Ho-Hum story ruined by one gaping plot hole

Rating: 4/10 (2 January 2008)

This was a run of the mill standard science fiction story that any fan of sci-fi has probably already heard or read several times. As far as the story goes, there was nothing really new or interesting about the tale, except one glaring fatal flaw. The photography was good and the special effects were acceptable but nothing earth shattering. How many times have we seen a devastated earth, or even just devastated New York City? If the filmmakers were expecting a "Wow, he is growing corn in Central Park" they better hope that some people have never paid attention to science fiction or the stacks of movies that have similar things.
As for the acting, once again it was acceptable. Will Smith works hard in his role and is believable (glaring error notwithstanding). He has continued to develop as an actor but, once again, the whole "last man on earth" scenario has been done numerous times before so it is not breaking any new ground. His attachments to store dummies and a video store are humorous and consistent. However, his logical attitude and believability is what makes the glaring error such a vast glaring error that destroyed the film for me.
SPOILER ALERT  The Glaring Error  Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a scientist and believes he may be the sole sane survivor of the plague he has dedicated his life to stopping. He maintains his sanity and drive, in large part, by recording everything and focusing on the details of life and survival. This is in his continued efforts to cure the plague and in his daily life. He needs a "human" subject to test a cure on so sets out to capture a DarkSeeker (infected humans). He sets a trap and captures one, a female, but a male one I will call Alpha almost braves the sunlight to confront him (sunlight being toxic to DarkSeekers). He even comments on this highly unusual behavior in his notes and hypothesizes that lack of food is causing them to override their survival instincts and that all traces of humanity appear to be gone. All fine so far.
Later, Neville is caught in a trap almost exactly like the trap he set for the DarkSeeker. The bait is one of his store dummy friends. Despite this obvious use of tools and pre-planning and coordination, he never asks such a thing is possible for just animals. Even when Alpha appears and releases some infected dogs into the dimming sunlight, Neville makes no connection and never comments on it in his records or otherwise that we are shown. Neville goes out at night and is attacked by DarkSeekers in an animalistic fashion. Suddenly, Alpha shows up and the attack becomes coordinated and logical. Neville fails to notice the difference. The DarkSeekers attempt to attack his home and it is a haphazard rush toward the house until, you guessed it, Alpha shows up and things become coordinated and the DarkSeekers begin to be able to brave hazards like fire. Still, no apparent recognition of this by Neville.
I could not conceive that a scientist so dedicated to finding cures and links between things, and so dedicated to take notes and making observations, would completely overlook the role of Alpha and the change in behavior. Perhaps there are deleted scenes which show him realizing it but if so, shame on the movie makers for taking that out. Neville was a believable character until he suddenly and inexplicably completely ignores this obvious and important bit of information. This omission is what changed an otherwise acceptable sci-fi tale into something I have to rate so low.