I watched I Am Legend a few nights ago, and I did so with some trepidation. I’d heard a lot of negative things about it. Well, not really negative things–more along the lines of “it was good, but . . .” sort of things. You know what? It’s much better than that. I’d give it a good three stars, actually. Part of this might be because I had no exposure to the original source material (Matheson’s novel) or the prior adaptations. The concept of the film–that Will Smith is the last man in a New York City that is rapidly being taken over by nature–is really cool, and the way it was executed in the film is worth the price of admission alone. What happens after that . . . it’s still thought provoking, even if it’s not quite as good as the beginning. I’d have to say this was a case where there was a film with a good ending and a fantastic beginning. Because the beginning set the audience’s expectations so high, the ending seemed much worse in comparison. Always better to start weak and finish strong, in my book.
So if you haven’t already seen the flick, check it out. It’s worth a gander.
Especially on Blu-ray.
Did you watch the alternate ending? A lot of people liked that one better, although I prefer the theatrical ending.
Yeah, I watched both. Actually, the first time, I watched the alternate ending, because I’d heard that was the better one. After I finished the film, I watched the original. I prefer the original. It doesn’t introduce crazy new plot mechanics right at the last second, and it made more sense to me.
We saw this on Christmas day in PA, with someone who hated it so much (can you guess who?) that we had to go see National Treasure 2 immediately afterwards. Will and I had both liked it (although it hadn’t been what we’d expected), but being with someone who didn’t even give it a chance kind of ruined the experience. Also, National Treasure seemed really stupid when watched back-to-back after Legend, which was so intense.
We started reading the book together, but got caught up in other things (and it was a library book, so we had to take it back) – so we didn’t even get quite halfway. But it was very different, and intriguing – I definitely want to finish reading it and recommend you read it when you get a chance.
-Gretel
When I watched “I Am Legend,” I didn’t know about the alternate ending (and I still haven’t seen it), but I kept expecting what I’ve heard is the alternate ending. It seemed like the movie was leading in that direction, so I thought it was a bit weird that he didn’t have a big realization at the end. It was still a good movie. I just thought the ending they chose was not the ending they built towards.
Yeah–seeing a movie with someone who’s having an awful time is worse than seeing no movie at all. The book sounds very intriguing–I read up on it after I watched the movie. I’ll have to check it out sometime.
I think one of the reasons the film got lost a tad was due to the inability of the film makers to pick an ending and stick to it. The two different endings are drastically different, and they cast different meaning on the film. Because of this, the film ends up being ambiguous in places, which makes it so that neither ending can really satisfy you 100%. Or at least, satisfy ME.
I liked it too, Bryce. I had no idea what the movie would be about, and all I’d heard was that it was scary. I was expecting a brainless explosion movie, but I got something much deeper and more interesting.
Sorry, forgot to sign that comment. The last one was from me!
–Susie
Yeah–it’s a movie that sticks with you a while. DKC is still talking about it, days later.