Dell's Pointless Lists Presents: 3 Movies, 1 Book - I Am Legend

[dell71]

The Big Finish

Novel: Ruth takes off but leaves a letter behind explaining about the pill she takes that enables her to remain somewhat normal. Robert then figures out a major detail about why people have become infected in the manner they have. We fast-forward a few years and Ruth's people come after our hero, bring him back to their headquarters and kill him. It's clearly set up as a massive turn of the tables. Now that he is the only "man" and spends so much time killing vampires, he has become the monster. As the book says, "normalcy is a majority concept." The vampires are afraid of him and must get rid of him before their new society can thrive. The hero has become the villain.

LM: Robert has an idea that his blood can cure the "disease." He finds out he's right when he cures Ruth. However, since her people are coming for our hero tonight there's no time to stop them and inform them of the good news. Instead, they show up gung-ho, ready to kill. Robert manages to get away from home but is chased to a nearby church where he is killed. The prevailing idea of the transferable quality of normalcy remains with the added religious weight of Robert's pleading with them to let him "save" them while being executed in a house of worship.

Faithfulness:

Effectiveness:

OM: Our hero comes up with a cure utilizing his own blood, cooks up a batch and uses it to rescue Lisa's brother. The boy is so thankful, he takes it upon himself to go tell The Family about the wonderful thing Robert did for him. He's killed for his trouble. Before the kid dies, Robert learns where he went to tries to save him, again. Unfortunately, Robert also gets himself killed. Meanwhile, Lisa's infection finally takes over. She changes and joins up with the bad guys. Before taking his last breath, Robert hands over some of his magic potion to the folks from the hills who take off with Lisa in tow. It's only a little bit, but the clear indication is that they will be able to cure themselves and live happy lives far away from The Family.

Faithfulness:

Effectiveness:

IL: Thanks to Anna being followed the night she saved Robert, they're all over his house and eventually get in, trapping Robert, Anna, and Ethan in his lab. During the mayhem, Robert discovers that his vaccine is actually working on the sedated vampire/zombie he has strapped to a hospital bed. He puts some in a vial, gives it to Anna and puts her and the boy in a secured vent to hide until morning when they can escape. As the angry mob of vampires finally breaks down the glass wall between them and our hero, he blows up the whole building with himself in it. The next morning, Anna and Ethan drive to the survivor's colony and hands over the cure to the military. The implication here is that they will replicate it and bring an end to the madness. Like the other two movies, it plays up the idea of Robert becoming a martyr, but like OM, misses the main theme of the book.

Faithfulness:

Effectiveness:

to be continued...

[dell71]

Final Movie Grades

Note: The "faithfulness" and "effectiveness" scores reflect each movie's average score for all the previous categories, but is not exact. "On My Usual Scale" is what I grade the movie using my normal method.

LM: Of the three movies, this is clearly the most faithful to the book. Of course, that should be expected since Richard Matheson himself churned out the original screenplay. It was revamped enough that he decided to remove his name, but his fingerprints are still all over it. LM takes a number of passages and applies them to the screen almost exactly as they are on the page. Its conclusion maintains the ideas the book conveys. It is also the only movie to show us Robert's relationship with Ben Cortman, a co-worker before the outbreak who is now the first vampire outside his door every night. Cortman remains simultaneously symbolic of what once was and what currently is. Perhaps due to the era in which it was made, LM almost completely removes sex from the equation while Matheson's novel often reminds us that Neville has gone without for quite a while and feels the urge strongly. Still, this movie's overall commitment to its source largely pays off. The only real drawback is that the vampires come off as rather lame. Unfortunately, this is a sizable detriment to a movie that otherwise works rather nicely as thought-provoking horror. The tone is slightly off from what we expect from the genre and it doesn't have any of what we think of as "scary" moments, but its a solid movie.

Faithfulness:

Effectiveness:

On My Usual Scale: 7.5/10

OM: Here, we have a movie that tries to do too much of its own thing in an effort to update what was then twenty year old material. The irony of this is that the novel is actually set during the mid 1970s. OM is particularly mindful of the fact that it was made during an era when revolution was in the air. After all, the turbulent sixties was barely in America's rear view mirror and The Black Panther Party was still a prominent organization. In fact, they were a heavy influence on how the character Lisa is portrayed. More importantly, they were a big reason the vampires were changed into a revolutionary type sect, instead of mindless wandering creatures. Without question this is the most politically charged (and right wing?) of the three films. By itself, that doesn't make it any less of a movie. More of an issue is how goofy many of the changes come off. They may have worked back when OM first came out, but they haven't aged well. The whole thing is steeped in 70s silliness, not all of it in a good way. It also loses points by omitting some elements completely and coming across more as an action flick than horror.

Faithfulness:

Effectiveness:

On My Usual Scale: 5.5/10

IL: Like OM, IL does plenty of its own thing in the name of updating the material. In the case, the majority of it works. Most important is the tone of the movie and the creatures themselves. It is effectively dreadful and worrisome. Our hero is a legitimately scared guy who has a set schedule for everything to ensure he is back home by dark. What he is hiding from is truly dangerous, something lost in the Vincent Price movie. They're stronger and faster than our hero and made purely of aggression. This time, however, the presence of the woman and the little boy is as much a negative as it is a positive. She's more transparently a plot point while the boy is pretty much a prop. They also create at least one plot hole: if the creatures are able to follow her home as she sped away in Neville's vehicle, how is this not so big lady able to drag this six foot plus, two hundred something pound man up a flight of outdoor steps, unlock and push open the heavy door and get her, him and the child to safety? Of course, once inside she apparently carries him up a much longer flight of stairs and puts him to bed. And how did she know how to get there anyway? Presumably, she's not familiar with the area since she's from Brazil, and somehow made her way to New York via Philadelphia. Honestly, this doesn't ruin the movie for me, but definitely earns it a demerit. Lastly, our big finish also chooses to go the OM route and showcase our hero's benevolence by having him sacrifice himself. However, it's sacrifice born more Robert's sense of civic duty than of any romantic inclinations since, like LM it removes sex from the proceedings all together. In the end, we have a movie that's more faithful to the spirit of the main character than to the novel itself, but is the best functioning as a horror pic and most exciting of the three.

Faithfulness:

Effectiveness:

On My Usual Scale: 7.5/10

[Senser81]

The Big Finish

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OM: Our hero comes up with a cure utilizing his own blood, cooks up a batch and uses it to rescue Lisa's brother. The boy is so thankful, he takes it upon himself to go tell The Family about the wonderful thing Robert did for him. He's killed for his trouble. Before the kid dies, Robert learns where he went to tries to save him, again. Unfortunately, Robert also gets himself killed. Meanwhile, Lisa's infection finally takes over. She changes and joins up with the bad guys. Before taking his last breath, Robert hands over some of his magic potion to the folks from the hills who take off with Lisa in tow. It's only a little bit, but the clear indication is that they will be able to cure themselves and live happy lives far away from The Family.

[center]Faithfulness:

Effectiveness:

Lisa's brother had a lot go wrong throughout the movie. I remember one scene where he says that Charlton Heston has become just as bad as the zombies, and Heston just laughs at him. Poor kid. I did enjoy the incredibly upbeat music at the end of the movie while they showed Heston in a pool of blood. Nice touch.

[dell71]

I did enjoy the incredibly upbeat music at the end of the movie while they showed Heston in a pool of blood. Nice touch.

Lol, that was a bit odd.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Thoughts on the alternate ending of I Am Legend?

I liked it quite a bit more than the theatrical ending.

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

Thoughts on the alternate ending of I Am Legend?

I liked it quite a bit more than the theatrical ending.

I forget which is which and which is closest to the book.

[dell71]

Thoughts on the alternate ending of I Am Legend?

I liked it quite a bit more than the theatrical ending.

I've heard a few people say this. I actually prefer the theatrical ending. I get where the alternate is going, but it feels like a bit of a copout to me. Granted, I've only looked at that ending once and may change my mind after seeing it all the way through with that ending another time or two.

I forget which is which and which is closest to the book.

Neither is even remotely close to what happens in the book, but if you have to pick one then it's the theatrical version.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I forget which is which and which is closest to the book.

Neither is.

In the alternate...the Alpha Male comes down to get the Alpha Female, similarly to the way it does in the theatrical one, but instead of breaking through the glass and Will Smith proceeding to blow the place up, the Alpha makes some half-ass symbol showing the Butterfly Symbol the Alpha Female has tattooed on her, showing Will that is what he came for...Will opens the door, gives her to him, injects her with his vaccine and the Zompires just leave...showing their humanity. Will and Co go off to that compound together.

Honestly, I liked it better because the film was so far off the novel and The Last Man... it was nice to see Neville not actually die...The I Am Legend flick with Will Smith is using the novel for inspiration over making a film based on the book.