Solid film-making... but a shame about the ending.

Rating: 8/10 (23 December 2007)

*MILD SPOILERS. NO PLOT TWISTS, JUST SCENE-SPECIFIC EXPLANATIONS.* Just came back from the movie, and I figured I'd write my 2-cents' here before I forget everything.
It was surprisingly good. For a major Hollywood movie of this budget, the film-making can be described as minimalistic, for lack of a better word. The director shows exactly what needed to be shown, and that's it. Only the bare minimum is explained, just enough for you to get the gist of what happened. The core of this movie is about Robert Neville's attempt to have some semblance of a life in a world that has run out of it. The scenes where he 'talks' to the mannequins are funny, but it quickly became disturbing when it became apparent that he's struggling against a sense of isolation an paranoia.
The musical score follows the same vein as the film-making. It enhances the isolation even more, and scenes of Times Square in a state of abandon, with weeds growing everywhere is definitely a sight to behold. Some scenes just plain creeped me out. Scary or not, I cannot fathom what Neville had to go through for 1,001 days of complete nothingness.
Yes, the CGI is slightly dodgy, but it's effective as-is, and when we're shown the mutants for the first time, it can definitely get under your skin. It's a pity that the third act starts to come apart, and the ending was a bit too... sudden. This is one movie that I wished had a longer runtime. 101 minutes is just way too short. We could have seen a longer and more fleshed-out back story, and a more satisfying ending. By that, I don't mean a happy ending (that would just be insulting), but something that was more befitting of the character of Robert Neville. As I said earlier, the ending is too sudden. Just when I was enjoying the thrill of this film's world, the ending came out of nowhere. It's as if the film-makers decided that they should probably wind it down. I have no idea why they came up with such a decision, and I would agree that it hurt the pacing of the movie. A pity, as it was the only thing keeping the movie from becoming a modern classic.
It's an post-apocalyptic epic, but not in a traditional sense. And that's what makes it stand out. I've heard about the changes made from the original novel, but I think it doesn't matter. If I had to summarize it in a sentence, I'd say that this is a story of redemption. Did he get it? Well, it'd be better if you find out yourself. Except for the dodgy ending, it's a well-crafted movie with some pretty interesting artistic decisions taken by the director, and I salute him for that. Will Smith's acting is phenomenal, and I don't think it'd be far-fetching that Robert Neville is one of his career-defining roles. I'd have absolutely no problems recommending this to people.
A definite watch.
8.5/10