Needlessly terrible movie, missed opportunity

Rating: 1/10 (13 September 2008)

I guess it's not the worst film i've ever seen, but when you take into consideration the kind of movie it could have been, well.... The people who put this together must be complete and utter MORONS. I can't understand how so many people could be so simultaneously stupid to produce this the way they did. First of all, why oh why in god's soiled name did they choose to make ALL the monsters CG, and very poor CG too? The bad guys look ridiculously stupid, fake, and video-gamey. I can't fathom this... why didn't they just use real actors? WHY??!? it would have looked better, it would have made the film scarier, and it probably would have been CHEAPER TOO!! AAAAAGGHHHH!!!! I'd be an extra for a post-apocalyptic movie for $20.... They would be slightly more tolerable if the character design wasn't so bad, but it was terrible. The lead bad guy looks like a steroid-popping leper.
Secondly, interspersing the present in the film with the past was suuuchhh a bad callll. The whole deal is that Neville is the last man on Earth, and the loneliness is supposed to almost be a character in itself, that's why his dog is so important, cuz there's NO ONE ELSE. So, idiots that they are, they cram the movie with scenes from the past that are full of people and action, completely ruining all atmosphere, any semblance of a vibe. They want to show Neville's tragedy , right whatever. As a result we never identify with his desolation, cuz the editing doesn't allow us to, we keep seeing people (from the past).
Lastly, the casting. I'm not a Will Smith hater, i think he's a decent actor but he was SO WRONG for this role. Will Smith, by virtue of being who he is and signifying what he does, automatically makes the movie less dark and mysterious. The minute Will Smith is in a movie, the movie has lost some of its edge. I can see why the studio execs, horrible human beings that they are, thought it was a good idea: "oh, if we put Will Smith in it more families will think it's OK for their children, it will reach a wider audience and sell more. Oh yeah, he's black, that will make more minorities watch it too, more tickets, Smith's a goldmine, look at his box office numbers, money money money, bla bla etc etc." Casting the girl from City of God is a bad call too. She works in that film just fine, in her minor supporting role amidst hundreds of Rio De Janeiro locals, but just lacks the star power for this kind of thing. If a friend introduced me to her or something, i'd think hey that's a cute girl, but she has nowhere near the charisma necessary to co-star with Will Smith (who does have charisma, the family-friendly kind) as some of THE LAST PEOPLE ON EARTH.
Finally, this had to be by far the most bloodless, soft-core, toothless horror movie i've ever seen. It doesn't have to be a splatter-fest but if you can't make a horror movie without breaking some heads.
It's so frustrating. They decide they're making a post-apocalyptic horror film, then go about sabotaging their aim every way possible.