The story: Robert Neville and his pet dog are the last survivors of a virus that killed everyone in the world (or so Robert thinks) and transformed them into mad, vampire like creatures called Dark Seekers. Aside from gathering supplies and looking for signs of life, Robert spends most of his lonely time trying to find a cure. Will he succeed? Will he find any survivors?

As a huge fan of Richard Matheson’s novel, I was quite dissatisfied by this film adaptation as the extensive use of CGI completely took me out of the film. “Omega Man” may be a dated and deeply flawed adaptation, but I found the opening scenes in a REAL deserted Los Angeles to be highly effective and chilling. True, “I Am Legend” does have some real location shooting, but the F/X team covers everything up with their own post-apocalyptic vision. Worst of all, the F/X team makes the movie’s villains (The Dark Seekers) entirely CGI. Not since “Van Helsing” have I been so embarrassed by CGI creations. Just look at the Dark Seeker people with the dogs and try not to laugh.

Another issue I had with the script by Akiva Goldsman and Mark Protosevich is that they threw in random bid budget action sequences and some cringe worthy scenes involving Robert talking to Mannequins and acting out “Shrek.” Not only do these scenes not play well on screen, but they are far too long and take up valuable screen time.

The only redeeming quality of this adaptation was the acting by Will Smith and the dog. It’s a shame that Will Smith keeps doing these safe Hollywood vehicles as he is wasting his talent. He needs to take meatier roles such as he did in “Ali.”