Director
Francis Lawrence
Leading Actors/Actresses
Will Smith
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Willow Smith
Genre
Drama, Sci-Fi, Horror
Language
English
Awards
ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Film
Date of Release
December 14, 2007
Producer
Akiva Goldsman, David Heyman, James Lassiter, Neal H. Moritz
Setting and Context
2012 (with flashbacks to 2009) New York City after a virus has wiped out a majority of mankind.
Narrator and Point of View
The story is told from the point of view of Robert Neville, a lone survivor searching for the cure to the virus after the loss of his family 3 years prior.
Tone and Mood
Isolation, Frightening, Suspenseful
Protagonist and Antagonist
Robert Neville is the protagonist trying to find the cure for the virus, while the infected as a whole are the antagonist seeking to destroy whatever is left of mankind.
Major Conflict
Robert traps an infected female for experiments, and this causes an infected male to hunt down Robert in order to get her back. In terms of ideas, another conflict involves Anna's belief in God as the answer when Robert has lost his faith.
Climax
Robert finds clarity in the midst of the infected on the verge of killing him. He sees how the tragedies of his life are lining up in a singular moment, and ready to listen to the signs, Robert gives the cure to Anna and protects her and Ethan by giving up his own life in order that others might live.
Foreshadowing
We see posters in the opening sequence we see a poster that states, "God still loves us. Do we still love God?" This foreshadows a major choice Robert must make in order to save others.
Understatement
The affect of isolation on Robert. The movie starts out and he seemingly is doing alright for being the last man on earth, but we soon realize the tragedy that recurs in his mind of losing his family, and the damaging effects of his loneliness once he encounters a mannequin that's mysteriously moved, and then a woman and a boy in his own home. We see the serious nature of his life alone over the last 3 years.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
N/A
Allusions
Robert Neville is immune to the virus. We never find out how or why he is immune to it. This could be alluding to the fact that Neville, in this films version of the story, has also been a part of creating the virus that has wiped out the planet. If this is true, it deepens his need to find a cure in that he is responsible for the world becoming an isolated zombie-land.
We see a TIME Magazine article on his fridge; he's a soldier and a doctor. So, was the military trying to weaponize this virus and lost control? Or were they trying to contain the mess they've made after extorting a cancer-curing virus? These are questions we don't get answers to, but certainly make us think that Dr. Neville has had a much larger role in this than we may know.
Paradox
Robert is saved by Anna and Ethan, but in being saved by them the infected are lead directly to his home where he eventually dies protecting Anna and the boy. It's paradoxical that the reason you die is because you were saved.
Parallelism
Robert, the infected male and the lion all draw on their connection to family, and what it means to be a man and to protect. When it is a matter of life and death every man, animal and creature in this film wants to protect their family.
