I Am Legend (DVD, 2008, Widescreen)

This movie was a great holiday hit for a reason. Sony's special effects house did an excellent job with New York City. The only time the CGI didn't work was in the very beginning when the sports car was racing through the city. I felt as though I was playing GranTourismo.

The premise of the movie was effective and imaginative. The story-line was suspenseful and it built the idea of human survival even in the roughest of times. Perserverence will triumph every time.

Where this movie went awry was when the zombies went from crazed zombies who lack brains (which would be why they love to eat brains so much) became an arch rival species in the intellegence department. There's nothing wrong with a crafty zombie, but the portrayal of a throwback species rivaling one of the greatest scientists man has ever known (Will Smith's character) wasn't believable. Further, the zombies themselves displayed abilities that defied physics.

One of the subplots had to do with the alternate ending. Being familiar with Sony's special effects department, I was aware of the ending AFTER I had seen this movie in the theatre. The original ending was not a surprise to me because it was implied all throughout the subplot between Will Smith and the zombie leader. The original ending, however, tested so awfully that Sony had less than 2 weeks to manufacture the ending that made it into the theatres. The writers would have done better if they permitted the zombies to "feel" emotions, but kept the spider man like acrobatics and human-like intellegence to be in line with physics and the "reality" portrayed in the destroyed New York city.

At the end of the day, this movie was very entertaining and it eliminated all doubt that Will Smith is the blockbuster male actor of Hollywood.