I’m a year behind on my Will Smith-based summer blockbusters. So tonight I watched I Am Legend. I’m reading The World Without Us so it made sense to check out a cinematic view of a Manhattan populated only by Mr. Smith, his spunky German Shepherd, a few generic humans and hordes of computer-generated barefoot zombies.
According to what I’ve read in the Manhattan doomsday scenario presented early in Without Us, there likely wouldn’t be any rats around New York City after a few years without human life: the only reason they’re here now is for our garbage. (Incidentally, despite survive-a-nuclear-blast urban legends, cockroaches would die off without humans around to provide the warm habitats they need.)
I also think the roads of Manhattan wouldn’t be as smooth as they appear in the movie. One of the first things to fail in New York without electricity, according to Without Us, would be the pumps that keep the subways dry. The tunnels would fill quickly, the subways’ steel support columns would rust and collapse, and the streets above would gape and sink. In some cases, rivers would appear in their place.
The movie in five words: Cast Away set in Manhattan.