Will Smith in a scene from 'I am Legend'. - Contributed Photo

LOS ANGELES:

I Am Legend, the third or fourth film, depending on what you count, based on the 1954 apocalyptic science fiction novel by Richard Matheson, nails the emotional core in Matheson's story: What would it be like to be a last man on Earth?

Will Smith is, seemingly, that man: Robert Neville, a military virologist who has inexplicably survived a man-made virus that wiped out mankind. All of Manhattan is his home where he exercises, patrols and hunts with his dog Sam by day. At night, he hunkers down in his Washington Square townhouse with memories, videos and old albums that recall a vanished civilisation.

Vegetation and wildlife have reclaimed the eerily quiet canyons of gleaming yet useless high-rises. The sight of Robert speeding in a car through such familiar streets, otherwise empty of human life yet littered with the debris of a populace that fled deadly bacterium, produces genuine shock.

However, the writers retain the vampire element inherited from the literary source. Thus, the film can never quite decide whether it's speculate fiction or a B-movie horror show. It's not a fatal flaw, though, as Legend will be one of the most commercial holiday releases.

It seems the virus, developed initially to combat cancer, not only wiped out most of the Earth's population but also caused severe mutation among survivors. They became vampire/zombies that shun the light but venture into the night to eat flesh. These humanoids made by CGI and motion-capture technology are annoyingly fake creatures that add a risible element to an otherwise overly serious epic.

Turn the tables

As dusk comes each day, Robert boards up his abode, which is heavily fortified. Now 1,000 days into his ordeal, the year is 2012, he broadcasts daily radio messages in search of fellow survivors. He also hunts and traps these 'Dark Seekers' to experiment on their bodies with his immune blood to find a way to reverse the virus' effects. Then one day the creatures turn the tables: They trap him. He is wounded, and Sam gets bitten by plague-carrying dogs.

The third act either ups the ante of action and suspense or falls apart, depending on one's taste in science fiction.

Some viewers also might wonder at peculiar phenomena in this post-apocalyptic world: All utilities work perfectly, which might come as a shock to New Yorkers who experience problems with water, gas or electricity when a full work force mans those departments. While Robert's race through empty streets is visually thrilling, what's his hurry? And how did he single-handedly build a state-of-the-art lab in his basement?

Smith, sporting a newly buffed physique, delivers an extraordinary performance as a man slowly coming unglued under the strain of no human contact and a constantl role of hunter and prey. The action and suspense do quicken the pulse under the assured direction of Francis Lawrence.