I AM LEGEND, will smith is not

I just finished watching the trailer for 'I AM LEGEND' and it bloody well deserves the capitalization. Not the trailer but the anaemia inducing, geniusness of the book, that the soon to be released film is based on. I am willing to chop off and send pieces of my body (to prove my love) until all that is left is my head in a jar, as I'd still be able to read this book.


I AM LEGEND follows the post-apocalyptic story of Robert Neville as he eats, drinks, tries to sleep and listens to Mozart. Things are incredibly hostile in Neville's world, like a Chechnyan rebel in Moscow. Anyone and everyone have turned, for all intensive purposes, into vampires. The vampire context is used as a mechanic to explore Neville's and therefore, our own, psychological state at seeing his loved ones become monsters and the savagery that society at large can descend to when things look completely hopeless.



What I found most compelling is the real, everyday stuff Neville has to deal with: How do I get food, how am I going to power my home, what do I do to past the haunted days and the terrifying nights? I AM LEGEND is a very short story, the darkness and despair of being the last man alive never becomes boring. If its not your veins bursting with the sheer amount of adrenaline surging through them when Neville gets stuck far from his home fortress with the sun setting, then its the agonising moments of self reflection as Neville comes to terms with being the last man alive.

The story is dark and the rare moments of humour are as black as my beating heart. Which is why it nearly burst when I heard a few months ago that it would be Will Smith playing the part of Neville. Will Smith is not a serious actor. He's as serious as being held hostage by Ghandi. I dread to think of the brain gagging one-liners he's put into my beloved story, 'hey vamps do you like stake!'


I have no choice about seeing it but for every time Mr. Smith does something to piss on my mental image of Neville and the story as a whole, I’ll defecate and throw it at his arrogant face. I'll be hitting a projected image but his image none the less! Go read I AM LEGEND now before the Smith bastardization is the only reference burnt into your frontal lobes.