BY: HEATHER CEE

Nor would I have expected to enjoy Will Smith – and only Will Smith – onscreen for nearly an hour and a half. I don’t dislike Smith, but I’ve never found him compelling enough to watch a film simply because he’s in it. The restraint he shows in portraying the tragic figure at the center of a desolate New York City, whose population has been wiped out or changed into zombie-esque creatures by an ambiguous virus, is impressive. Director Lawrence builds a subtle mood that manages to evoke the all-consuming loneliness of Smith’s Dr. Robert Neville while keeping the scope tightly reigned on the man’s crushing claustrophobia in the face of the terror that comes at night, as well as his obsession with “fixing” the tragedy.

For nearly an hour and a half the film is sharp, tense, genuinely moving, and fascinating – and then the last half hour ruins it all. Actually, that’s not entirely true – the film doesn’t so much fall apart as deviate from everything that was making it so good in the first place. It muddles itself to a so-so conclusion that is at odds with the tone it so carefully builds up to that point. And the special effects – referring specifically to the “night seekers” (amazing vocal effects by the one and only Mike Patton, by the way) – are not the best when featured front and center, though they’re good enough when the creatures are glimpsed in the grainy haze of a flashlight beam (in one of the film’s creepier sequences).

Also wasn’t crazy about the seeming sapience of one of the zombies in relation to the others – particularly out of place when Neville, after a terrifying encounter with a group of the infected, records his findings on how the creatures have lost any feeling or thought that once made them human. Er?

But up to its disappointing conclusion, “I Am Legend” does deliver a unique experience for a “zombie” film. Just don’t go in expecting blood, gore, and non-stop action; do expect some stellar work by Will Smith, though. (And did I mention Mike Patton? Be aggressive, indeed.)

HEATHER CEE is a History major drop-out, loves music, Batman, and the color green, and one day hopes to own grown-up furniture and pants other than jeans. She works on Bookmans' website and is a contributor at Pink Raygun.