Sorry about the title - I just couldn't resist. Fresh from "I AM LEGEND", I thought I'd share some thoughts.
SPOILER ALERT - I'll be taking about plot points and content of a movie that started yesterday. If you haven't seen it, you should stop now.
First, I'll confess I've never read Richard Matheson's original novel. I'm happy to report it was published before my time (ok, by a scant 5 years.) Rather than waste time, you can read a brief synopsis here.
I will admit to seeing all three films that were somewhat based on the book.
I saw The Omega Man at some time in the 1970's. Remember, that was a different age. Even post-apocalyptic clothing and hairstyles were funny. The movie deviated greatly from the novel and featured Charlton Heston stomping about in a safari jacket. I think you get the idea: "Get your hands off me you damn, dirty ape... oops, mutant."
My most vivid memory of the movie were Chuck's interaction with Rosalind Cash, a very talented actress no longer with us, dropped in the middle of it all. As part of her transformation into a mutant, they appeared to have blown flour into her sizable 'fro. She deserved better.
Strangely, this wasn't the first attempt to turn the book into a movie.
The Last Man on Earth was made in 1964 starring Vincent Price. (Sadly, NOT before my time.) This version seems very close to the original novel plot. As you'll note on the WIKI page, last minute plot changes prompted Matheson to remove his name from the picture.
This brings us to 2007, and
I Am Legend starring Will Smith and a butt-load of CGI zombie/vampires. To be honest, I have nothing bad to say about the acting - human or canine. Smith is both likable and believable. The whole story was there:
- A virus that "cures cancer" has a strange side-effect: 90% of the world died quickly, most of the rest are zombie/vampires and a SMALL number are immune - that nice Emma Thompson screwed up something awful!
- Neville (Smith) is, to the best of his knowledge, the last man alive. He spends his days looking for provisions, ensuring the zomvamps don't get him at night.
- He works on a "cure" as there's really nothing better to do. Let's face it, no one's going to call and say "Wanna go to a movie or something?"
- He finds a cure, just a tad-bit late but manages to pass it to safe hands before dying in spectacular fashion.
There's been a great deal of negative reports about the movie - mostly focusing on the CGI effects. Frankly, some are good, some are horrific. My experience has been that, well, that's the way of CGI. I can imagine it was a tough call for the filmmakers. If they'd attempted make-up on real actors, the brickbats would have been hurled anyway.
My problems? There are several plot points that left me suspecting this was originally a much longer, more complex movie. Consider:
- Emma Thompson - who appears on the television announcing she's cured cancer and then disappears. What happened?
- Was Neville's family killed in that helicopter crash or not?
- Speaking of his family, why was his wife shown getting what we're supposed to assume is a false positive "zomvamp scan" that retests as clear moments later? Are we to assume large numbers of perfectly healthy people were abandoned in New York due to false positives? Was the wife an early stage zomvamp and would have snacked on the people in the helicopter?
- Despite Smith's narration telling us otherwise, the "lead" zomvamp appears to think things through quite well. He arranges the trap for Neville that drove the last half of the movie. He was OBVIOUSLY pissed that Neville had kidnapped one of his own (his wife? his daughter?) Not only did he manage the zomvamp dogs, he sicced them on Neville.
The movie itself was reasonably enjoyable - but I couldn't help wondering if its original vision was radically different.
