Almost solo Will Smith performance

Rating: 8/10 (13 December 2007)

I just saw an advanced screening last night. Will Smith is a name that can pull crowds as evidenced by the huge turnout. Generally the audience's response is positive and even Smith's pull ups on a handlebar got applause.
With only a dog as his real companion for most of this movie, Smith walks around the ruins of New York. Deer are the only real traffic now. Smith almost shoots one but stands awed as he allows a lion to kill it and take it away. A video show a glorious doctor, whose cure for cancer has backfired and billions of people have died. Many who haven't have become stark raving lunatics who are afraid of the light, with ravenous appetites to devour anything on site.
When not hunting down this vermin, he checks out DVD's out at a video store that has standing mannequins in it. Was Smith losing it when working up the courage to talk to one of them? Or was he just so lonely that he's playing a game with himself. Meanwhile, he records notes as a medical researcher, working with laboratory rats to find a cure. Most are dead or crazy but one, though weak, shows positive response.
He captures a human to try the serum on but the baddies are not going to let him get away with it. About this time, a woman and boy show up, eventually giving the movie the bittersweet ending it has.
If you enjoyed "The Pursuit of Happiness" like I did, Smith does have the charisma to root for him even when his logic is at times suspect. Very entertaining.