I Am Legend Special Edition (15)

In studio terms, Francis Lawrence is a brilliant director. With Constantine and I Am Legend he’s two for two at turning potentially unpalatable sci-fi horrors into cash-scoffing blockbuster vehicles for clean-cut A-listers looking to express, y’know, range. Dragging this third, long-delayed adaptation of Richard Matheson’s novel out of development hell is some kind of achievement, too – though the theatrical cut (also available as a single disc) so desperately violates the book’s chilly conclusion that it’s enough to wonder if we haven’t just discovered the new Brett Ratner – a competent shot-caller more interested in honouring the bean-counters than the material.

The alternate version included on the SE’s second disc goes some way to undoing the damage, with an ending that at least sways to Matheson’s spirit, even if it lacks his balls. The rest of the film remains as is; never bettering an opening half hour in a desolate New York, Will Smith savouring the challenge of playing against himself – and a dog – as the last man on Earth. A shame, then, that when the vampire-like virus victims show up to make his life painful they turn out to be Final Fantasy-style animated monsters about as scary as a limp lettuce. Smith is still terrific, somehow investing emotion in his struggle against the CGI, and it could be there’s more complete work to come from Lawrence. He’s been linked with another novel of lonely man mania, Chuck Palahniuk’s Survivor, but he’ll need to learn to live without compromise if he’s to make that fly.

DVD Extras:

Alternate cut
Four `animated comics'
Featurette
CD-ROM material

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