An isolated thriller

Rating: 8/10 (16 January 2008)

Being a huge Will Smith fan (Fresh Prince, Ali) I was really looking forward to this film. Smith stars as Robert Neville, a scientist who is the last man left alive in New York City after a virus wipes out human life, leaving horrible creatures to roam around in the dark.
Will Smith is wildly known for his roles in action films such as Independence Day, Bad Boys 1 and 2. Here however he is challenging a new genre in this scary horror film. I'm personally not a huge fan of horror films but I enjoyed this particular one because mainly of Smith, the direction and the plot.
Smith is on top form as the central protagonist Neville, who is a very quiet soul, who lives his life on the edge every day with his dog Sam, trying to find a way out of the city. He is well suited for the role, occasionally throwing in the odd joke now and then, (watch for the Shrek scene), and an interesting look on Neville's character.
The direction is marvellous. As Neville is the last person alive, Lawrence creates a wonderful atmosphere to portray this with heavy use of long shots and the dialogue with Sam the dog create sadness and wonder of life alone.
The plot is well written, giving us a brief introduction of how Neville came to be the last alive to slowly engaging the audience into how Neville goes about staying alive. As the film progresses, we are given flashbacks to understand what happened on the night it all changed for Neville, a heart warming story in itself. I found the use of flashbacks very dramatic and portrayed the loneliness of the character.
It's scary with the creatures of darkness very quiet at the beginning but being more threatening during the latter parts.
As good as the film is I couldn't help but make comparisons with Danny Boyle's 28 days later. That film has the same ideology of a virus escaping and taking over human life.
Both films are equally as good. I Am Legend perhaps has a bit more character in but both are scary and are must watches for any horror film fans.