Apocalyptic sci-fi action

Rating: 8/10 (4 November 2009)

'Big budget Hollywood movie is actually quite good' shocker. Well, penetrate me senseless with a burning candle, just when I had started to give up all hope on mainstream movies, along comes this peach of a sci-fi actioner, starring the ever reliable Will Smith.
It's 2012, and most of the population has been wiped out by a deadly man made disease which was supposed to cure cancer once and for all. Unfortunately, once the pathogen was released into the general population, scientists discovered to their horror that people rapidly started to exhibit rabies like symptoms (aggression, photo-sensitivity) and it wasn't long before civilisation crumbled.
Smith's character, Dr. Robert Neville, is one of the few who have a natural immunity to the infection and, having survived alone in an abandoned New York City for three years he is still desperately searching for a cure. Problem is, he can only go out during the day, as at night the infected roam the streets, and for his research he must lure infectees into traps to work on as live subjects in his lab. It can only be a matter of time until his luck runs out....
Coming over as a cross between Twelve Monkeys (the virus) and 28 Days Later (the infected), this is a cautionary apocalyptic tale, based on Richard Matheson's book of the same name.
The first hour is superb, detailing the life of a man driven by a will to succeed in his seemingly futile attempts to find a cure, as well as showing us that, as time progresses and, having been alone for so long, he is starting to become slightly unbalanced.
The set pieces here are glorious and, though it does become a CGI-fest at times towards the climax, I can forgive it as it is so very well executed. Panned by many, I think this is an under-rated gem.
Liked it a lot.