• The beginning of the film is grandiose, epic and spectacularly realized. We see a New York city that has been abandoned for three years, completely devoid of human activity due to a plague that has transformed human beings and most animals into frenzied aggressive vampire like beings. Nature seems to have taken a foothold a little too quickly for such a steel and concrete island, but the effects are breathtaking nonetheless. Deer roam through the city streets of Manhattan and even the zoo's lions and such can be seen prowling about.
• We then see Smith's character race a FORD GTO whatever through the streets in the most impractical way to hunt deer; the movie is plagued with the logic loopholes even as it goes through great pains to establish a realistic view of what life would be like as the last man alive (and you'd be in idiot to think that this Hollywood product sticks to the grim concept).
• His companion is a dog who after having been alone with for so long, really strikes me as a brilliant touch, the dog says nothing but becomes a powerful character not only for Smith, but for the audience. Smith is immune to the plague but not his dog. There is genuine tension when the dog runs into a dark underground passage, and Smith must risk his own life to save his dog, best friend and I guess only family. The scene describe is frightening; Smith is armed with a gun, but in this place it means nothing, he can't see in the dark like they can, and he is the very last person alive. Really, EVERY hope is on him making it out of here with his health and sanity (which hangs by a thread).
• Which brings me to the moments of characterization that he is given, a video store. He has put mannequins in the store and sets up social situations with them; chats idly with the clerk, looks at the female mannequin, too shy to ask her out. It could be funny, but Smith delivers it with genuine acting chops and brings real pathos to the character.
• The monsters reveal themselves and the movie's director enormously oversteps the bounds of suspension of disbelief we can handle with this kind of material. All of the 'vampires' are entirely CGI computer generated. This is an enormous mistake. None of them look passibly real or look like they can genuine interact with this world. They have CGI-itis of the mouth and eyes - they're Elmer Fudds. When the movie shows us dog vampires, you're rolling your eyes in disbelief that FX producers at Warner Bros deemed this good enough to play on screens, much less IMAX. I have seen plenty of lazy CGI in my time, but this is one of the most offensive cases.
• I can however overlook that if they were compelling in the first place. THey are not. THey all look the same, as if there were a female and male template copied and pasted a million times. Some of them are wearing rags, which you'd think after three years of living like an animal would have been ripped off and lost by now. CGI clothes are even worse. They're behaviour is nothing we haven't seen. It's the 28 Days Later idea of a fast zombie/vampire that screeches and for some unknown reason can scale walls and develop superhuman strength. The idea that was developped in zombie-film's GrandPoobah George A. Romero's Land of the Dead of a zombie developping intelligence is awkwardly adopted here, but suddenly dropped halfway through. We see a trap that was built for Smith's character but then the second half of the film abandons it as if it never happened. What a waste. Apparently the original book has us live through Smith's eyes to see them as the monsters and kill and slaughter them like animals when we find out in the end they were much more sentient then previously thought and to an extent, Smith becomes the fearful monster that is killing them. THis is much better than what we get...
• Last point. THis is a SPOILER of the film's ending, so don't read past this sentence if you don't want to know the 2nd half of the film's lazy and predictable twist. A woman turns up with a child in a big car with UV lights to save Smith. How they got onto Manhattan island when the film repeatedly shows us all the bridges have been blown up to prevent further contagion is beyond me. Another logic gap the size of an ocean liner. The woman is an Irish christian (played by a Brazilian actress with a dodgy half-assed accent), who comes to the New York (the city of sin, obviously) from rural Vermont (away from the carnal temptations of big city life) where there is a band of survivors. How did she travel to Vermont from Ireland I have no fucking clue. Smith doesn't want to leave because he happens to be researching a cure (why? after three years of being a bloody animal lunatic you're not going to suddenly want to drive to work every morning sipping on a Starbucks coffee or watch lousy Warner Bros movies, are you?) Obviously, a cure is found and so the god-fearing Christians have a cure, which they bring to their idyllic farm compound, complete with Churchbells and butterflies. Fuck. Off.
• Last but not least, you know how I love this bit: the off-putting RACIAL SUBTEXT. The first half of the film has the last man alive being a smart, ressourceful individual. He also happens to be black. When was the last time I was treated to a minority playing a hero, or better yet a superhero? Will Smith isn't second fiddle to Jeff Goldblum here folks, he's the H-E-R-O. and a charming one at that. But obviously, the white god-fearing christians come in and tell the po' black man how wrong he is. You see, living alone with vampires for 3 years has made Smith a little bit of an 'atheist' by this point. The woman and her muppet-child (who doesn't speak a word in the whole film but forces us to endure 5 mins of SHREK product placement), tells Smith how wrong he is for not choosing the LORD has his saviour. She's the missionary that's come to the dark continent to educate this savage.  - hence -
• HE DIES BECAUSE HE'S NOT CHRISTIAN.

Enjoy your fucking movie.

A Portuguese kick-boxer that goes by the same name as me!

To quote Brando, "I coulda been a contenda! "

New Update on the Sofia Front: Watch as she throws gang signs up towards the end of the video. What the hell is my brother teaching her?!

Announced so far: 3D graphics, 2D gameplay. Phew. That's the best news I've heard all week!