Zombies and explosions and plot twists, oh my. Just what I needed for the Holiday season and just what Will Smith delivers in the new Francis Lawrence (Constantine) directed movie, I Am Legend.

It is the year 2012, three years after a miracle cancer cure turns deadly and wipes out 95% of the human race. Smith stars as Col. Robert Neville, M.D., an army doctor who was part of the 1% (yea, what are the odds?) who was immune to the virus. He was also the guy (yea, what are the odds?) who was heading up the government program to try and stem the tide of death.

The first half of the movie is very much like Cast Away, with Smith 'shipwrecked' alone the island of Manhattan. We see the monotony of his days--growing corn, going to the video store, rummaging through apartment buildings for food, hunting deer--and the horror of his nights--when the affected human zombies come out to feed. In between all of this, Dr. Neville is in his home basement laboratory, trying to find a cure to the virus. His dog Sam takes the place of Wilson as the lone friendly character that Smith can act off.

The visuals of an empty New York are quite amazing and it was not all done with special effects. The populace of that city had more than a bit of inconvenience to the point where in one interview, Smith talks about closing a 5 block portion of Park Avenue by saying he was beginning to think that his name was "Ef Yu." What is also amazing is the way we are kept on our seats for most of the film. Even in the more quiet moments, there is always the expectation that something bad is going to happen. And our expectations are quite often fulfilled.

With most horror films, believability is very important when it comes to being scared. You don't want your audience asking too many What If questions while your star is attempting to move the plot line forward. In I Am Legend, most of these questions are dealt with cleanly. We know what happened to Neville's family. And by making him a military doctor, we can understand why his home is more like a fortress, and how he knew everything he needed to know in order to survive as long as he has. The biggest What If questions, which was dealt with in Cast Away and here, is how does a human deal with being completely alone for an extended period of time? How does he keep from going crazy and harming himself? We get a partial answer to that one when in one scene Smith mimics about 2 minutes of the movie Shrek. You can tell that Neville has watched that film as many times as my 2 1/2 year old goddaughter. Speaking of his acting, it is wonderful, and in one scene where his dog is injured, Smith shows even more heart than he did in last year's The Pursuit of Happyness.

If you are the kind of person who does not like horror films because you spend a good deal of time with your eyes closed, this is not the film for you. My wife went to this one... Well, cause she loves Will Smith, but spent most of the film getting better aquatinted with my shoulder. Consider yourself warned, but enjoy this perfect example of what a current-age Popcorn Flick should be--action filled, a great story and able to draw the audience into another world, even if it is ours a few short years from now.

Hank Yuloff is a film reviewer living in Los Angeles.