Fairly enjoyable but really just a glossier Hollywood version of 28 Days Later

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2007)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Scientist Dr Robert Neville (Will Smith) is seemingly the only human survivor of a deadly virus that has wiped out the whole of civilization. But every day he still sends a message over radio frequencies for other survivors, if there are any, to meet him at the highest sunset point in New York City at midday, as well as still desperately trying to find a cure. But when he loses his only companion he goes mad and tries to kill himself and any zombie he can see...only to be drawn into contact with two other survivors, Anna (Alice Braga) and her young son Ethan (Charlie Tahan) and a final, apocalyptic showdown to save mankind.
You thought a deserted London looked impressive in 28 Days Later (the film this will inevitably be compared to?) Try a deserted New York city for size. This certainly catches your eye in the opening scenes as some overshots eerily show the Big Apple with no people in total silence which really makes you think. And though I'm sure Smith enjoyed being able to zoom around the city as fast as he liked, I'm planning my first ever trip there next year and I didn't appreciate the surprise of what it had to offer being sort of ruined for me. But I'm sure that was the last thing the producers of the film were thinking about when they made it.
Since he's the only thing in it (for the first half of the film, anyway), it might be a good idea to focus on Smith's performance in the film. This is the type of film he does, but this isn't your typical 'blockbuster' film. It isn't driven by special effects, more on eerie silence and imminent threat. And the 15 certificate (which, being a zombie film, it must have got by the skin of it's teeth) bars it being one that will draw in the whole family. He shows his development as an actor here, with a more mature role that requires him to be less showy than he may have used to be. He struggles with some of the more emotional scenes, but a far worse actor could have been doing it. Midway through the film, he's joined by Braga and Tahan as the mother and son pair and this provides a chance for some more tense emotional scenes. Sometimes Smith does wonder into a DVD rental store to talk to some mannequins but it has to be said they are a bit, well, wooden.
The zombies themselves do the usual leap out of nowhere/make you jump kind of thing and they're certainly quite loud but they're not that scary when you see 'em up close and personal. The film also suffers some contrived moments in the script that require some huge suspension of disbelief. It's a slick and glossy film that gets by on a neat use of silence and air of threat but, even being a big Hollywood film, it basques in the shadow of homegrown effort 28 Days Later. That film's great style, look and feel sadly make this one, despite not being bad, look half the film it wants to be. ***