Good until the ending

Rating: 6/10 (14 December 2007)

I am a huge fan of post-apocalyptic films, and I don't mind a good vampire/zombie flick every now and then either, so it was with dual goodness in mind that I sat down to watch the new film I Am Legend... I went into it with expectations fairly high, after all how could you mess up a plot as simple as Will Smith versus Zombie-Vampires? With a terrible ending that's how.
The film opens with some awe inspiring shots of the empty New York City, and throughout the film the setting, an overgrown abandoned New York will have you wondering how much of the effects budget went to create it. The film is good for a while, just Neville and his dog, surviving, plus some super suspense when Sam (the dog) chases a caribou into a dark building (where, of course, dark forms lurk)... There are a few other good suspense scenes, but it isn't until a character other than Neville is introduced that the film turns sour.
A woman and her child turn up and want Neville to go to some "colony" that supposedly exists, but Neville's flawed stubborn character is reluctant to leave "ground zero." The film ends in one of the worst endings I've ever seen, I won't reveal it here directly, but it dropped my rating for the film from an 8 to a 6. If you took out the female character and added some kick-awesome scenes of Neville shooting or battling zombies and then added a different semi-happy ending it would be an excellent film. Heck you could even keep the woman and just change the last ten minutes of the film to have Neville's character fight it out or even escape...
In short, its not bad, but it isn't spectacular...