Dogs from the Resident Evil franchise? Check. Lame villain from 28 weeks later? Check. Reapers from Blade 2? Check. What do you get when you combine all these elements? I Am Legend, a movie that did not know whether it wanted to be serious or an action flick.

Director Francis Lawrence (Constantine) tries to combine both and fails miserably. The movie starts with Will Smith’s character Robert Neville roaming an empty New York City in his Shelby GT500. Soon enough, we find out that he’s the last man on Earth and there are deadly creatures that only come out at night. With his dog, Sam, they try to hunt deers and set traps for Reaper (Blade 2) looking creatures, called Seekers. Seekers are suppose to have no intelligence yet we see the main bad guy ordering his goons to attack Neville. What’s more laughable is that the Seeker leader shows up wherever Neville is at (28 Weeks Later syndrome).

Surprisingly, the best part of the movie are the flashback scenes. We are taken back to the day when society falters It’s enough to give the audience an understanding of what is happening without over explaining. I must admit Will Smith’s acting was better than I was expecting. He shows us great range of emotions, from crazy to desperation.

Smith’s acting is wasted because of Lawrence’s vision of a post apocalyptic New York City that is not so post apocalyptic. Neville has survived the plague for three years and we still see a city that is pretty clean. Apartments have no dust and looks like it’s been maintained by a housekeeper everyday. Neville still dresses with style, trying to impress the mannequins. Also, the Shelby GT, looks like it just came out of the dealer room. In short, the environment is not believable

What’s even worse are the special effects. Seeker dogs (Resident Evil) are a joke. The way they move is so weightless and unconvincing that it takes the viewers out of the movie. Lawrence also makes another brilliant decision by making the Seekers’ CG. Hey Mr. director, notice how in Blade 2 the Reapers were played by real life actors and looked pretty believable. Just because you have the budget for CG, doesn’t mean you should use it.

This movie was a total disappointment but I should have known better because the producer, Neal H. Moritz, financed some great classics in the past such as: XXX, Torque and Stealth.

Save your money and watch Dawn of The Dead (2004) instead. In the movie, you’ll see a society convincingly break down and a bleak future for the characters. Something you will not see in I Am Legend.

Grade: C

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