Will Smith is one of Philadelphia's great "local boy makes good" stories (and Philly hasn't forgotten that, either; I'm pretty sure I sat next to his school teacher at the preview screening of this film that I attended, and even though she was asleep for a good portion of it, she seemed happy to be there). He's come a long way, and although he doesn't always make the best choices, he does always put in a great performance. I Am Legend is no exception.

I Am Legend began life as a 1954 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson. I'm sorry to say I've never read the book, but I have seen three film adaptations - the first is a 1964 film called The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price. The second is a 1971 film called The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston. And of course the third is the film directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Smith that gets released today. Each film is quite different than any of the others, and apparently none of them is really all that much like the book. But all versions of the story share the same basic elements: a plague strikes the Earth, wiping out nearly every living being, and altering those left behind in a strange and disturbing way: they've become like vampires, feeding on blood and shunning the light of day. Only one man seems to have survived intact and uninfected, and he finds himself fighting a losing battle against the infected, and his own hopelessness and insanity.

The survivor in this version is a military scientist named Robert Neville (Smith). He has deliberately stayed behind in New York City - ground zero for the infection - because he's convinced he can still find a cure and somehow fix everything. But he's been there, alone, for three years now, and the monotony and terror and loneliness of his everyday life, coupled with the fact that he seems no closer to a cure than he was at the beginning, is starting to wear him down. He has a very close and deep relationship with the dog that is the only remnant of his once happy family. But he has also stationed mannequins around town and given them names and personalities and he speaks to them as if they are real living people (remember the volleyball in Castaway?).

Throughout the first half to two thirds of the movie, we slowly learn the shape of Neville's life and the state of his mind, and slowly explore this new and eerie New York City, so empty of people, but so full of other strange things - covered in weeds, with a cornfield growing just off the street, and herds of deer that Neville hunts in a sports car as they stampede through the tunnels and between abandoned vehicles. Neville has a rigid schedule that he follows every day, and specific paths he follows, and we quickly learn why - if he or his dog deviate from them at all, they risk death or (in the case of the dog, anyway) infection.

It's this part of the movie that is the real triumph. Smith isn't actually the only actor in the entire movie - the film makes use of a little technique I like to call the recurring augmented flashback to slowly reveal to us the events leading up to the moment the plague struck and the world changed - but he nearly is, and his skills as a performer are easily up to the task of carrying practically the whole movie on his back. He has a number of very funny scenes, but they flow naturally from the character and the events and never feel like gimmicky stand-up comedy inserted unnaturally into the film. And he handles the subtle, moving, emotional scenes equally well. (His dog co-star is pretty amazing, too, actually, and the arc of their relationship is very touching and real.) He makes the agony of his loneliness and the way it's twisted him visible and audible without being ridiculous or overwrought.

But Smith isn't the only reason the first part of the movie is so excellent. Another big reason is the city itself. The vast expanses of a shattered New York, haunted by birds and lions, its dark corners inhabited by the strange, fierce ghosts of its former tenants, are breath-taking to look upon. The way the effects, direction, and set design all combine to create this place is very impressive.

Besides its impressive setting and moving human drama, I Am Legend also has suspense, thrills, and horror, which come across powerfully in Neville's interactions with the "dark-seekers," as the vampirish infected are known.

Where the film starts to go downhill is in the last third or so, when odd and seemingly out of place elements of spiritualism and fatalism are suddenly injected into the story, reminding me rather unhappily of M. Night Shyamalan's flawed Signs. Neville's final discovery, his sacrifice, and the ultimate conclusion of the film, feel corny, unbelievable, melodramatic, and pat.

Still, the ending is moving in its own way, and those first two thirds are so effective and haunting that they nearly make up for the later flaws. I Am Legend isn't exactly legendary, but it is the best movie I've seen based on the source material, and it's a decent way to waste an hour and a half.

Image via Internet Movie Poster Awards Gallery