Director: Francis Lawrence. Screenplay: Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman, from the Novel by Richard Matheson; 1971 screenplay by John William Corrington, Joyce Corrington. Stars: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson. Released: December 14, 2007.
Summary
After a virus kills off most of humanity and turns the rest into vicious vampire creatures, a lone scientist in derelict New York works to convert his own immunity into a serum that will save mankind.
Comments
I'm not sure why Will Smith is the go-to actor for loner heroes in sci-fi thrillers, but I Am Legend's core concept of a single ordinary man immune from a worldwide plague that turns humanity into vampiric monsters seems somehow tailor-made for Smith's more committed side as a performer. Directed by Francis Lawrence (the ambitious but flawed Constantine), Legend is based on Richard Matheson's seminal novel (previously adapted as 1971's The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston and 1964's The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price) following the struggles of this one survivor to save humanity by discovering a cure for the plague, despite his lack of scientific training. Filmed (very expensively) on location in New York.
