Worse than expected

Rating: 1/10 (13 January 2008)

After "The Last Man on Earth (1964) with Vincent Price" and "The Last Man Alive (1971) with Charlton Heston" this is now the third try to make a movie out of the story of Richard Matheson. Plot: A virus, this time it's man-made, (A cure for cancer) has unexpected side effects. It goes out of control and can infect rats and dogs (better made in "Resident evil") too. The virus is spreading on body contact but is also airborne. The virus infects nearly everybody with exception of our hero and his dog (so it seems). Most of the infected people are dying. Those who are not dying transform into zombie like creatures. Madly violent and strongly light sensitive. They have to hide from daylight and are leaving their hideouts only in the dark.
Compared to it's predecessors, not even the action scenes are better. Sure the producers made plenty use of computer generated animation and also "modernised" the scenes, but that's it. In the version of 1971 the audience got all information to understand the plot. Now there are a few hints but, not enough. There are also sudden turns in the plot which are not making sense. So if you haven't seen one of the earlier versions (or read the book), you are probably lost. Compared with other apocalyptic plague movies (like Breakout) the science is worse. Summerised: This movie is just something for Will Smith fans. Everybody else should try to find a copy of "The Last Man Alive".