Director: Boris Sagal
Starring: Charlton Heston, Rosalind Cash, Anthony Zerbe, Paul Koslo
Running Time: 98 minutes
Synopsis: Two years after germ warfare annihilates humanity, Robert Neville (Charlton Heston) is one of the few surviving humans. During the day he scavenges, while at night he fends off attacks by "The Family", a cult of infected and light-sensitive but not-yet-dead humans led by Matthias (Anthony Zerbe). Neville is a former military scientist who may have discovered a vaccine for the deadly germs, and he starts to suspect there may be other human survivors nearby.
What Works Well: The adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend enjoys a spooky opening segment that features Neville navigating an abandoned Los Angeles cityscape and helping himself to a "new" car. Charlton Heston as the lonely but determined survivor is reliably sturdy, and his interracial romance with a fellow survivor (Rosalind Cash) carries a black power spark. The ending, while hokey, still delivers an undeniable shudder.
What Does Not Work As Well: Beyond the introductory scenes, little distinguishes this movie from a television-level production, and many of the key character actions occupy the silly end of the scale. The antagonist "Family" members live dangerously close to parody, and Matthias' ceremonial philosophizing about cleansing fires and the surviving humans being the root of all evil is at odds with the cult's doofus incompetence. The scientific underpinnings of the dystopian premise are barely sketched in and frequently violated.
Key Quote:
Matthias (to Neville): Definition of a scientist: a man who understood nothing, until there was nothing left to understand.
All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
I have some fondness for this adaptation if only because it was the first one I saw of this story. Objectively, though, it's the least of the three adaptations of Matheson's novel (The Last Man on Earth is my favorite of them).
ReplyDeleteNone of them really stick the landing.
This one works intermittently, mostly as a B-movie. The Will Smith version is more engaging and more polished. The Last Man on Earth has a good reputation - I will seek it out.
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