"I Am Legend" ***1/2 (out of four): Superlative fright-fest featuring Will Smith at the top of his game as the last human survivor in a Manhattan full of night-dwelling mutants.

You’d think, after a novel has been adapted into films starring both Vincent Price and Charlton Heston, there’d be nowhere else to go. But no. Apparently, Richard Matheson’s much-celebrated novel “I Am Legend” – already made as 1964's "The Last Man on Earth" and 1971’s “The Omega Man” – still has some life left in it. This time, retaining the novel’s original title, we find Will Smith cast in the role of Robert Neville – humanity’s last survivor after an infection turns the human race into night-dwelling mutants (or something of that ilk). I never thought I’d say it, but for Mr. Matheson’s story, it turns out the third time is the charm.

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