OK, but that ending...!

Rating: 5/10 (31 January 2008)

This modern day remake of 'The Omega Man' (itself a remake of an earlier film 'The Last Man On Earth') is, for the most part, a typical slice of Hollywood nonsense, but it does suffer greatly from possibly the worst ending I have seen in a major Hollywood film for a long - more about that later, and if you don't want to know about it I suggest you stop reading this comment now! Will Smith is perfectly fine in the Charlton Heston role of the last man alive in New York after a cure for cancer had mutated into a nasty little virus - I think it was LA in Heston's version - although there are times when he is upstaged by the dog, Sam, one of the best animal performances on film for a long time! The empty streets of Manhatten are well achieved, as is the initial panic in the flashback scenes. The Dark Seekers are very menacing, and there are a few early scary scenes involving them. I also found the symbolism running throughout the film interesting, the eternal hunt for survival by man, animal and "other", the symbolic butterfly - seen both in the park when Sam the Dog watches puzzled as one flutters by her nose, and in the tattoo on Anna's neck. Of course the most obvious is that of day and night, dark and light etc, ie all good things happened in the light/day, whilst night/dark is seen as evil, all very Christian! For me the film begins to unravel when Anna and her child arrive on the scene. Suddenly one man's fight for survival and loneliness are replaced by a desire to reach a near mythological place of freedom - a none-too-subtle analogy of America pre-9/11 itself, which of course this film is. From being this interesting study of all the above the film becomes no more than just another chase movie ala 'The Invasion'. Also, there is no real explanation for the Will Smith's character's immunity to the virus, just why was he immune to it? This brings me to the ending...
WARNING - BIG ENDING SPOILER COMING UP (DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM AND DO NOT WANT TO KNOW HOW IT ENDS)
After all the sacrifices and surviving all the creatures of the night Anna and her child eventually arrive at the place of safety, and, guess what, it is some idealised version of White Picket Fence America, with a White Board Church, Sundrenched Roads, and, naturally, a HUGE American flag fluttering lightly in the breeze. All this surrounded by a massive wall and armed guards, all very symbolic of an America which has defeated all before and is rebuilding itself in an image of a rose-coloured past! Sorry, but considering that the whole world had been affected by the virus surely the place of safety would be something along the lines of the UN, not some sanitised version of an America which had lead to the birth of the virus in the first place. No I did not buy this ending at all, in fact it all but spoilt what had been, up to that point, an enjoyable bit of entertainment.