I Am Legend

"I Am Legend" is an interesting movie. It falls squarely into both the post-apocalyptic genre and the zombie genre. I'm pretty sure its intended more as a post-apocalyptic movie than a zombie movie since the zombies play a minor role and are technically not zombies (the 28 series of movies shares the same non-zombie zombie problem as "I Am Legend" but are most definitely zombie movies).
Will Smith puts in a solid performance as the sole survivor of a global holocaust. He makes the character's delicate grip on sanity, his loneliness, his monomaniacal drive, and his innate nobility tangible. The character could be either too easily pitied or loathed in lesser hands. Instead, Smith's portrayal makes him human.
The CGI and the setting shots are erie. The CGI effects are kept to a minimum and look natural. The New York of the movie is too easily recognizable in its emptiness. Instead of being devastated, it is just empty. Like a ghost town, nature has started to reclaim what man wrought.
My only complaint with the movie is that the story begs for more than a 1.5 hour screen play can deliver. The movie does an admirable job of staying focused. However, there are questions around the edges that are never tackled.
The question about the infected's humanity is the biggest one for me. It is clear that the battle between Smith and the infected is over a woman - yet the infected are treated only from Smith's perspective. He views them as both less than human and in need of saving (from a disease he had a hand in creating). Have they really been reduced to inhumanity? Does the drive to protect a mate only make it more imperative that they be "cured"? Or are they simply transformed into something beyond Smith's understanding and deserve to be left alone?
Perhaps the infected deserve to inherit the earth than Smith's kind nearly destroyed?
There is irony in the movies premise also - but letting out of the bag would spoil things....