logical flaws in that movie against his acting, which was strong. Driving home, Men In Black II occurred to me, though it's more of a weaker sequel than an outright bad movie. Just now, looking through his roles, Wild Wild West was another possibility. Yet it had its moments, and it's more a case of a good actor being in a bad film.

Will Smith has come a long way since his Fresh Prince days, a solid actor with dedication to his craft, constantly improving. It's safe to put this leading man in league with the likes of Depp, Hanks, or Denzel, all of whom have more hits than misses, and still do a good job when they are starring in a miss. How does I Am Legend compare? He does a fantastic job portraying the range of emotions the last man on Earth would experience. How do you hold on to sanity? To hope? In an empty house the other day, I caught myself narrating. What would I do, would any of us do, on an empty planet? Of course, the planet isn't exactly empty...

I've never read the novel, but the basic premise of the film remains the same. A virus wipes out 90% of the Earth's population, mutating the survivors into feral photosensitive fiends that crave the blood of the immune 1%. Alone, the protagonist does his best to stay out of the shadows and stay alive in a world gone horribly wrong. From what I have read, this latest adaptation seems to be more of an update to The Omega Man, a ‘70s version that sets the action in Manhattan rather than California. That version is good, accepting it for the decade in which it was released. As much a legend as Charlton Heston is, after Will's performance invoked laughter, tears, and inspiration, I'm now remembering Heston's acting more like a wooden Phil Hartman caricature of the actor.

I Am Legend is not for everyone. It has it's share of violence, action, and jump-out-of-your-seat moments. It's also quiet at times, and sometimes the silence is deafening. I'm used to movies suddenly throwing in a jarring explosion or musical cue to startle the audience. On a few occasions, going from chaos to sudden silence held more impact. If you're the type of person who found Cast Away boring, I probably wouldn't recommend I Am Legend. It's not a popcorn movie. If you're the type of person to loudly talk on a cell phone during a movie, or loudly run to the bathroom so you don't miss to much of the movie, you'd probably make a world in which I was alone suddenly seem very appealing, bloodthirsty fiends notwithstanding.

We got some good trailers too. The Dark Knight looks promising. Heath Ledger oozes insanity, channeling equal parts Mark Hamill and Jack Nicholson, while incorporating a strong Frank Miller sensibility. This film will succeed or fail based on balance, and will hopefully focus on other things so the insanity doesn't cross over into camp. We also saw Prince Caspian, which I'd already seen online. It's phenomenal on the big screen and I got a chill when Aslan roared. I hope follow the trend for the next five trailers in the series. I've read that other theaters also had Speed Racer and Jumper but alas, not ours. We did however get Zohan.

Tune in tomorrow when I explore how a classic series may be returning to the small screen and the big screen, and we'll expand upon strong will as I explain what has seven colors and rings...