Focus

I'm a 90s child. I grew up watching Will Smith in movies like Men in Black, Independence Day, Enemy of the State, even Wild Wild West which isn't good but man, I like it a lot. His movies in the 21st Century have been fewer and far between, some really good and some really bad. When I saw the previews for 2015's Focus, it looked like Smith was getting back to basics, audience-pleasing turns that will rake in the money at the box office. What's the verdict then?

Nicky Spurgeon (Smith) is a con man, a world-class con man. He specializes in big but not huge cons, usually working with a team of like-minded crooks. Their targets? Big events, especially sporting events like the Super Bowl. Nicky has years of experience under his belt, and he knows just about every trick in the book. Well, he may have met his match. A beautiful, inexperienced con woman with some untapped potential, Jess (Margot Robbie), approaches him about joining his crew as they prep for a week of cons, thieving and stealing at the upcoming Super Bowl. Against his better judgment, Nicky takes her on and teaches her some of the tricks of the trade, all of which she takes to quickly. Talent is one thing though, money a whole other thing, and a mutual attraction the most prickly situation to arise. With so much on the line, what's in store for the experienced Nicky?

First things first. I wanted to like this movie. I really like Will Smith and Margot Robbie is one of the biggest rising stars in movies these days. Oh, and she's halfway decent looking. I love movies about cons and heists and impossible robberies. That's the movie I thought I was getting. It wasn't. This isn't a heist movie with a will they, won't they subplot. Unfortunately, things are flipped in that sense.

'Focus' could have been pretty good. The opening 45 minutes are pretty cool as director/screenplay-writing combo Glenn Ficarra and John Requa dive in headfirst to the high-class world of con men and their business. When Nicky introduces Jess to all the schemes they can pull with an extensive team of crooks in a public setting, it's that perfect kind of introduction. Fast, stylish and smart, it all blends together in seamless fashion. That's just the introduction though. It's only a jumping off point unfortunately. From there on in, 'Focus' becomes more about the relationship between Smith's Nicky and Robbie's Jess. That's not a bad thing because the duo has a believable, likable chemistry, but...

That wasn't the movie I thought I was getting into. The trailer, the previews on TV, the posters, it all looked like a smooth, darkly funny look into this criminal world. Maybe a little familiar, but who knows? I avoided reviews for the most part -- no spoilers for this guy -- so I could go in with a fresh slate. No matter how good Smith and Robbie are (and they are pretty good), the story still remains that 'Will they? Won't they?' angle that seems more suited to a bad 1990's TV sitcom. As the story jumps in time from New Orleans Buenos Aires, it always comes back to that angle. Charming star power is rarely a bad thing, but 'Focus' relies almost solely on it with a story that had a lot more potential. I never even thought of it as a 'dark comedy' but that's what it is listed as. Even those attempts at humor -- many of them pretty low-brow sex jokes -- fall short or feel forced or both.

So pretty people with chemistry? Yeah, it works. This is the kind of part Smith is cut out for. He can act as he's shown in Ali and Pursuit of Happyness, but I like these parts more. Smith's Nicky is smooth, confident and always seems to be a step ahead. Nothing seems to rattle him...except when Robbie's Jess arrives on the scene. Their chemistry is excellent, but the screenplay simply relies on it too much. It isn't a con movie with a love interest. It's more of a love story with a con angle. Too bad. Also look for Rodrigo Santoro, Adrian Martinez, Gerald McRaney, BD Wong and Brennan Brown in supporting parts. I don't want to explain too much about these parts and ruin any possible surprises. Go in with a clean slate like I tried.

Two things. One, I think 'Focus' is just trying too hard. It so desperately wants to be cool and smooth and uber-suave, but it never quite gets there. The screenplay had a ton of potential but gets weighed down under bad sex jokes, forced jokes and a wandering story. Two, the twists. Movies have become obsessed with delivering a mind-blowing twist(s). The finale here is one twist on top of another, burying the one potential good twist in a sea of other efforts that fall far short. The ending itself is pretty ridiculous, one long exposition after another explaining what just happened, and then, oh yeah, the movie is over. I really wanted to like this one, and I just couldn't get on-board.

Focus (2015): **/****

Winter's Tale

If there's ever a weekend meant for sappy, sugary sweet, lovey-dovey movies, it has to be Valentine Day weekend. Audiences had two options this past weekend when it comes to the romantically pleasant love story, Endless Love and 2014's Winter's Tale. Reviews were almost uniformly negative -- some scathingly so -- but I thought there was too much positive going on to make it that bad. Was I correct? Well, there are positives, but when it's bad.....it's bad.

In New York City in 1916, Peter Lake (Colin Farrell) is an accomplished thief who's run into a bit of trouble. In the city, he has no rivals, but a former boss and mentor of sorts, Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe), wants him dead, and he's willing to pay a hefty price to get it done. Every job Peter pulls off, he's being hunted by Pearly's criminal underworld thugs. Picking a safe at one luxurious NYC house, Peter is surprised to find the supposedly empty house not empty at all, a pretty 21-year old woman, Beverly (Jessica Brown Findlay), dying of tuberculosis and already having outlived the diagnosis from her doctors. Beverly doesn't scream or freak out, Peter undone some by her response. Instead, she invites him to sit down for tea, and they talk. Their connection is instantaneous, their attraction evident from the first words they share though. It almost feels like the universe has brought these two young people together for a reason. Could something be going on with far bigger implications? Are they meant to do something special?

I saw the trailers for this romantically-charged period piece this past fall and was intrigued. It looked sappy and overdone -- like Valentine's Day bait at most -- but I was intrigued. It was a love story that didn't look too cheesy. 'Tale' is based off a 1983 novel from author Mark Helprin, and it's rocking 4 out of 5 stars currently at Amazon (buy it HERE, because Amazon needs my help). As the release date drew closer, I was actually looking forward to seeing it. The premise -- and there's far more than my simple plot description above -- of 1910s New York City, a criminal underworld connection, true love, lost love, and quasi-time travel seemed like literature at its best, or at least something that appeals to me. It sure sounded like the Pete Hamill novel 'Forever' in some ways, a favorite of mine. And the end result? Wow. I don't know exactly where to start.

There is potential here. There is, but there is also a reason critics are tearing it to pieces. My favorite review goes to Richard Roeper -- read HERE -- who certainly enjoyed bringing up all the most cringe-worthy moments. This is a story about true love, the universe, good and evil, miracles, destiny, finding a purpose in life, accomplishing what you're supposed to accomplish. All well and good, right? Sure, it's a lot to deal with but it certainly could have worked. It doesn't. 'Tale' is too dreamy, too loving, too sugary sweet with voiceover narrations about stars, people dying and becoming stars, about angels ascending and descending from Earth and Heaven and Hell. The basic premise is that true love brings out a true miracle in everyone. Everyone has that one miracle, that one thing in life that is pure and good and perfect. In many cases, it's love. Crowe as Pearly is a demon who's job is to prevent those miracles. Working against him are creatures and beings trying to help individuals complete their mission.

Yeah, and there it goes. Things start to disintegrate quickly, and yes, there's just too much going on. The creature helping Peter accomplish his miracle -- is it to save Beverly? Hhhmmm, I don't know.... -- is an immaculate white horse that Peter calls 'Horse,' but it sounds dreamy with an accent. Oh, and the horse flies, sprouting wings as necessary to escape dangerous situations. Pearly especially wants to kill the horse. Oh, and Pearly says the horse is "actually a dog" which...we...never...actually...see. And it's never explained. Crowe overacts like his life depends on it, similarly rocking an Irish(?) accent, his demon turning into a maniacal-looking animal when it gets angry. Pearly also visits a special guest two times, Lucifer himself played by Will Smith. Yes, you read that right. Will Smith. His Lucifer has a touch of gray, wears big, gold earrings, a stylish black blazer and in 1916 NYC wears a Jimi Hendrix t-shirt. The scene where he blows up on Pearly, reprimanding him for an idea, is laughably bad. I'm assuming it was meant to be a big, frightening dramatic moment, and I laughed. Out loud.

What did work for me was the crux of the story, the relationship between Peter and Beverly. I'm a Colin Farrell fan so that helps, but the character is interesting. His backstory is glossed over too much (including an 1895 "flashback" and one scene with wise Indian Graham Greene) and his hair is just odd, but it is interesting, the doomed anti-hero (relative, he's a nice thief) trying to save his love. A twist about 3/4 of the way through the movie has him doomed to walk the Earth not knowing who he is, not able to remember who he is or why he's been forced to do this, but the high points for the character are his scenes with Beverly, Brown Findlay having a solid chemistry with Farrell throughout. Again, I liked the premise, the doomed lovers trying to reverse that doomed quality, to make things right. In execution, it doesn't always work well. There's simply too much going on, the story trying to be an end-all declaration on everlasting love. Helprin's novel is pretty massive so I'm assuming lots of exposition, explanation, development, maybe whole plotlines were excised. What's left is a shell of what could have been a good movie.

But the star power! The Star Power! The supporting parts are in name only, the script not doing anyone any favors, but the acting is surprisingly bad. William Hurt is awkwardly odd as Isaac, Beverly's worrying father who sleepwalks through his part, including one painfully forced scene with Peter where they discuss grammar and pronunciation. Jennifer Connelly is really over the top as Virginia, a single mom with a daughter (Ripley Sobo, a good little actress) dying of cancer in 2014 NYC who meets Peter, not questioning too much what's going on. And in the Hollywood legend department, Eva Marie Saint plays an old woman in 2014 who Peter meets and may have known before. Also look for Kevin Corrigan and Kevin Durand as two of Pearly's henchmen.

Bad is one thing, forced bad is another. The script in first-time director Akiva Goldsman's film makes some odd choices. Eva Marie Saint plays an editor-in-chief of an NYC newspaper who if my math is correct, is 104 years old!!! In the newspaper business!!! The universe "providing" is one thing, but come on. I'm really wavering here. I genuinely liked parts of this movie, but when it flops, it does so in a big way. I'm not going to recommend it, not as a genuinely good movie, but I also won't rip it as the all-time bomb it's being made out to be. Just don't go in expecting the skies to open up. You'll get some laughs out of it for sure. Intentional laughs? I doubt it. A two-star review teetering on less.

Winter's Tale (2014): **/****

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

So for anyone who lives under a rock, the sequel to 2004's Anchorman hit theaters recently, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, raking in some solid if not huge numbers. It's a daunting task making an unnecessary sequel that follows an original film that is considered by many -- myself as well -- to be a comedy classic. Oh, and it's been nine years since the original was released? This sequel isn't the most timely of follow-ups, but director Adam McKay and star and fellow writer Will Ferrell waited until they could devote the right amount of time to actually writing the follow-up. Is it worth seeking out? You bet.

Having left San Diego and Channel 4 behind him, legendary news anchor Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) is living the high life in New York City, co-anchoring the nightly news with his wife, Veronica Corningstone (Christine Applegate). Well, he was living the high life. Called in thinking he's getting a promotion to a national network, Ron finds himself out of a job when Veronica is promoted instead. He's in a bad place now only to receive another job offer, a new news station that will be on television 24 hours a day. Ron is able to assemble his old news team, Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Champ Kind (David Koechner) and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), and heads to New York City to rebuild his reputation. The news world has changed though, and Ron and Co. must adjust. Can they manage it?

There are certain movies where plot descriptions are beyond unnecessary. This is one of them. Do you like Ron Burgundy? Did you like Anchorman? If you said yes to either of those questions, you're going to head out and see this movie, story be damned. Though a sequel had been rumored for years, it finally came to fruition this past year when McKay and Ferrell revealed they had been working on a script, really devoting the time that script deserved to get it to theaters. Some nine years since the original was released, this isn't the most timely of sequels, but it's one that audiences have been looking forward to. We've been carpet-bombed for several months now with ads and appearances from Ferrell as Burgundy, the movie even under-performing some in theaters. If you read nothing else from this review, read this. If you liked the original, you'll like this one. Is it as good? No, but that would be almost impossible to do.

Instead, it uses the similar formula while adding some new wrinkles to keep things fresh and funny. How do they manage? Well, as dumb as the humor may be at times, it's also got some really smart (and funny) moments. Assigned to the graveyard shift on the new 24-hours news network, Ron and the team start to think out of the box. What do audiences want to see? Praise for America, sports highlights of home runs, big touchdowns and ferocious slam dunks, footage of cute animals doing goofy things and anything and everything sexy. Yes, Ron Burgundy can see into the future. Surprise, surprise, the ratings go through the roof, audiences eating up the new approach to the news. There is a subtle smartness here, Ron insisting on more graphics on-screen, showing a car chase live on-air and guessing who's driving and what's going on, even a countdown of the greatest vaginas of the 20th Century. Okay, maybe they're not all smart, but they're funny.

My worry was that the cast would turn their characters into caricatures of themselves, even more so than they already are, but thankfully we avoid that. It's fun to see Ron's development as he starts to realize maybe he's not the great newscaster he thought he was. The story gets pretty ridiculous in terms of a character arc -- really going off the beaten track in the final act -- but above all else, it's for laughs. Single Ron is separated from his wife, but still wants to be close to his son, Walter (Judah Nelson), deals with Veronica's new boyfriend, Gary (Greg Kinnear), a psychiatrist he believes can read his mind, gets semi-controversial with an interracial relationship with his new boss (Meagan Good), plays some jazz flute while ice skating, and eventually, even must fight back from being blind. Yes, you read that right. It's ridiculous. The entire movie is. It commits to being both equal parts really stupid and really smart. Leading that charge is Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy, again stealing the show.

The best moments have Ron and the reassembled news team up to their usual hijinks, providing the movie's funniest moments. Finding out what Brian, Champ and Brick have been up to is priceless, a recruiting montage providing some great laughs in a scene you'd expect out of a men on a mission movie, not a screwball comedy. The quartet just has impeccable chemistry, each of the three supporting players given their chance to shine. You like the characters, like their shenanigans and can't help but laughs. Also look for James Marsden as Jack Lime, an established star in the news world who goes up against Ron as a new co-worker, Kristen Wiig as Chani, a secretary at the new station who has a budding romance with the equally odd Brick, and even Harrison Ford (yes, Harrison Ford) as Mack Tannen, a legendary newscaster. It's a ridiculously talented comedic cast.

SPOILERS I'm going to mention a couple scenes here -- one more than the other -- that features some good surprises and twists as the movie develops. Stop reading if you don't want to know. SPOILERS Both scenes are updates of iconic scenes from the original, the first being Brian Fantana's epic collection of condoms, one explanation after another bringing the house down, a nice update on his Sex Panther scene. The highlight though is a ridiculously over the top update of the Newscaster Fight (watch it HERE). The star power is nuts, the ante upped in every way possible. Ron and his team must fight the BBC (Sacha Baron Cohen), entertainment reporters (Tina Fey and Amy Poehler), ESPN (Will Smith), MTV (Kanye West), and the History Channel (Liam Neeson), accompanied by the ghost of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson (John C. Reilly). Oh, and Kirsten Dunst keys up the fight as the Maiden of the Clouds. And the Minotaur is fighting with the History Channel. It is truly nuts, completely ridiculous, and it works so, so well.

If there's a weakness here, it's that at 119 minutes, Anchorman 2 is a tad long. Some bits just work better than others. Ron and Co. driving in a Winnebago...well, cruise control driving, is inspired. A later montage of the team building up their new reputation is perfect, Ron and Brian at one point smoking crack on live TV. Other bits aren't as good. I'm looking at you Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig in some truly painful scenes. For the most part though, it works, one scene more nuts than the last. It's not on the level of the original, but it sure is funny. Enjoy it.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013): ***/****

After Earth

What exactly happened to M. Night Shyamalan somewhere around 2003? The director had just made Signs, an oddly good sci-fi flick, but followed it up with The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening and The Last Airbender. One bad movie on top of each other. Well, it's gotta turn around at some point, right? How about 2013's After Earth?!? Is this the one?!? Nope.

Sometime in the future, Earth has been destroyed, making the planet virtually inhabitable and forcing its human survivors to leave it behind, settling on a new planet, Nova Prime. The planet has come under attack, forcing the United Ranger Corps, headed by General Cypher Raige (Will Smith), to defend Nova Prime against the aliens' main weapon, the Ursas, immense, blind creatures that literally smell "fear." His son, Kitai (Jaden Smith), wants nothing more than to follow in his legendary father's footsteps, trying to become a Ranger himself as a cadet at Ranger School. His relationship with his father is far from close though, Kitai's mother convincing Cypher to take his son along on his last mission. They're in for a ride though, the ship flying into an asteroid shower and crashing on a remote planet. There are no survivors other than Cypher and Kitai (of course, who would have figured?!?), leaving the father-son duo to work together to survive. The catch? They're on a horrifically transformed planet Earth that has evolved in the thousand years since humans left.

In spite of getting almost universally panned by critics, 'Earth' still managed to make almost $60 million in the U.S., doing pretty well internationally too. Not a bad total until you consider it cost $130 million to make. Just because critics and reviewers don't like a movie doesn't automatically make a movie bad....but in this case, they were right. This movie is really, truly bad, one of the worst movies I've seen this year. Originally an idea from Will Smith, 'Earth' struggles to find any footing and never manages to find any. The script is bad, the acting worse, and the developing story turns into a 1970s after school special. With a premise somewhat similar to this year's Oblivion (scorched Earth, what's left?), I thought it could be mildly entertaining, but it wasn't. It was bad, right from the start too.

I feel bad criticizing a young actor, but here we sit just the same. This is my first introduction to Jaden Smith, and it isn't a particularly good one. Some of my issues can obviously be chalked up to the script that does no one any favors, but it's more than that. This is one whiny teenager who's dripping with teen angst. He wants to be like his father, to show him he belongs, but he's also tortured by guilt having seen his sister (Zoe Kravitz) die in an Ursas attack. Good Lord, just pick one cliched stereotype and stick with it. You don't have to throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. I couldn't shake the feeling that this movie was an excuse by Will Smith to get his son a starring role, and that's never a good thing. The gimmick of the real-life father son working together is quickly washed away thanks to the script.

So how about Will Smith? This has to be one of his worst performances. Playing Cypher, he's supposed to be this ultra-cool, no-nonsense, all business legend who discovered how to beat the Ursas. The plan? Literally show no fear and the creatures can't sense you. Translated....that means show no real emotion. Smith took that message to heart, not showing anything other than a comatose face that looks like he may or may not be sleepwalking. It's unreal how wooden this performance is. We're talking one step below a cardboard box. The kinda cool feature that Cypher can see everything Kitai sees through some advanced technology is wasted because Will Smith literally shows no emotion the entire movie. There are moments he seems concerned whether his son makes it or not (I suppose, it's hard to read), but even a legendary hero who has NO FEAR would seemingly be slightly, remotely concerned.

The script in general is bad, from a rushed, wasted introduction that lays everything out to the familiar plot holes late. With such a cool background to tap for potential, the prologue doesn't specify enough, throwing a whole lot of tidbits out there and hoping some of them stick. Once Cypher and Kitai's ship goes down on Earth, I figured things might pick up, but it doesn't. Kitai battles baboons, immense birds, tiger-lions, just one calamity on top of another. At one point, his lifesuit turns colors -- adjusting to the situation and its needs -- and Kitai communicates with Cypher "My suit is changing colors....I think I like it!" while....being....pursued...by....baboons. If I'm sprinting from baboons in a forest, that's the least of my concerns. Mostly, it came across as painful to watch as Kitai finally voices all his problems he has with his father.

I've wasted too much time and written too many words on this one. It ain't good, and there's little to nothing to recommend here. Pass in a big way.

After Earth (2013): */****

Men in Black 3

Released in 1997, the original Men in Black is the rare film. It's really smart, but it's really entertaining too, a great example of what a summer blockbuster can be. It made a whole lot of money -- some $589,000,000 -- and naturally led to an inferior sequel that couldn't live up to the original's success. Not surprisingly though, that sequel made a whole lot of money too. Not exactly an immediate follow-up, but here's yet another sequel, 2012's Men in Black III.

Working for Men in Black, Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) have been partners for 15 years now, working together to police extraterrestrial issues all over the Earth. Their partnership has just been dealt quite an issue though. A former Boglodite assassin, Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement), has escaped from a prison on the moon, shaking off 40 years of a sentence. He wants revenge on the man who put him away back in 1969....Agent K. After one run-in with Boris though in NYC, J wakes up one morning to find himself in a world where K never existed. What happened? Did his partner up and disappear? How about a solution? J has to go back in time to 1969 when these "new" records indicate K was killed. Who does he quickly find upon arrival in 1969 New York City? His old partner, but he's far younger. Hopefully J and Agent K (Josh Brolin) can work together to save the world in time.

I grew up watching the original Men in Black so after not especially enjoying the first sequel (to put it lightly), I was skeptical about a second sequel. Maybe the 10 years apart from the series was a good thing, but this was a really good continuation of the series. Director Barry Sonnenfeld gets back to basics, putting together an entertaining mix of science fiction, action and comedy that made the first movie so special. And let's be honest, how do you make science fiction better? Duh....time travel. J going back to 1969 adds a cool element to an already pretty solid story. Overall, that mix is there though. There's some gross-out moments, some good action scenes with all sorts of futuristic technology, and a surprisingly emotional ending. This is a movie that sat in my Netflix queue for most of eight, maybe nine months, but I'm glad I caught up with it.

It's pretty cool, even a little odd, to see Will Smith return to the series that helped make him a huge international star. When this film had been released, it was 15 years since the original hit theaters. 15 years for goodness sake!!! Maybe I'm just feeling old. In the years since, Smith has shown he's not just a movie star, but an actor too. Here, he's a movie star. Smith is a fun, cool movie star, his smartass and deadpan delivery landing just as well in 2012 as it did in 1997. Unfortunately, Tommy Lee Jones looks to be here because of some sort of blackmail obligation. He looks downright bored, no energy at all. I love TLJ as an actor, but this is almost painful to watch. Thankfully, he's only around for about 15 minutes of actual screentime.

As for the rest of the movie....Smith and Josh Brolin show the kind of chemistry that Smith and TLJ did in the original. It ends up being the best part of the movie by far, but there's a twist. Brolin isn't doing an impression the way commercials/trailers would have had you think although to be fair, he does a spot-on Lee Jones. The best twist is that we're meeting the Agent K character before the event that turned him into the Agent K we know. What is that event? We never find out for sure, but it's cool to see K crack a smile, make a bit of a joke, and basically not be the emotionless K we do know. There is a natural chemistry between the duo, and it plays well anytime they're on-screen together. Clement too is a great sci-fi bad guy, creepy alien rival. Also in the cast is Emma Thompson as Agent O, the new head of Men in Black, with Alice Eve playing her 1969 self, Michael Stuhlbarg as Griffin, an alien with the ability to see countless futures in an instant and holds the key to the universe's survival, and Nicole Scherzinger as an associate of Boris the Animal.   

While the movie is never slow, things pick up when J heads back to 1969 in a cool time-bending sequence when he jumps off a skyscraper to jump back in time. The technique is used again later with similar results. The look and style of the films come through back in 1969 as J explores the hippie, druggy subculture of the late 1960s. We even meet Andy Warhol (Bill Hader) but with a twist. The story twists and turns as J and K bond -- K assuming J's ridiculous time-traveling explanation is true -- and try to save the world from Boris' wrath. The timing is solid too, letting the story deal with the Apollo 11 launch and the eventual moon launch, the MiB agents heading to Cape Canaveral in a cool final sequence, with Mike Colter playing an army officer in charge of the launch's security. It is an ending that surprised me in not just delivering a solid twist, but how effective emotionally it is.

That's the movie. It was a big surprise, getting back to what the original Men in Black was so good at. It's fun, exciting and I enjoyed it throughout. I suppose that's a good thing because a fourth MiB flick is in the works. Yeah for sequels! Oh, and Pitbull sings too so we've got that going for us. Listen HERE.

Men in Black III (2012): ***/**** 

I Am Legend

First written by author Richard Matheson in 1954, 'I Am Legend' is a gem of a book, a story that genuinely creeped me out and sent shivers up and down my back. Movie studios saw potential, and they've gone to the well a handful of times, including the most recent effort, 2007's I Am Legend.

It's been three years since a genetically-mutated medicine reversed its positives and wiped out some 94% of the world's population. Like a disease, it spread, turning normal human beings into mutants, Darkseekers who cannot step into any sort of light. In a silent, completely alone Manhattan in New York City, Dr. Robert Neville (Will Smith) fears he is the last man on Earth. Neville is somehow immune to the disease that affected so many, and now lives on his own, his dog, Sam, a German shepherd, his only companion. They travel through NYC looking for supplies, for help of any sort. All the while, Robert keeps working at a cure, hoping that his blood holds the key to stopping the disease spread.

As bankable a star as Hollywood currently has, Will Smith is the main reason to go see this 2007 science fiction-horror-apocalyptic story. At times, it's easy to think of him as a movie star and not an actor, but he's shown on multiple occasions he is truly an actor. As the last man on Earth, the focus in on Smith's Neville and no one else. He dominates the screen. Dropping into this story some 3 years since the disease, we see Neville's routine from day-to-day. Survive, supply, search and get back home to a fortified house on Washington Square before the Darkseekers come out from their daylight hiding places. In quick flashbacks, we see Robert's involvement in the evacuation of Manhattan, adding another layer to the character. It has to be an actor's dream to have a role like this, and Smith doesn't disappoint.

Most importantly, Smith's performance feels very real. Yes, it's a movie. Yes, he's working off a script, but it feels like a human being would react. Imagine being alone with no one to talk to for three years, but a loving dog that rarely leaves your side. Neville has set up mannequins around NYC and named them, talking to them every day, wondering if he should flirt with a "cute girl" at the video store. He goes to that video store and picks up a different movie everyday (he's working his way through the 'G Section'). Neville hunts -- for food and Darkseekers -- and waits at a specific point each day in case anyone listens to his radio broadcasts. The pressure becomes almost unbearable for him, and rightfully so. The spotlight is on Will Smith, and he certainly embraces it here in a sympathetic, heartfelt, and emotional role.

So what else? The look of this film from director Francis Lawrence is a lynchpin to everything working. The opening sequence is startling especially, laying out the groundwork for the story to come. Driving a souped-up Mustang, Neville and Sam drive through an empty NYC. They're hunting for deer, passing completely isolated, empty streets. Cars line the curbs where they were left. Buildings tower over them, no one inside at all...no one human at least. Seeing New York City like this provides some truly amazing shots. I especially liked composer James Newton Howard's score, his main them in particular. Listen HERE. It is underplayed in a perfect way. Everything about the movie could have been big, loud and obvious, but Lawrence's direction, Howard's music and Smith's acting keep things grounded.

All those positives aside, there are some negatives. The first 60-70 minutes are pretty perfect. The last 30-40 minutes aren't. SPOILERS from here on in SPOILERS We learn that Neville isn't alone when he is rescued one night by Anna (Alice Braga), a woman in her late 20s/early 30s, and Ethan (Charlie Tahan), a young boy, who have similarly managed to survive. Maybe it's just because the focus isn't entirely on Neville anymore, but there's just little interest in seeing Anna and Ethan's plight. The pacing up to this point is perfect, doing a great job of building tension and keeping you guessing, but the last 30 minutes (especially the ending) feels rushed. It ain't a happy ending either, but that wasn't an issue. It works in a big way, tweaking Matheson's original ending, but that's to be expected. It would have been hard to sustain the momentum throughout, but 'Legend' gets close.

An incredibly creepy, well-acted sci-fi horror flick. There are flaws, but the positives outweigh the negatives. I loved Smith's performance, and that rises above any other issues I have.

I Am Legend (2007): *** 1/2 /****