The novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson has officially been made in a movie four times. The Last Man On Earth starring Vincent Price, The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston, I Am Omega starring Mark Dacascos and I Am Legend starring Will Smith.

However I fully feel that despite taking a few liberties with the source material, and by a few I actually mean a lot, this is by far the best movie version of Matheson's legendary novel. The scenes where he comes out with some cynical and bitter one liners are brilliantly acted. My favorite scene is the one where Heston stumbles upon a movie theater and watches the Woodstock documentary.

Heston's battles with 'The Family', a group of albino's who are out to destroy any tiny bit of the modern world that is left, are very well filmed. The scenes are lit minimally and just feel so claustrophobic during the battles and I think that helps with the feeling of dread.

The rest of the cast are superbly picked as well. Rosalind Cash is by far the best of these and she plays her scenes brilliantly and with many different layers. One minute playing the angry minority card and the next minute, holding her own with Charlton Heston on the sheer dramatic stakes.

The direction, while done in a slow and methodical manner, really suits this movie. It's not the kind of movie that jumps from one battle scene to another. That's just simply it's style. It stands back and lets the characters have room to breathe and develop while throwing in enough action pieces to put the characters in danger.

The special features are pretty good for what's there. I wish they could have put more behind the scenes stuff but that's a minor complaint.

The sound quality suffers slightly in places but surprisingly, the picture quality is very good, which considering the age of the movie, is a very good achievement.

Highly recommended