The Last Omega Legend On Earth

Rating: Null/10 (7 January 2008)

*** Some mild spoilers *** First, we had the Richard Matheson novel with the same title, which has become itself, the stuff of "Legend".
Next, Matheson contributed to (under a pseudonym) a script for a Vincent Price-starring version shot in Italy as THE LAST MAN ON EARTH. For years, the film suffered a poor reputation for its low budget, Price's performance and the unfaithfulness to its source material. In recent years, a 35mm print (and some decent quality DVDs) has begun showing in Festivals and in revival houses has emerged and the film's rep has been rehabbed to a certain extent. I am quite fond of it, despite some major problems.
Then, it was Charleton Heston as THE OMEGA MAN in a tres 70's version. This one strays further from the novel, but Heston was on quite an SF run with PLANET OF THE APES, SOYLENT GREEN and this film and it's still enjoyable. And, the Oop CD soundtrack is groovy, man! Now, it's Will Smith in a version that actually uses the book's title. With a budget who's craft service account alone probably cost more than the combined budgets of the previous 2 films (even adjusted for inflation), the film unquestionably has the largest scope of the trio.
While not quite as faithful to Matheson's story as LAST MAN, it hues close enough. Smith is a fine actor, but this isn't his best performance. Mock Heston (and Price) all you want, but the part seems to need an actor with a bit more gravitas than Smith can provide. The prior two versions had a greater sense of despair and gloom. The Architectural Digest look of his apartment gives the film an uncomfortably 'homey' feel that seems all wrong for the tale. The scene where the Brazilian woman and the kid show up and watch SHREK has a cheery domesticality that seems from another picture. Similarly, the Flashbacks seem imposed in order to beef up Smith's character's emotion, rather than allowing the performance to do so (the flashbacks don't really add anything to the "plot"; but, at least, they don't resort to the hoary 'Home Movies' cliché!).
Still, I think the film works. Largely, it's Matheson's bleak vision that prevails, despite an all too predictable Hollywood Ending that is totally at odds with the prior two films and Matheson's tale. I didn't see the CGI in the film as negatively as others have, and the Art Direction is truly superior with a, for once, totally believable empty city. The Big Studio nature of the film seems to have required pumping up the action a bit, and the whole CGI "Fast Zombie" thing has become old hat following the 28 DAYS/WEEKS LATER films, the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake etc.. This version was in the works for well over a decade and, in a way, may have come too late to seem as fresh as it might have if it had been made several years ago.
Still, this is one of the better SF films made in recent years. The direction and script show intelligence, and, minor contrivances aside, doesn't condescend to audience expectations.