I Am Legend (2 stars only)

Novel: Richard Matheson Writer: Akiva Goldsman, Mark Protosevich Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Will Smith as Robert Neville, Abbey (a german shepard) as 'Sam'

Plot: A cancer reversible virus called KV was created by group of doctors (Emma Thompson) in 2009, with a 90% cure over a hundred thousand people having injected the vaccine. The mircale turned into nightmare when the virus became hostile and ironically, killed over 90% of the human population in three years. Within the remaining 10%, those who were infected turned into a nocturnal-flesh-eating-zombie-like specie known as 'night seekers', leaving the less than 1% of humanity in turmoil. The story begins in New York Manhattan in the year 2012, with only one survivor remaining in the city- Robert Neville, a once acclaimed virologist by the public as savior to the cure. Having lost his wife(Salli Richardson) and daughter(Willow Smith) during the outbreak three years ago, all he has left with as companion is his german shepard Sam(Abbey). He felt strongly responsible for the deaths and the cure, thus he remained in the city and continued his research. During a typical day patrol, he was ambushed by a zombie, Sam was lethally injured and eventually died from defending Robert. Robert soon decided to launch a suicide attack on the night seekers by the pier, where he set up a radio station broadcasting for survivors during the day. Luckily he was rescued by survivor Anna (Alice Braga), who heard the broadcast and arrived in time. She believed all being is god's will and was on her way to survivors' colony in Vermont. Robert initially denied her religious belief, but was eventually convinced at the final moment, when he realised he found the cure; having passed the cure on to Anna and her escape route secured, he self-datonated with a mass of invading zombies. Later on Anna travelled to Vermont, there she found a colony, not only she passed on the cure, but also the legend of Robert Neville- hence the title of the movie. 

Review: Wow, the plot took me longer than i thought. Those who havnt yet watched the movie must be thinking, dude, isnt it a little too much for a spoiler? I am trying to make a point here, first of all, the story frame, in my opinion, gives a really successful contemporary transformation from the original fiction since1957. Sadly the plot killed it, especially the end being so... abrupt and ultimately, empty, which carries on to the second point: 'emptiness'. It is the last thing i want from a movie, for it also means a waste of time, which is a tragedy for this movie; cos the story frame is so good, clearly the production have done a lot of research, and they got Will Smith to play Robert Neville, this movie could have been great! Instead they focused on the zombie bashing action hero aspect, which down-graded this movie by a mile. The only praiseworthy part is the relationship between Robert and Sam, some scenes are even emotional, which is the reason why i put Abbey the german shepard on the list of cast. She did well enough, in fact she was so intelligent she refused to play fetch with Robert so they had to replace another dog for the shot. All in all, the original story has depth on the darker side of instinctive humanity, this movie has one and half hour of Smith's trembling muscles and CGI gore; unless typical hollywood is bothering you, otherwise, take your shot on yet another zombie movie.