Could they have made it even more cliché?

Rating: 4/10 (19 January 2008)

The answer is no, no they couldn't.
Hollywood once again churns out a same old "zombie" flick, only this time you don't see a group of survivors vs the undead, you see one sole survivor, Will Smith. And his dog. Oh, and the zombies aren't really zombies, they are ex-humans infected with some sort of good virus turned very very bad. Or, to be more precise, they are actually CGI creatures resembling albino extras from Beowulf who do a pretty good velociraptor imitation.
Will Smith is somehow immune. Also, he isn't really your average Joe, he is some sort of ex-army microbiology genius. Handy, that. He desperately wants to find a cure for this virus, which is all nice and humane but ultimately doesn't make a lot of sense, since at one point it's said that 90% of the world population is already wiped out, and only 9% turned infected - and to be frank, the infected ones seem to enjoy being infected quite a bit.
After the - admittedly - nice setup, with all the scenes of decaying New York, grass growing through the pavement and herds of deer running through streets (with Smith hunting them in a flashy red sports car) the movie starts piling up one cliché after another. Let me give you an example - early on, Smith says into the camera that "canine are immune to the airborne virus but are susceptible to infection via direct contact". Note to director - foreshadowing is supposed to at least try to be subtle.
So, soon after we learn about the messy situation the world got himself into and get to meet poor old Will Smith who puts mannequins all over town and is slowly but surely beginning to lose his marbles, the movie switches gears and starts rehashing good old scary-creatures-jump-out-of-darkness shtick. Halway through the movie the plot seems to take a clever and interesting turn, but sadly the story all but ignores this bit and settles back to the routine.
I will not say anything more to avoid spoilers, but suffice to say that you can freely leave the theater after Shrek shows up. Because, hey, you already know how things will end - you've seen it at least a thousand times before.
4/10, but only because Will Smith does a pretty good performance. Oh, and the dog is cute, too.