I Am Legend

[Zeonix]

A good book is worth a blue whale's weight in gold.

 

[Chakra-X]

I liked it. Will Smith did an awesome job. The ending wasn't what I was hoping for, and I never read the book, but watching Neville huddle up in the bath tub and barricade the house made me think how scary it must be having to do that in time every day. And when after seeing the helicopter crash and Sam die I had no idea what Neville would do next

Though I didn't think the ending was abysmal (again, never read the book. I'm a movie person), I wouldn't mind a decent alternate ending being reshot.

 

[Hitokiri]

Hollywood just had to throw in "THE CHICK" and of course, a relatively happy ending. I guess it's too be expected.

It wasn't a bad movie, because it was based on a good book. But it could have done it far more justice I think.

well, will smith is a great actor, one of the few left.

He's not terrible... but that's a pretty strong statement...

 

[Avenger]

I've skimmed through the book, it's awesome. Might buy it when it actually comes to Norway. I have also come to agree that the ending in the movie was utter crap in comparison to that in the book - it makes no sense that he should find a "cure" and manage to save everybody.

 

[Almighty_Gir]

The movie sucked. For anyone who thinks otherwise read the book then tell me your opinion.

i hate people like you. who think that any movie that isn't 100% identical to a book is instant lose.

at the end of the day, reading a book leaves everything to your own imagination, so watching a movie will never live up to that. because the movie was made to someone elses vision of how the book was read. there may even be changes to how things end etc. but that would be down to limitations in a given studio.

just enjoy it for what it is, nothing more.

 

[Phobius]

Well if you think about it its kind of like the Bubonic plague which wiped out about 35 million people and they eventually found a cure for it so why is it so hard to comprehend that he couldn't come up with a cure?

You have to remember he was working on a cure for 3 years! Also probably before the city was quarantined he was trying to find a cure as well. This was his field of expertise so give the guy some chance he could find the cure within 3 years.

 

[Skiwan]

Just 1 man working on genetic mutation reversal? I'm sure it's "possible" but highly unlikely.

 

[Phobius]

He is the one who caused the problem to begin with so in 3 years time I'm sure he could figure out what went wrong and how to reverse it.

 

[Skiwan]

No he wasn't... he was a colonel at ground zero who tried to stop the outbreak of the virus, I'm fairly sure it was the woman who tried to cure cancer which mutated into the virus which infected everyone.

 

[Almighty_Gir]

even so, his blood has an immune antibody, so it would make sense that he could somehow use it to cure the virus.


wait... wasn't this movie just an alternate ending to the last season of heroes?

 

[Skiwan]

That sort of makes sense, but then again it makes no sense at all... at the start of the film the woman says how recoding people's dna was the way to cure the cancer, If a virus came from a man-made mutation, I highly doubt it has anything to do with a simple disease... antibodies won't change your genes. The kind of cure that would work would be some heavy course of gene therapy imo not a simple injection.

 

[Avenger]

If someone changed their genes, other viruses could grow, and then create a plague as most people wouldn't be resistant to the entirely new kind of virus. If I don't recall incorrectly, it was a germ in the novel though. It fed on blood.

Either way, originally, there never was a real "cure". SPOILER WARNING!




Originally, he died, unable to do anything about anything. The "living" vampires wanted him dead for killing so many of their kin. They were setting up a new world order - a society. Like the vampires were feared by humans in their legends, he would be feared by the vampires in theirs. This is why he said "I am legend."

It had nothing to do with him saving humanity. Humanity died.

 

[Zeonix]

Humanity didn't die. The bacteria that infected everyone had simply forced them down a different evolutionary path. Neville existing in a world full of vampires would be like a random Neandertal trying to exist in today's society. That doesn't make them any less human, though.

Just to elaborate on Avenger's extremely brief summary: Neville was legendary in the way that Vampires were legendary. He was the boogeyman, the monster that would come while you sleep and do horrendous things to you and your family while you were you were most vulnerable. They told bedtime stories about him the way we tell bedtime stories about Dracula or other creatures of the night. Why the night? Because we are most vulnerable during the night, in the way that vampires are most vulnerable during the day.

Neville was unable to distinguish between the group of vampires out to kill him and the group of vampires who simply wanted to live in peace, so he killed anyone he came across. He killed them out of fear, and tried to rationalize his actions by saying they would have all come after him eventually. Fear and sadness consumed him, and in the end he paid for his actions in full.

Moral of the story? Help Nixium Prime industrialize: http://nixium.myminicity.com/ind

@Avenger: The book came out in the late 50's, so if it's not in Norway yet, you might have to import it.

 

[Avenger]

It's possible it's in some libraries, but I've never seen it in modern book-stores. 'tis a good story, and it felt like the makers of the film just decided "Let's rape this thing, booyah!"

 

[Zeonix]

You could always obtain the book or graphic novel through other means and pretend you borrowed it from the library. Just make sure you "bring it back".

 

[Renyori]

I personally prefer the cancer treatmant gone wrong mutating humans over the vampires, just seemed more realistic. I also liked the movie.. Will Smith did an awesome job, the ending wasnt that good though, and the chick was kinda... off.. was she supposed to be Ruth? I was hoping that Will would cure that mutated girl into a regular human again haha

 

[Zeonix]

In the book, the creation of the vampires sounds exactly like how zombies were created in various movies. There was some kind of crazy bacterial spores that became airborne and traveled within a dust storm. Anyone caught in the dust storm was bound to get a few tiny scratches, and once that happened, the bacteria attacked the wound and infected their body. If you were attacked by one of the infected, chances are you'd turn into one of them. In the book, Neville makes a distinction between "dead" vampires and "live" vampires once he realizes bullets kill some of them, but not others. You fit into one of the groups depending on how you were originally infected. The author spent a lot of time sending Neville to the library and going into detail about how this might be scientifically possible.

Honestly, the author could have wrote 10 pages of nothing, but it sounds more plausible than a cancer cure hulking out, and then somehow managing to become airborne.

 

[Avenger]

I think he must've had help with all of his scientific details. That, or he himself is a brilliant scientist. He explained in depth a lot of the things and logics that would make the vampire a logical thing, rather than a superstitious one.

I mean, honestly, why would a GENETIC MUTATION cause people to turn into vampires? It's like people know nothing about genetics. I'm not saying I'm an expert, but it's pretty much as far-fetched as people turning into zombies after being exposed to radiation.

Now, bacteria and viruses, that I can reason with changing people at such a rate.

 

[Zeonix]

In the book, he learned everything from the books he read in the library. In the movie he was a super scientist. I like the "average joe" route more.

 

[L]

Gordan Freeman should've made a cameo in the film.