I Am Legend

[The Hitman]

The dog was the best actor in the film. It deserves to get an Oscar.

[Charlie_Bubble]

The original book and the modern film are very different and neither is particularly impressive.

You think the film is very close to the book except a few minor changes?

Book:

Spoiler: 

He's white; He's in his 40s; He lives in a small town; He listens to classical music; He drives a fairly simple car; He learns all his medical knowledge from library books; His family die from the disease; The dog is a stray; The woman is a vampire; His neighbour and workmate plagues him throughout; The ending isn't sugar-coated.

Film:

Spoiler: 

He's black, in his 30s; He's a Doctor in the army; He lives in New York; He drives a Ford GT & a huge 4WD; He listens to Bob Marley; His family die in a helicopter crash; The dog is his daughters; There's a little kid and a non-vampire woman; There is a typical modern holywood everything must end nicely ending to it.

I can't think how much more different it could have been, except maybe to exclude vampires and everyone being dead!

[Xaccers]

From what people have said about the book, I think I'll stick with the film's take on the story.
Vampires compared with people with a bad case of the measels?
Natural immunity compared with bitten by a vampire bat?
Still People? Oh come on.

[Matthew]

I watched the movie the other night and thought it was pretty good, one of the best ones I've seen this year.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by downquark1

Nothing special.

Spoiler: 

They all looked like imhotep from the mummy.

They had no motive (or the intelligence) for the attack on his house

Spoiler: 

The "Dark Seeker" leading the attack on the house was the same one in charge on the pier at night, the same one who set the trap with the dummy... and the same one who risked popping his head out in the sunlight when Neville took the female "Dark Seeker". I took it that it was after Neville as Neville took his mate.

Originally Posted by popper

your joking Matt, the film as in affect a load of tosh, and you could sum up the whole film in a 10 minute clip, infact you have already seen the best parts of it in the TV clips .

the zombie and his dogs could have been so much more to bring the viewer into the microscopic plotline, VERY POOR IMO....

---------- Post added at 21:58 ---------- Previous post was at 21:55 ----------

btw bulky it was a she not a he.... the poor zombies were far better i thought.

Each to his own.

Originally Posted by Charlie_Bubble

The original book and the modern film are very different and neither is particularly impressive.

You think the film is very close to the book except a few minor changes?

Book:

Spoiler: 

He's white; He's in his 40s; He lives in a small town; He listens to classical music; He drives a fairly simple car; He learns all his medical knowledge from library books; His family die from the disease; The dog is a stray; The woman is a vampire; His neighbour and workmate plagues him throughout; The ending isn't sugar-coated.

Film:

Spoiler: 

He's black, in his 30s; He's a Doctor in the army; He lives in New York; He drives a Ford GT & a huge 4WD; He listens to Bob Marley; His family die in a helicopter crash; The dog is his daughters; There's a little kid and a non-vampire woman; There is a typical modern holywood everything must end nicely ending to it.

I can't think how much more different it could have been, except maybe to exclude vampires and everyone being dead!

Who cares what colour he is, what car he drives, & what kind of music he listens to? Minor, minor stuff. Irrelevant.

Making him USAMRIID Doctor is a change, but a good one. Makes more sense than him becoming an expert on virology & anatomy etc. simply by reading library books.

The only major change, as I said, was the ending.

Spoiler: 

Movie: The Dark Seekers invade his house. He dies. Non-vamp girl & kid escape & take the cure to the "Survivors' Colony".

Book: The girl is one of the infected others, the group that have the infection, but aren't full-on undead vampires. The half-infected, or whatever you want to call them, capture Neville, & plan to execute him, as to them he is a monster, & a remnant of the now dead human civilisation. The girl gives Neville some pills so he can take his own life.

Big change, yes, & a bit too Hollywood with the very ending. But I think it still worked well.

Spoiler: 

I think it would have confused & complicated things if there had also been half-infected people who weren't full-on "Dark Seekers", plus in the movie Neville didn't go out hunting the vampires / "Dark Seekers", so wouldn't have done anything to anger the half-infected & cause them to hate him & want to execute him.

The ending...OK, bit too happy, but at least Neville still died.

The overall feel though is the same, the main thrust of the film is the same, with Neville on his own, having to survive, trying not to go mad, trying to cope, investigating the disease.

[Toto]

Film scared the heck out of my wife, it was good just to watch her jump out of the chair

[downquark1]

Spoiler: 

Well its quite possible the story aimed to mislead us on their mental abilities, but Neville made it clear they lost sociability, so even if there was an exceptionally intelligent one the others would have had no reason to obey.

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by downquark1

Spoiler: 

Well its quite possible the story aimed to mislead us on their mental abilities, but Neville made it clear they lost sociability, so even if there was an exceptionally intelligent one the others would have had no reason to obey.

Spoiler: 

I think that's where the movie got let down, it was a great movie but could have been much better.
What I got from the Dark Seeker leader was that Neville captured his mate, and being leader managed to get the rest to attack, so Neville was being presumptious in believing they had no social structure, or the script writers ballsed up.
The thing about the trap that was laid for Neville was, how did they get hold of the equipment needed to fire a spike into the ground and set up the cable etc without a high level of intelligence.
Likewise, if the virus turned animals into savage beasts hell bent on just attacking anything in site, how come the infected dogs were tame with the Dark Seekers?

[Charlie_Bubble]

Originally Posted by Matt D

Minor, minor stuff. Irrelevant.

Yes, if each is taken in isolation, but bundle all of the differences I gave together and the film is so unlike the book it's almost a different story. They should possibly have said the film was inspired by the book, because the film bears no semblence to the book.

[tweetypie/8]

Originally Posted by Matt D

After reading on another forum about the upcoming Will Smith movie "I Am Legend", I bought the original novel by Richard Matheson.


It's brilliant


Best book I've read in ages.



I can only hope that the new movie version does it justice.


Trailer:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/iamlegend/



Richard Matheson himself has apparently said it is "First Class!" according to "Total Film".

cant agree with you matt,the book may be brill ok but the film was total rubbish.

[die5el]

I watched the film the other night it was one of the worst films i had seen in 2007 and i have seen some rubbish

[peanut]

I fell asleep through it

[handyman]

Originally Posted by Matt D

Do get some good remakes though.

Thomas Crown Affair was good, & The Ring, IMO. Manchurian Candidate was OK, but not as good as the old Sinatra classic.

You missed off Oceans 11.

I really enjoyed it - thought it was quite tense all the way through, and while the ending was a bit Hollywoodish, at least it wasn't to wishy-washy.

[downquark1]

There is a leak alternative ending circling, I suggest you find one before warner brothers removes them all.