Robert Neville is a brilliant scientist but even he could not contain the terrible man-made virus that changed the world as we know it. For three years, Neville is trying to discover a cure for this disease and to find out if any other people might have also survived. Somehow immune Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and maybe the world. However, he is not alone! Mutant victims of the plague — The Infected — lurk in the shadows… watching Neville’s every move… waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind’s last best hope Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered… and quickly running out of time.

While I wouldn’t call I Am Legend an instant classic, it sure had me engaged. The movie is based on a classic novel by Richard Matheson, Legend is a doomsday movie (Like so many others!) mixed with frightening chills, a reliable performance from Will Smith.

Legend is hardly considered a blockbuster by any means. While it has Smith, guns, and special effects, this isn’t “Men in Black” meets 30 Days of Night. It focuses on top-notch horror sets (much like “Resident Evil: Extinction” and “30 Days of Night”, the shocks come quick rather than being cheap), a sense of claustrophobia.

And concerning the creatures, Francis Lawrence (Director) also outdid himself. Since this is a big-budget film, unlike “30 Days of Night”, the blood-sucking creatures are rendered in full CGI, and have little to do but scream and snarl. Not a happy choice, in my opinion, as you can clearly see that they aren’t real!

Video:

Warner presents the film in a stunning 2.40:1 widescreen transfer at 1080p/VC-1 on a dual-layer BD50 disc. This is a very detailed film and the VC-1 transfer does its job providing a near perfect presentation. This is a very dark film, and thusly, it’s not a very sharp looking presentation, however, compression grain and artifacting are nowhere in sight during the film’s more detailed shots. The city landscapes are amazing to look at. Black levels are also perfectly tuned. My only real issue with the transfer, and it’s not really an issue with the transfer itself, but the film looks a bit soft at times, particularly the CG elements which lack the sharpness of the human element. I imagine that this was a technical decision, but it’s surprising given how sharp CG effects often look.

Audio:

Warner provides a reference quality Dolby TrueHD tracks for fans to enjoy. Surrounds are frequent and well mixed. The center channel is perfectly tuned as well giving the listener a truly three dimensional experience. The film is both subtle and aggressive when need be, particularly during the opening of the film, when Smith drives through New York City in search of a pack of deer roaming the cityscape. It’s an amazing scene with dazzling visuals and perfectly mixed audio to match it.

Extras:

Warner delivers a decent special edition for fans to peruse, but unfortunately, the usual special edition supplements–commentaries, deleted scenes and bloopers, are absent. Special features include:

• Theatrical and Alternate Version — Honestly, i like both versions of the film, but I do prefer the Alternate version slightly, if only because it adheres, a little more, to the ultimate point of the novel. Plus it ties elements that were given out earlier in the film, a little better.

• Featurette: “Cautionary Tale: The Science of ‘I Am Legend’” — Running roughly twenty minutes, this featurette is less a making-of featurette and more of a featurette exploring the science of the film. It’s quite creepy and well worth a view, but ultimately, it’s a bit overlong and imbalanced.

• Documentary: “Creating ‘I Am Legend’” — Running nearly an hour and broken into several smaller featurettes, this is a fascinating, but equally imbalanced look at the making of “I Am Legend”: from concept, to pre-production, to post. Fans should definitely give this feature a spin.

• Animated Comics - Four animated comics, all worth watching, are a bit of an oddity. My guess is that these were designed for a website or something. None of them really connect to the story and ultimately, they feel like a bit of a waste. It would have been nice to see this tie together with the film a little better. The artwork and design of the comics is quite nice though. The four comics are: “Death as a Gift,” “Isolation,” “Sacrificing the Few for the Many,” and “Shelter.”

HD Content:

Nothing really, but the extensive documentary and featurette found on the Blu-ray disc are not actually on the two-disc DVD set. They are available via a DVD-ROM link to the “I Am Legend” website. So technically, while not exclusive, the fact that you don’t have to download these features is an added bonus.

The comics and the featurette are presented in 1080p high-def.

Click here to buy “I Am Legend” directly from  Amazon.com.

Enjoy the trailer!

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