Disappointing... Just another zombie movie

Rating: 5/10 (2 January 2008)

I've been waiting for "I Am Legend" to come out for quite a while. Having seen the other films ("Last Man of Earth" and "Omega Man") and read the book, I was hoping they would try something different this time. Unfortunately, they didn't. This latest version does not stay true to the book (like the others) and misses the whole point. The reason "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson is such a classic is that it's not like every other zombie story. The end is not happy, nor is it really expected. It offers a profound point of view that really grabs the reader. The movie on the other hand does none of this. It really is just another zombie flick.
On it's own, it's similar to "28 Days Later" only not as original or good. Everyone has done the angry and powerful zombie thing now and it's getting old. "Omega Man" was better and they made it more than twenty years ago.
Like many new movies, they've relied on CGI effects rather than real objects or stop motion. The result is quite obviously fake with very poor looking animal and vehicle motions.
Will Smith is indeed good but even his performance can't save this film.
The producers of "I Am Legend" had the chance to do something different and thought provoking with this film but they missed the opportunity. How disappointing.