You know that movie I’ve been lowkey obsessed with since 2007? The one with the empty New York City and the one lonely guy and his dog? Yeah, that one. I finally rewatched I Am Legend and bro… my feelings are a tangled mess. Let’s talk.

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Basic Deets

• Title: I Am Legend
• Director: Francis Lawrence
• Key Cast: Will Smith, Abbey (the dog, a German Shepherd), and a whole lot of mannequins.
• Genre: Post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror survival drama with a side of existential dread. You know, a lighthearted rom-com.
• Runtime: Like, 101 minutes if you watch the theatrical cut, but 104 if you're cool and watch the infinitely better alternate ending version. Trust me, we’ll get to that.
• Release Date: December 14, 2007
• Rating: PG-13 for being seriously scary and bleak, man.

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The Lowdown

All right, so. Wanna hear something crazy? The world ended. Not with a bang, not with a whimper, but with a virus. A "cure" for cancer gone spectacularly, apocalyptically wrong. It wiped out, like, 90% of humanity. The other 9.999% turned into light-averse, rage-filled, vampiric monsters called Darkseekers. And then there’s Robert Neville. Played by Will Smith in what is lowkey one of his most committed performances, Neville is the last man in New York City. Maybe the last uninfected human on Earth. Seriously, though. The entire island of Manhattan is his personal, overgrown, zombie-infested playground. His daily routine is a masterpiece of survivalist insanity: He hunts deer with a rifle from his souped-up Mustang, scavenges canned goods from abandoned stores, and talks to the mannequins he's set up around the video store. Yeah. It's a whole thing.

His core problem, aside from the crushing, soul-obliterating loneliness, is twofold. One, don't get eaten by the monsters when the sun goes down. Easy enough. And two, he was a former Army virologist who is desperately trying to find a cure for the virus using his own immune blood. He's got a whole lab set up in his Washington Square townhouse basement. This is a race against time, his sanity, and all those things that go bump in the night. Oh, and his only real companion is his dog, Sam. That's it. That's the setup. Man, dog, empty city. And the crushing weight of being a legend.

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The Vibe

This movie feels like a sustained anxiety attack in the best and worst ways possible. The first act is just… hauntingly beautiful. The shots of a desolate, green-overgrown New York City are legitimately some of the most iconic and chilling images in modern cinema. Times Square is a graveyard of dead taxis and weathered advertisements. It’s quiet. So unnervingly quiet. You feel that isolation in your bones. It’s a mood.

But then, man, the vibe shifts. The daytime scenes are contemplative, almost peaceful in their despair. Neville’s got his routine. He’s got his gym, his DVDs, his conversations with mannequins named Fred. It’s a weird, sad kind of normal. But when the sun dips below those skyscrapers? Ugh. The movie flips a switch. The tension skyrockets. The Darkseekers’ shadows flit through the darkness, and the sound design makes your skin crawl. It becomes a full-blown horror film. The whole thing is this gut-wrenching cocktail of profound sadness and pure, unadulterated dread.

Shout-Outs

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Will. Freaking. Smith.

He is alone on screen for like 80% of this movie. And he carries it. He makes you feel every single second of that three-year solitude. The way he talks to his dog, the way his voice cracks when he’s trying to remember how to talk to a woman on one of his mannequin "dates," the way he just sits and watches old recordings of TV news… it’s a masterclass in physical and emotional acting. There’s no flashy dialogue to hide behind for most of it. It’s all in his eyes, his posture, the little cracks in his composure. You believe his genius, you believe his grief, and you absolutely believe he’s one bad day away from completely losing it. It’s a powerhouse performance, no cap.

And Abbey. The freaking dog, Sam. I’m not crying, you’re crying. That dog is not just a prop; she’s his tether to humanity, his partner, his alarm system, his everything. Their relationship is the emotional core of the entire film. It’s the one pure, good thing in this nightmare world. You know a movie has done its job when you’re more scared for the dog than you are for the human.

Also, massive props to the production design team. They actually shut down chunks of New York City to film this. The desolation isn't just CGI—it's practical, it's tangible, and it's terrifyingly believable. You can almost smell the damp concrete and the rust. It’s a character in itself.

The Niggles

Alright, so. Wanna hear my biggest gripe? The dang CGI Darkseekers. Look, in 2007, it was probably kinda mind-blowing. But watching it now? Woof. They haven’t aged well. They look… rubbery. Like video game villains from a PS2 cutscene. It’s a real shame because the practical effects for the infected in, say, the original 28 Days Later just feel so much more visceral and scary. Here, when the big bad alpha male Darkseeker is snarling at Neville, it sometimes yanks you right out of the movie’s otherwise immaculate atmosphere. You go from being utterly immersed in this bleak reality to thinking, "Oh, yeah, that's a CGI monster." It’s a bummer.

And hang on a second, let’s talk about the theatrical ending. Without getting into spoiler territory, the way the studio decided to end this film is… well, it’s kinda dumb. It’s rushed. It feels tacked on and totally betrays the entire thematic point of the title, I Am Legend. It turns a complex, morally grey story into a simple, Hollywood hero-shot finale. It’s a massive disservice to the source material and to the mood the film so carefully built.

Seriously, though. Do yourself a favor and ONLY watch the alternate ending. It’s on the DVD and Blu-ray. It’s only a few minutes different, but it changes the entire meaning of the movie. It’s smarter, it’s sadder, it’s more profound, and it actually makes the title make sense. The theatrical ending is a 6/10. The alternate ending is a 9/10. The difference is that stark.

One more little niggle. The pacing in the middle can drag a teeeeeeny bit. There’s only so many times you can watch Neville set traps and talk to his dog before you’re like, "Alright, I get it, he’s lonely, something please happen." But honestly, that’s a minor quibble.

Verdict

So, after all that rambling, where do I land on I Am Legend?

It’s a flawed masterpiece. Or maybe a near-masterpiece with one really unfortunate faceplant at the finish line, depending on which cut you see. The atmosphere is top-tier. Will Smith’s performance is legendary (pun intended). The emotional gut-punch involving Sam is one for the history books. I literally had to pause the movie and go hug my own dog for a solid five minutes. Not even kidding.

But those CGI baddies and the botched theatrical ending keep it from absolute perfection.

My Rating: 8/10 (for the theatrical cut) My Rating: 9/10 (for the alternate ending cut)

Who it's for: People who love melancholic, character-driven apocalypses. Fans of Will Smith wanting to see him act. Anyone who wants to feel a deep, profound sense of loneliness from the safety of their couch. Dog lovers (with a strong heart).

Who it's NOT for: If you need constant action, this might bore you. If you're squeamish about animal peril, maybe skip it (the dog lives in one version, FYI, but the scene is brutal). If you hate iffy early-2000s CGI, you’ve been warned.

Final closing advice? Watch the alternate ending version. Please. For me. It transforms a good, emotionally wrecking movie into a genuinely profound one. It’s the version that truly earns its title and will stick with you for days, maybe weeks, after the credits roll. It’s a gut punch of an ending, but the right kind. The kind that makes you think. And man, we need more of that.

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References

1. I Am Legend (2007) - IMDb - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/
2. The Deeper Meaning Behind the Alternate Ending - Cinewatched - https://cinewatched.com/i-am-legend-alternate-ending-explained
3. Revisiting Will Smith's Iconic Performance - Cinewatched - https://cinewatched.com/will-smith-best-roles
4. The Best Post-Apocalyptic Movies to Watch Next - Cinewatched - https://cinewatched.com/top-post-apocalyptic-films
5. I Am Legend - Rotten Tomatoes - https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_am_legend