Fantastic film, well acted with a great plot.

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2008)

I have just returned from seeing I Am Legend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Admittedly the CG monsters were a bit iffy in places but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the film. The only two needless parts were a rather steroid-laden Will Smith gets his kit off to exercise (for the ladies I presume?) And the gratuitous car porn a-la the Shelby GT-500 that wasn't used apart from a few shots in the opening of the film. It was exactly what I wanted from a post-apocalyptic film and I really thought it did a much better job with the source material than The Last Man On Earth and The Omega Man. I felt the ending was logical and well placed and came at just the right time and Will Smith did an excellent job with the role, particularly the scenes hinting at the on-set of humanity. The twist was intact as well although I know a lot of people seemed to miss it.
I'll definitely be picking this one up on DVD and really look forward to watching it again. I can understand why there is a lot of criticism about the film, if you go in expecting a zombie flick you'll be sorely disappointed, and you'll also be left a bit despondent if you expect typical Will Smith action man/tongue in cheek adventure. It does leave a lot to the imagination and it asks more questions than it answers but that's exactly what I like from a great film, I hate cheesy dialogue and daft comments that have been forced into films just to explain things that the audience really should be able to figure out for themselves ("we learned earth's languages from the world wide web" a-la Transformers springs to mind"). In my opinion it's a solid 8/10, although a lot of people in the cinema seemed to think differently from what I could overhear when everyone left the auditorium. That said I thought 28 Days Later (another post-apocalyptic zombie style film that springs to mind) was abysmal and everyone I know seemed to enjoy it. I can't put my finger on exactly why but it seems to be a real "love it or hate it" marmite type of film.