I went back to work today, after the Christmas holiday. My major contribution today was helping Jess carry in the boxes the new laptops were in. I found my power supply on my work computer had died (we replaced it), and that the network was offline for repairs… which killed most of the useful work I could do.

So, at lunchtime, we came to a mutual conclusion that today was jinxed, and I wandered off to the movies. The choice was between I am Legend or The Golden Compass, and it was the former that started within 10 minutes of me arriving at the cinema, so that’s what I went to see.

I’m not familiar with the book (or movies) this new Will Smith movie is based on, but I’m familiar with the story of the book, thanks the excellent book The Best Movies That Were Never Made. Unfortunately, it’s not the story in the film. The film does a lot of excellent things – Will Smith is excellent as the lone survivor in the deserted Manhattan – and for about three-quarters of its running time it’s a really great film.

Unfortunately, after that it lapses into the type of stupid Americanisations that are the curse of the Hollywood film industry. Once mention of God is made, then the film rapidly descends into the extremely banal. The subtlety of the original title for the book is lost in a mindless platitude that is basically what we’ve come to expect from American films.

This is a real pity, for the first three-quarters of the film are excellent. I enjoyed the film, but I can’t help that think that the point was missed.