It used to be that a movie preview was just a little taste of the real thing, a tiny glimpse that teased the imagination without really giving away any of the movie’s secrets. This approach to previews has fallen by the wayside as more and more effort is put into maxing out the opening weekend, to the point where most previews anymore will show you pretty much all the best parts of the movie. You can see a preview for most action movies in particular and know that you’ve got a pretty clear idea what the movie is about, who the characters are, and how it’s going to end.

Rating:

Directed by: Francis Lawrence

Staring: Will Smith

Written by: Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman, based on the novel of the same name by Richard Matheson

The previews for I Am Legend, on the other hand, are old school teasers. All they do is introduce the three main characters of the movie and set the stage, without really giving you much of an idea even what kind of movie it is. Is it a horror movie, or an action movie, or a character drama, or what? You don’t really know, so you have to go see it. I have to wonder if this was done on purpose to trick fans of Will Smith’s more mainstream action movies into showing up for something that is actually quite a bit different.

The three characters I refer to are Robert Neville (Will Smith), his German shepherd Sam, and the abandoned city of New York. Neville is the last survivor of a great disaster that has left New York City, and perhaps the world, depopulated and left to ruin. Development of the relationship between Neville, his dog, and the empty city occupies most of the first half of the movie, and is masterfully done. Smith does a superb job of making us feel the thinning sanity of a man who has gone years without any human contact. He wanders a city that is being slowly reclaimed by nature, and this is some of the most powerful imagery the movie has. The dog is just a dog, but German Shepherds are expressive animals and we really feel the close bond that has developed between Neville and his only living companion.

Sadly, the first half of the movie is so superbly executed that it sets expectations it can’t quite live up to. Horrors stalk the city at night, and the director does an amazing job of leaving us terrified of the dark, right up until the horrors actually come into frame. Once we can see the threat clearly, it doesn’t really scare us anymore and a lot of the tension is lost. Neville gets himself into a bad position that only a fairly blatant deus ex machine can get him out of, and the ending turns into a fairly straightforward action sequence with lots of explosions and gunfire. All in all, it doesn’t really satisfy the way you want it to after the skillful buildup.

This movie has the same problem that M. Night Shyamalan had with Signs. For most of Signs, the aliens are hidden, moving too quickly to be seen, always in darkness, or vanishing behind a doorway or window. Once we get a clear look at them, the mystery is lost and the fear with it. When this happens, the only way to maintain tension is through combat, and this is not nearly as skillfully done. I Am Legend fails in the same way. Once the combat starts, we never really feel the threat any longer.

A better comparison might be with Alfonso Cuaron’s movie Children of Men. Children of Men and I Am Legend share a lot of the same themes and ideas, and if you liked one, you’ll surely appreciate the other. I Am Legend has a much more compelling setting and Will Smith’s character is more richly developed and emotionally complex than Clive Owen’s fallen idealist. In the end though, Children of Men has a clearer voice and a much more satisfying ending. Watch both, and make your own comparison, but don’t go to I am Legend expecting to see the Will Smith from Men in Black or Independence Day.