I Am (A Better) Legend
// March 5th, 2008 // Entertainment, Movies
Remember that movie I Am Legend that came out over the holidays? Remember how angry I was at it? Obviously there’s no need for me to rehash the pain and suffering that the ending of that movie caused me. It was a good movie through the first half, acceptable in the third quarter, and viciously worthless in the last quarter.
Really, it was a movie that I think would have benefited greatly the closer it stuck to the original plot, modernization not withstanding. It had a great setting, spectacular acting (why wasn’t Will Smith nominated for Best Actor at the Oscar’s?), and a good feel to it (though I question the quality of the vampires’ CG). The framework Matheson provided was perfect. And they screwed it up. End of story.
Well, it turns out there was an alternate ending. Firstshowing.net mentioned it this morning. Turns out, it actually is better (and blog chatter seems to agree with that across the board). Here, watch, and then continue reading:
Better, no? Better, but not as good as it could have been. It still ignores the key point that (spoiler, highlight to read) Neville was the last man on earth. That was the whole friggin’ point. But at least that alternate ending attempted to give the vampires some additional organized creepy feel. In the book, the vampires were much more humanized, and in the end you almost sympathize with them. The movie had none of that. And this alternate dropped that cheesy as all hell ending where the woman and kid find the town full of people, which was about the most cookie cutter, generic, bad Hollywood ending I have ever seen in a movie. It didn’t even feel remotely natural, more like some random producer just thought it’d be fun to screw up the movie.
Too bad they hadn’t gone with this ending in the first place. I am vaguely reminded of the director’s cut of Independence Day, where the theatrical version was better, because what was in the director’s cut was pretty much trash. It’s like that, only backwards. The stuff they left in I Am Legend is all the stuff that would have been better off out. My question is, what happens next? Should I buy the DVD anyway? It’d be nice if you could watch it with the alternate ending instead, as some DVDs do. That’d be okay I guess. I wonder if Warner Bros. pays attention to any of the blog chatter on matters such as this.
8 Responses to “I Am (A Better) Legend”
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hi man , sorry to be blunt but i did not read the book therefor my opinion is based on the movie. yes smith was incredible in his role
yes the movie started out great and is a great concept , but all went downhill after the “Fred” scene after that the whole thing was crap,
this ending is also crap.
maybe he should have finished his work and cured everyone, or died at old age with nothing acomplished and the human race die with him and vampires evolve into daywalkers or something, now that would have been better and would have given them a shot at a sequel.
I agree with you for the most part. If you read my original blog, I mentioned how completely disappointed with it I was from about midway on. But, I disagree with a sequel. Had the movie been done well, and right, there would be no room for a sequel, which is how it should have been. That just goes back to what the original story was about. Go read it, it’s worth it, and will make you realize what you were deprived of.
In my opinion the theater ending left a lot out. The alternate ending is better but still far from the book. However the book and the movie are two separate entities. And they can’t really be compared. I think that for today’s society the new adaptation of the movie was done very well as for I didn’t think he was a legend to them but a legend to the remains of human society. If you haven’t yet. . . read the book. It’s really short (only 158 pages) and has some really nice story telling. Thanks for reading.
Call me weird, but i liked the original (Theatre) Ending, the typical ending that almost all of the world saw, it made him look alot more legendary, and made the title “I am legend” actually fit, because for him to survive all that time to finally find the cure that he had been working on for soooo long, then finally to sacrifice himself, not just for the lady and her son, but to protect human kind, and what he has been working on for most of his life. That grenade that took his life, left us (the audience) heart pounding, and the alternate ending left me in the need of wanting more, that i think only the theatrical ending provided, I will be reading the book soon, but without reading it and only watching the movie (like most people did) I think the ending they used was dead on. This is easily one of the best movies i have seen in a LONG time.
By the way, im ready for another great Will Smith movie, he can make almost any movie good, and this movie would have not been half as good without him.
I dont think anyother actor could have played that roll better.
“It’d be nice if you could watch it with the alternate ending instead, as some DVDs do.”
I just bought the DVD yesterday, and you can, if you get the “Two-disc Special Edition” version. The second disc is the entire movie with all deleted scenes, using the original ending instead of the “Hollywood-ized” version.
I didn’t see the movie in the theatres, so I watched the theatrical version, and then immediately watched the director’s cut version. The second disc is MUCH better than the first. In fact, if you didn’t like the theatrical ending, just buy the special edition and never watch the first disc… you’ll be happier
@6: Great info, thanks! That’s good to know. I think I’ll probably go pick it up soon, because I did enjoy Will Smith’s performance a lot.
You are right, Will Smith acting rocks….. but Alice Braga, mmmmmmmmmmmm, she should to the Rio Carnival