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I Am Legend (2007)

tomatometer

70

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 210
Fresh: 147 | Rotten: 63

I Am Legend overcomes questionable special effects and succeeds largely on the strength of Will Smith's mesmerizing performance.

58

Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 50
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 21

I Am Legend overcomes questionable special effects and succeeds largely on the strength of Will Smith's mesmerizing performance.

audience

69

liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 997,893

My Rating

Movie Info

Adapted from acclaimed author Richard Matheson's influential novelette of the same name, Constantine director Francis Lawrence's I Am Legend follows the last man on Earth as he struggles to survive while fending off the infected survivors of a devastating vampiric plague. A brilliant scientist who raced to discover a cure for the man-made virus as humanity came crumbling down all around him, Robert Neville (Will Smith) was inexplicably immune to the highly contagious superbug. Now the entire

Mar 18, 2008

$256.3M

Warner Bros. Pictures - Official Site External Icon

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Cast

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All Critics (211) | Top Critics (50) | Fresh (147) | Rotten (63) | DVD (32)

Smith turns in a terrific performance, nailing Neville's angst while allowing room for humor.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Comment (1)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top Critic IconTop Critic

When they do, banging their heads against plate glass as movie zombies always do, I started needing something else to think about.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: NPR.org | Comment (1)
NPR.org
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I wouldn't dream of giving away the ending, but it's not likely to satisfy either the action crowd or Matheson fans.

March 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Newsweek | Comments (5)
Newsweek
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I Am Legend is a grenade that goes off when least expected. It has more horror than heart, but it is never boring.

January 4, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Observer
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

So often, sci-fi is overproduced, but I Am Legend doesn't look like a CGI extravaganza. It looks like an edgy suspense movie shot on the fly in New York City after the fall. And because of that, it's all the more effective.

January 4, 2008 Full Review Source: CNN.com
CNN.com
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You're left gawping at $100 million-worth of eye-popping futuristic B-movie.

December 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's a better-than-average blockbuster, which sweeps around some large ideas and interesting themes, but never delves for long enough to make this film a true classic.

July 14, 2011 Full Review Source: Digital Spy
Digital Spy

Inevitably, ideas give way to special-effects

August 27, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion
CinePassion

I Am Legend is three film genres for the price of one: Science Fiction, Action, and Horror, and while it's no classic in any one arena it remains edgy fun.

July 30, 2009 Full Review Source: GreenCine
GreenCine

This is no graphic shoot-'em-up but an intelligent, if sometimes sentimental, exploration of human decency and responsibility that ponders the limits of rationality and faith.

April 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix
Boston Phoenix

There are some good points, but there are too many ineffectual aspects that keep I Am Legend from being the sophisticated film it was clearly meant to be.

January 27, 2009 Full Review Source: DVD Review
DVD Review

Smith still manages to find something touching and occasionally even tragic in the character.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Screen International
Screen International

For everything that is good about it, though, I Am Legend struggles against two primary problems.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk
Q Network Film Desk

It left me highly entertained, since out of the original story the filmmakers have created a different, but exciting and tense story filled with action, suspense and a lead character you can truly care about.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs
Three Movie Buffs

The movie is simply okay. Not awful, not great. Definitely beneath Smith's abilities, though.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Bullz-Eye.com
Bullz-Eye.com

I Am Legend is far from a feel-good film; it's a familiar (for fans of Stephen King's The Stand or Heston's Omega Man) post-apocalyptic adventure rife with chills and hopelessness.

October 18, 2008
Palo Alto Weekly

Will Smith shows some promise trying to find a cure for a horrific virus, but somehow the plot becomes Shrek, Bob Marley and God trying to save the world.

August 27, 2008 Full Review Source: The Scorecard Review | Comments (6)
The Scorecard Review

With "I Am Legend," Will Smith has accomplished what Tom Hanks did back in 2000: Effectively star in a movie that involves very little interaction with other human counterparts.

May 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Watertown Daily Times | Comments (3)
Watertown Daily Times

The monsters are routine CGI creations, crudely animated and unconvincing. In a film of such visual majesty and surprisingly weighty drama, they present an unfortunate and needless distraction.

April 10, 2008
San Francisco Examiner

...a triumph of set design and CGI over story line or credibility.

March 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comments (4)
Movie Metropolis

If a horror movie is of true holy-bejesus caliber, you should be exhaling with relief at the end instead of thinking, 'Gee, that went fast!'

February 29, 2008 Full Review Source: Washington City Paper | Comment (1)
Washington City Paper

Eerie and breathtakingly evocative, the solid I Am Legend nevertheless tries to be too many things to too many people, weighed down with cheap horror-film shock effects and barely passable CGI, instead of trusting in its legitimately captivating

February 28, 2008 Full Review Source: Colorado Springs Gazette
Colorado Springs Gazette

The exacting demands of filmgoing audiences have finally drawn out the heart of this book. (Disclosure: I have not read it, but now am willing to. For the antidote to this impulse, see The Omega Man.) Adding a dog probably didn't hurt either.

February 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinerina

Audience Reviews for I Am Legend

This post-apocalyptic zombie-based film is strong thanks to in part the special effect/CGI work as well as the strong lead of Will Smith. I Am Legend is graphic in the realms of loneliness and isolation and makes a solid film for audiences to enjoy. 4/5
May 13, 2013
Eugene Bernabe

Super Reviewer

Will Smith stars as a military researcher who is seemingly the last person left on Earth trying to find the cure for an engineered retro virus that has decimated the human population and turned many into mindless killing machines. It seems to me that the reason a lot of people slated this film was solely because it was not a faithful adaptation of the book it takes its name from. I personally haven't read it and to be honest I don't care if it's faithful or not. A carbon copy adaptation of a book does not necessarily make a good film and vice versa; the two are completely different media. The fact is that I found this pretty enjoyable. Will Smith is quite convincing as a man suffering the loneliness of total isolation and the scenes in the first hour of the film when the "enemy" is still unseen are very effective. It's therefore a pity that it descends into the usual CGI infested Hollywood claptrap for the final half hour. It reminded me of 28 Days Later because of the similar scenario and unfortunately it suffers from the same problem; the set up is great but it didn't seem to know where to go from there. Once the mother and son characters appeared it turned into a dodgy CGI-laden shoot em up and became far less interesting, but it's definitely worth a watch for the earlier scenes. Some of the plot elements are not properly explained and the ending is a little weak, but not bad as a whole.
December 20, 2007
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

    1. Anna: This is his legend.
    – Submitted by Sam H (10 months ago)
    1. Robert Neville: The people who are trying to make the world worse are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness. [quoting Bob Marley]
    – Submitted by Troy N (11 months ago)
    1. Robert Neville: Light up the darkness.
    – Submitted by Ahmed I (14 months ago)
    1. Anna: In 2009 a deadly virus burned though out civilisation, pushing human kind to the edge of extiniction, Dr. Robert Nevillie dedecated his life to the discovery of a cure and the restoration of humanity. On September 9th 2012 at approximately 8.49pm he discovered that cure. and at 8.52 he gave his life to defend it. We are his legacy. This is his legend.
    – Submitted by Sidney L (15 months ago)
    1. Robert Neville: I... I promised a friend I would say hello to you today. Please say hello to me. Please say hello to me.
    – Submitted by Rocky F (15 months ago)
    1. Robert Neville: God didn't do this. We did!
    – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)

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Latest News on I Am Legend

June 14, 2012:
Will Smith "Probably" Won't Appear in the Next I Am Legend Movie
"I don't want to be the sequel guy."
February 17, 2012:
Warner Bros. Still Mulling I Am Legend Prequel
Arash Amel ("The Expatriate") has been hired to write a script; Will Smith is currently not...
May 3, 2011:
Francis Lawrence Says the I Am Legend Prequel Is Dead
Still waiting for that "I Am Legend" prequel that was in the works? Director Francis Lawrence says...

Foreign Titles

  • Je suis une légende (FR)
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