I'd give "I Am Legend" a C
I like these types of movies (eg Road Warrior, Terminator, 28 Days Later, etc.) but there were some glaring problems with this movie as a SciFi.
1. This guy is a LTC in the Army (salary around $100,000), yet lives in a multi-million dollar home in NYC BEFORE the plague? Can someone explain his financial means?
2. This Soldier is an LTC in the Army, yet demonstrated very little tactical and weaponry ability considering he has some 15 years in the military and three years surviving the monsters! Here's his HUGE tactical mistakes. A) The city is littered with military vehicles, police vehicles, and armored cars (as seen in many scenes). Yet his best choice is a Ford Mustang and an SUV?????? Why not a Bradley, Humvee, etc. Why not weld some steel plate over vulnerable spots of a supercharged SUV or Humvee?
3. Similarly, why not cruise around in the Bradley using the weaponry of the Bradley to wipe out hordes of the zombies. They wouldn't be able to penetrate the armor and you could just shoot them all night with what I'm sure is limitless ammo in the city.
4. Most of the members of this forum have more guns than this guy, and he's an LTC in the Army!!! He didn't carry spare mags or even a backup gun most of the time. Based on the fact that we only saw 1 rifle and a few handguns, he was BADLY underarmed for his situation.
5. Can someone explain how the woman got onto the island and why she hung around at night and, even more importantly, why and how she defeated 100 zombies to rescue him at the last second on the pier?
6. Why not move onto the Navy ship and move it out to the middle of the River? Seems that it would be easy to defend. Or why not move into a more fortified building like a military base or something. Who cares about "ground zero?" I know he wants to cure the disease, but why not load up his equipment into a semi or something and drive out during the day?
7. Why not have military hardware protecting his home, like all the stuff likely abandoned throughout the city? I can't imagine how many guns and piles of ammo would be laying around?
8. Where were the carcases of all of the dead? Several million people died in NYC. Where was all the trash? There were a lot of cars around, but that was about it. And who moved all the cars off most of the streets and neatly parked them on the sides of the roads? Okay, there were a few scenes of jammed roads and road blocks, but it seems that there were plenty of cleared streets.
9. Seems that at the end he painted himself in a corner because he didn't set up enough booby traps, they were too close and damaged his house, and he didn't have enough guns stashed in his house. So, with limitless resources of guns (a conservative estimate is one in every square block) and ammo, why didn't he have several loaded and stored in every room of his house. He clearly anticipated an invasion based on his precautions.
10. After he gets caught in the booby trap, why didn't he immediately pick up his rifle? And when did he go back and get it? And why didn't the horde of zombies come out when the dogs did? And why didn't he just burn the zombies out? Maybe because a fire could, in theory, burn the city to the ground... But still, why not explore some revenge that is likely to succeed?
11. That brings me to the next point! The dumbest part of the movie is when he tries to run down countless zombies on a narrow river pier! That was a plan doomed from the start with no practical backup. And when the zombies had his SUV stopped, why not open fire? Instead he just starts flying around the pier, completely out of control. And he almost died several times on this stupid stunt.
12. I can suspend reality and buy into the 'zombie' idea, but how are these 'zombies' able to run, jump, climb, spring, sprint, and otherwise act superhuman when they are all skin and bones and there's not much of a food source in the city after 3 years. I mean, come on! Hordes of zombies were just scaling walls of buildings! The one zombie was moving so fast that Smith couldn't hit him with full auto on the M4 as it was bouncing around the walls, floors, and ceiling and up the stair well faster than Smith could aim and shoot. It moved faster and with more agility than a Cheetah, not to mention the worlds most elite trained athletes with perfect diets! That's not suspending reality, that's just absurd knowing what we know about the capabilities of the human body.
13. I rolled my eyes when the first scene showed him zipping around in a freshly washed and waxed red Mustang in perfect condition! Not a very tactical car or even a tactical way of stalking game. Why not just get a rifle and scope and sit on a building overlooking the park. Take a shot and walk/drive down to get your kill? With no medical help available, I doubt you would be flying down the road aiming a weapon at a running deer.
14. Why would he keep a grenade in the basement? That was one heck of a grenade, too. Killed everything in the room but didn't hurt the woman or kid! And left no zombies to get the woman/kid but didn't start a fire to burn them down! Why didn't he carry the grenade with him for situations where he finds a hive and wants to toss it in there?
I did like some aspects and it was clever at points. It was scary at points and thought provoking. Portrayed guns in a fairly positive role but again the message is that guns don't solve the problems. It would be great if the gun actually saved the day for a change. Hollywood makes a killing on another mediocre movie.
I wished there was more action, but it wasn't a bad movie. I've definitely seen worse.