I Am Legend

From seeing the previews of I Am Legend, I guess I sort of missed what it was all about. I knew that Will Smith was alone in an abandoned New York City...and that, at some point, he was freaked out in a darkish warehouse when he heard a noise. I got the impression that while running amok in the City, he was trying to figure out what happened to everyone else, and see if there were any survivors. That's really about it. Little did I know that all along, Smith's character, Robert Neville, was totally aware of what had happened around him, and was actually trying to "fix it." That preview did NOT preview this movie well.

I'll go ahead and start right out saying that I HATE vampires. I especially hate the vampires in this movie. Nobody ever comes right out and calls them vampires, but that is what I'm calling them. Sunlight kills them, so they only come out at night, but they make the most of those evening hours killing everything they can get their hands on...blah blah blah...you get the picture. They are freaking jerks.

Seriously...Dracula has nothing on these guys. No more are the days when a vampire would parade around as a semi-charming Count from Eastern Europe and say things like, "I vant to suck your blood," before dramatically descending upon his helpless victim. Instead, these "dark seekers," (as one character has named them) move with speed and grace that seriously freaks me out, and scream at the top of their lungs constantly. I can never understand what they are saying...but I'm pretty sure if I consulted a "Dark Seeker to English Dictionary" it would translate into something like, "I vant to jump out of the shadows and show you how vide I can open my mouth as I scream at you, and then if you don't die of a heart attack, I vill chase you down and rip your face off."

Long story short, Robert Neville is the only living survivor in a futuristic New York City. Every living person in the City, (and in the world, for all he knows) has been exposed to a virus that was originally developed to cure cancer, but turns out to pretty much be the worst scientific development in the history of the world. Three things can happen to someone who is exposed: 1. They can die...which the vast majority of people did. 2. They can turn into the previously referenced jerkface vampires...which is the second most popular thing to have happened. 3. They can find that they are immune to the virus...which turned out to be the result for something like 1 in a hundred million people.

Robert turns out to be immune to the stuff...hence his status as the only living survivor in NYC. He is a doctor, and is trying to find a cure for the virus, using the immunity that is in his blood. Setting an alarm on his watch so he always has warning of when sunset is coming, Robert goes out during the day, when the vampires have to hide...and gets food and picks out new DVDs at the movie store. For some reason there are wild deer and other animals roaming the streets of Manhattan, and sometimes he hunts them. He hasn't got anyone in his life to talk to, except his trusty dog, Sam...who accompanies him everywhere.

That's all I'll tell you...which is a heck of a lot more than any preview I ever saw told me...but still not enough to ruin the movie. The movie is definitely not for anyone who doesn't like to be scared...I was in panic mode about 90% of the time, I think. Some of this panic turned out to be unwarranted...but that freaking "scary movie music" really does a good job in this one...and the actual scary moments are SCARY.

I thought about how I would react if Robert's reality became my own. If you had to look at the options of how exposure to this vampire virus would affect you...you would most likely hope for the whole immunity thing...hey...at least you don't have to die or become a murderous creature of the night. After thinking about it though, I have to say...after watching Robert deal with it...I think I'd have wished for death. In all honesty, I wouldn't have lasted a day in his world...because even if I was immune to the virus...I would certainly not be immune to the whole heart attack from seeing the wide mouthed vampire screaming in my face for the first time.