Pretty good post-apocalyptic movie, but suffers from a cliché-ridden ending. (No spoilers)

Rating: 7/10 (11 January 2008)

I am Legend, starring Will Smith, is a feature film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name. And the movie is quite a good one, successfully portraying the feeling of isolation, post-apocalyptic dread, sufficient acting, and a tight storyline for the most part, it suffers from a cliché-ridden finale that weakens the experience a bit.
The movie is about virologist Robert Neville, who thinks he may be Earth's only human not affected by a man-made virus. He works to create a cure while living in a city inhabited by mutant victims of the plague.
The film starts off great, with a little flashback to how the infection began, and then moving towards the present when Will Smith is the only man on Earth. Throughout the movie, the movie goes back in time and tells what really happened and led to the current state of humankind. This was a great way to start off, and the idea of how the infection spread is unique from other zombie movies, and makes you think too.
Talking about the vampires in the movie, they do not look most convincing as they would have if they would have been human, but thankfully, that doesn't detract from the experience so much. Will Smith gives a good performance as an isolated scientist looking for a cure, so does the rest of the cast (a few to speak of) It is after the first act that the experience starts to be marred. Midway, the movie adds a few drawn-out Castaway inspired sequences which we all have seen, not to mention the one with the dog. You will know it when you see it. They are well-shot, but we have seen them before done better.
As a few other characters are introduced, the movie falls for a very cliché-ridden ending, which is the weakest point for the movie. Not spoiling anything, I can just say that we have seen the very ending in countless zombie movies like 'Dawn of the Dead', 'Shaun of the Dead' etc.
Overall, I am Legend is a fun ride for the most part, and though the clichéd ending is a letdown, the movie never fails to entertain. Worthy of the ticket price.