It's hard to upstage an actor like Will Smith - whether or not you think he's got the dramatic chops, you can't deny his screen presence. However, in the movie "I am Legend", what really blew me away were the scenes of post-Apocalyptic New York.
Manhattan is too familiar to too many people to be able to use substitute cites in its place. When films use Vancouver or other cities, it's painfully obvious. "Legend" was filmed on location in New York, and all of the familiar landmarks, large and small, are there. At first I thought that they had shot the street scenes and then added the details later - the abandoned cars, trees, grass growing through the concrete. After reading the production notes, I saw that they actually closed down the streets and added the elements of nature specifically for the film. Wow. Dealing with the logistics of that would take an army of people, and making it happen would seem a task more daunting than fighting off the Infected.
I remember being in the New York City in the winter of '94, when there was a snowstorm that brought the city to its feet. I was trying to get home from work, and set out from my office to walk the 15 blocks to the train station. The streets were completely empty, all vehicles immobilized by the heavy blanket of snow covering the ground. I walked down 5th Avenue, right down the middle, marvelling at the complete silence. I had never heard this sound, or rather the absence of sound, in the city before. There was not a soul in sight, and as I listened to the rhythmic crunch of my boots on the snow, I felt completely alone in the world. It was both magical and eerie - I wanted to lie down and make a snow angel, right then and there! But without anyone to share that with, it seemed kind of pointless. Instead, I focused on getting home, to our apartment in Hoboken, where it was warm and where my husband and kitties were waiting for me.
In this way, I could relate to the main character of Robert Neville as he navigated around the deserted urban landscape. New York is familiar as much for its physical attributes as it is for the unique energy that is the pulse of the city. You can feel it immediately whenever you are there - it sweeps you into the flow and carries you through its streets at a pace all of its own. Without that, it is just a shell, a faded and tattered photograph of the people that make the city one of the greatest in the world.
