Don't expect it to be a cinematic legend

Rating: 2/10 (23 December 2007)

As a fan of Will Smith and sci-fi/action movies, this movie was just plain utterly horrible for a myriad of reasons. First off, the script was horrible. I mean, Robert Neville (Smith) spent his time talking to mannequins for no apparent reason. Yes, mannequins, like the kind you'd see in stores such as Macy's. When Neville does have human contact with a girl named Anna, their conversations are poorly written, not to mention their interactions with one another was of equal lacking and just painful to watch.
Second, the mutant-vampire things or whatever they were had been a fine example of excellent computer animation, but there was never enough explained about them. For example, every time there was something explaining the virus that caused their mutation was either a quick flash from a paper or garbled out by other sounds, with became very annoying. There was also numerous inconsistencies in the story, too. If the vampires had lost all human intelligence and were just a bunch of wild monsters, then where did they get the intelligence and cunning to make a trap that was identical to one Neville had set up earlier in a different spot and to move one of the mannequins to the spot of the trap? A story flaw in the raw is how I see it.
Third, although I'm normally not a nit-picker on camera angles and sound effects, but they were just utter garbage. When a vampire would be shown, the camera would all of a suddenly go into jerky camera movements that made it impossible to see what was going on and even left me dizzy. As for the sound effects, one second it would be so quiet you can hear a pin drop, but then, out of no where, the sound would be booming with vampire roaring or explosions so loud it's enough to make you jump out of your skin.
Finally, to put the frosting on the cake, the ending ranks with one of the worst I've seen yet. Besides Neville killing himself, which I found pointless, Anna and her son went up to the refugee camp in Vermont she had spoken about earlier and walking into the walled-in small town. Then, the screen went black. I found it to be highly dissatisfying and I can see exactly why I said in the silent theater when the credits began to roll "Wow. This movie was bad." All in all, this movie was just a waste of my time. I do own a copy of and plan on reading Richard Matheson's novel in the near future, which I believe will be much better than this piece of garbage called a movie. If you want a good Will Smith sci-fi flick, go for I, Robot or Independence Day.