Exciting, Intelligent, Visually Charged Story Of Last Man On Earth

Rating: 7/10 (25 September 2009)

After a lethal virus decimates Earth's population by ninety percent, Robert Neville is the sole survivor living in the remnants of New York City. His existence is perilous though; he shares the city with hordes of rabid subhuman vampires who come out at night
This excellent adaptation of the brilliant Richard Matheson's seminal 1954 pulp horror novel is a fantastic looking, scary, touching, spectacular fright flick, with a particularly fine performance from Smith in the lead. Lawrence's direction is exemplary, effortlessly creating the empty, overgrown, forgotten NYC so crucial to the atmosphere. This is not just effective use of visual effects - such as the strangely beautiful shots of the shattered Brooklyn Bridge - but everything; music, editing, and most of all, acting. Actors often play dumb in fantasy stories like this, but Smith really goes for a fearless depth in his exasperation, dogged pursuit of a solution, aching loneliness and borderline insanity. In the scene where he is forced to kill his beloved dog Sam, Lawrence holds a big long closeup of his agonised face - this is bravura acting. The whole of the first hour is full of this evocative drama and eye-popping visuals. I must confess I think the movie goes a little downhill in the last act, with a couple of improbable plot twists and a relatively happy conclusion which deviates completely from Matheson's much more logical and satisfactory original ending. This is a minor complaint however - it's still nail-biting stuff throughout; a refreshingly grown-up big budget horror film without unnecessary gore, smartass dialogue, profanity or stupid comic relief. Featuring great music by the prolific James Newton Howard and stylish photography by Andrew Lesnie (The Lord Of The Rings), as well as a bunch of nice old Bob Marley songs. Trivia - Smith's daughter in the flashback sequences is played by his real life daughter Willow, and Emma Thompson appears unbilled at the start as the amusingly named Dr Krippin, the unwitting architect of mankind's destruction. Filmed twice before, as The Last Man On Earth (with Vincent Price) in 1964, and The Omega Man (with Charlton Heston) in 1971, both of which are good, but this is the best of the three. Top-notch horror/science-fiction fare.