I, Robot all over again...

Rating: 5/10 (6 January 2008)

I felt to give this movie a fair review, i Had to split it into 2 sections. One for the film in comparison to the book and one for the movie in it's own right. I'll do the latter first.
The essential post-apocalyptic ingredients are certainly here: Will Smith playing our protagonist against a backdrop of a 'dead' new york, his survival against the world he lives in and then the antagonist, in this case, the infected.
Good points: Acting: Will Smith CAN act. He's proved it time and again that when it comes to big action movies with a serious edge, he's the man for the job. In I Am legend he pulls another good performance.
Storyline: For all purposes, the film runs along nicely. I never felt bored and there were a few scenes which showed this film was slightly above your average Hollywood release.
Bad Points: CGI: When will they learn that CGI is NEVER good. This film would have worked so much better if the infected where left more to the imagination and not rendered into a mummy-computer game crossover. This totally destroyed the atmosphere of the movie.
Ending: I feel the ending is the perfect point to bring in the book comparison. Cut short, this film suffered due to it's not following of the book. The ending for me didn't work as it felt too rushed and completely went against the the rest of the movie. And anyway, who keeps a hand grenade in a drawer?
Okay, now i've saved the book comparison as for me, this is where Hollywood rubs me the wrong way. They did it with I, Robot and they did it with this. The book centers around Robert Neville going round killing vampires, who, unknown to him, have formed a new society. In this society HE is the monster killing THEM. Therefore HE is a myth, a folk tale, A LEGEND. THAT is the point of the whole story. This film completely cut that whole storyline and for me, rendered the film totally pointless.
It just seems Hollywood can't bring themselves to think of people as intelligent and maybe capable of reading something further into a movie than guns and explosions.