Not quite there...yet

Rating: 7/10 (3 January 2008)

This movie falls short of being the definitive post-apocalyptic movie I have been waiting to see since I first saw Romero's Dawn of the Dead (DOTD). Although Will Smith was an excellent choice for this movie the CGI zombies were appalling. You have to ask why they did not use real actors like in 28 Days/Weeks Later which were horrifying. The bloodshot eyes of the infected in Days/Weeks truly hit the mark. The only time IAL came close was the scene with the mother trying to get her daughter past the checkpoint in one of the flashback sequences. Her bloodied eyes and tears of blood lifted that sequence considerably.
However, CGI aside, what really failed in this movie was the lack of any screen time covering the end of civilization. Sure we get to see the streets of New York 3 years later and sure we get a look at someone's abandoned apartment. However, I wanted to see more during the time the virus began to spread and panic began to break out. I wanted to see how people survived and barricaded themselves in at night  living in fear and terror with the noises going on outside. What would you do in a similar situation? How well could you fortify your abode? How long could you last before you had to make excursions to find supplies? What if you were trying to hide out in an industrial area where supplies would be scarce? Referring back to 28 Weeks Later (again), the best sequence in that movie was the first 5 minutes with the group of survivors living in a farmhouse. The tension in that first 5 minutes was second to none and when he left his wife behindsublime moment in horror movie making. What would you have done?
What I would have done to improve IAL: 1. Use real actors over the abysmal CGI. 2. Add 30 minutes to the beginning of the movie show casing the decline of civilization. 3. Show Will Smith fortifying and stocking his home to protect his family from not only the infected but also other survivors. Imaging having to fear both during the day and night! 4. The last 2 hours could have been all about Will Smith surviving and trying to find a cure for his Wife and or Child who had become infected. This could have made the story a more selfish mission of just trying to save his family and not the world. Think of how he might have hunted down his wife/daughter without killing them. Think of how it would have been if it had been his Wife/Daughter on that operating table at the end when the infected were trying to break through. 5. Remove any notion that the infected were intelligent. They should have been nothing more than pack hunters. This is what ruined 28 Weeks Later for me as well. That is, having the father act with intelligence and seemingly recognizing his children after he had become infected.
Anyway, overall I give IAL 7/10.