Brains! Brains!

***Spoiler Alert***

Wife and I went and saw I Am Legend yesterday. I love zombie flicks, so when I saw the ads for this movie, I was sold.

The movie is based on a book by Richard Matheson of the same name. I haven't read the source material so I can't attest to how faithfully the movie depicted the book. But I can testify that I Am Legend had a different zombie vibe than its contemporaries like 28 Days (or Weeks) Later, Dawn of the Dead, or even the comedic Shaun of the Dead. I think maybe the difference stems from increased production values. I Am Legend seemed well-funded and very polished, while other zombie movies of note have that B movie quality that make them as funny as they are scary.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie, even if I found the ending unsatisfying. I recognize the tie-in with the butterfly, but it felt forced and a bit sloppy. I also didn't quite understand why Will Smith felt the need to sacrifice himself. As the woman survivor noted, he could have easily crawled into the hatch with them. Instead, he refuses, making some speech about how that is not his path, or something to that effect. Maybe the book does a better job of explaining how he gets to that point, but in the movie, it didn't synchronize very well with a character that has spend incredible amounts of energy and thinking to survive the apocalypse.