I haven’t been so disappointed in a movie since Van Helsing, which is saying a lot. Granted, I had expectations that were probably too high for the Hugh Jackman vehicle, expecting something along the lines of the anime Hellsing, based on the movie poster. It was a shallow, poorly acted movie with very weak, over the top effects. Fortunately, I Am Legend avoids most of those pitfalls.

The first two thirds of the film are pretty decent. Will Smith displays some impressive acting skills, worthy of the praise tossed around in the commercials. He has to carry much of the movie himself, with the help of his character’s dog, and Robert Neville as the last man on Earth is one of the film’s most compelling elements (hence its emblazoning on the film’s posters).

There’s some good tension here, including the reveal of the film’s monsters. Someone’s paid attention to the Ridley Scott / James Cameron movie school of building tension by not showing, then showing a little, before finally unleashing the film’s monsters on the audience.

Where the film falls apart is the reveal that Robert Neville is, in fact, not the last person on Earth. He's not even the last man. His convenient rescue by an attractive South American woman is what brings the movie to a screeching halt. She was no doubt added by the decree of a studio suit in a bid to boost test audience scores by giving Will Smith a female for the audience to fantasize about him “getting with”, as if his wife played by Salli Richardson (Eureka) in flashbacks wasn’t enough hotness for the movie.

I don’t understand the compulsion to insist your movie is about one thing and then reveal that it really isn’t. If you have to trick the audience into thinking one thing with your ads and tagline, you fail as a story teller. Telling me for the months of advertising preceding this film’s release that this is a story about “the last man on earth” makes me think that this is just that. Revealing that there was an entire colony of healthy men, women and children during the film's events is a slap in the face to the source material, the audience, and moreover, I suspect the director and screenwriter.

They re-shot the ending to this movie several weeks ago. I really hope that when this film comes to DVD it gets a director’s cut. Something tells me it’s going to be as different from the theatrical version as Blade Runner’s was. In the case of Ridley Scott’s masterpiece, it’s like watching two different movies. Hopefully the director’s final vision was something more in line with the novel this movie was based on, in which case test audiences took a crap on an intelligent, original idea, and ended this movie with a ham fisted, beat you over the head narration that’s so blatantly tagged on I was making faces in the theater and literally beating myself over the head to simulate what was happening on the screen. I almost walked out of this movie, around the time Will Smith walks into his kitchen and the woman and a boy are there with some delicious breakfast. I stayed, however, in the vain hope that somehow, maybe the new survivors were all in Will Smith’s head.

The monster effects were pretty weak too. Humans with stretchy mouths just don't do it for me I guess. They didn't bother me that bad though, and I could have easily overlooked them if the end product were stronger.