People say its different from the book....it is but thats not all bad.

Rating: 8/10 (15 January 2008)

First of all i was so looking forward to seeing this movie and once it came out the cinema i wasn't disappointed. Although many people complain it is too different from the book.
It is VERY different, but in my opinion for all the right reasons. Firstly, the book uses Neville's struggle for sanity alongside the problem of vampires queueing up to eat him outside his house, very effectively. But in a way of him getting drunk, smoking and listening to classical music....hardly movie going material. Also the book contains one part that i was very disappointed the movie didn't include...the stopped watch sequence which in the book is very intense and could have proved terrifying in a movie, but was left out and replaced by *MAJOR SPOILER* the trap and dog death sequence, adding a huge emotional element to the movie. A part of the book involving one of Neville's main tormentors being his ex friend, Ben Cortman, was sadly left out, but i don't believe the vampires/dark seekers would have been convincing or scary enough if they shouted 'Come out Neville!' and threw rocks at his house all night (also the fact that Dash Mihok is even credited for being the 'Alpha Male' is a joke...he is all CGI!?). Leading to another very different element within the film...how they don't know where Neville lives, in my opinion a brilliant change as it adds the on edge factor to the way he passes each night.
The way Will Smith portrays Neville is also very captivating. This is greatly helped by his eccentric and very moving relationship he has with his dog, Sam whom he talks to as if she where a person. The movie makes him out to be a fearless cure finding hero, which is believable (because its Will Smith) but is different to the book, where he is a Joe average guy who just wonders why.
The warehouse sequence in the movie had me on the edge of my seat throughout and especially the tension built by the near total darkness only revealing the dark seekers in partial glimpses added an element the book couldn't, the suspense. During the book they come to his house nightly to terrorise him etc but this suspense kept the audience intrigued. The film has one up on the book in the ways it uses flashbacks....and how Neville's life took the drastic change it had to compared to the limited flashbacks in the novel. The scenes of Neville's shiny new Mustang GT500 racing through a deserted NYC are especially incredible.
Alright so, the ending. The books ending actually explains the title, where Neville is a legend amongst the infected for his killing exploits etc, but the film only makes him out to be a legend for finding a cure!? The character's of Anna and Ethan are also somewhat suspect...how did a young girl and a kid survive when Will Smith is struggling and has a whole cupboard of guns at his disposal. But the end sequence with the storming of his house and what follows is incredibly cinematic and exciting.
Overall the movie was very good, although different from the book. Those fans of the novel who have slammed Hollywood think if a movie exactly true to the book would be exciting and tense and as cinematic as this movie was. My only major complaint would be how CGI is the only method in which the dark seekers are portrayed,which takes away some level of believability in the way they move and act, but it did make for the movie to seem more scary and fast paced. Although many key aspects are different from what made the book great, there are other added factors in the movie that make it too great, in its own right.