Alternate ‘I Am Legend’ ending hits the web, is it better?
I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie I Am Legend, which my review can explain in more detail, but mainly it was the fact that the ending didn’t copy what happened in the original book by Richard Matheson.
As a word of warning, this blog contains spoilers for the end of I Am Legend the movie and book, so don’t read any further if you haven’t seen it yet.
So now, let’s examine the original finish of the movie.
You have the big zombie attack on the house, and Will Smith takes the girl and son with him to the basement, into a glass-walled room. There is also one of the zombies there that he was trying to heal. The zombies make their way to the basement, Smith sends the woman and her son out the little trap door, while Smith waits for the monsters to bust through, a live grenade in hand.
The mother and son make it out safely and continue north to a fort where other humans are alive. The end. Smith dies.
I never liked it because while he does die in the book, he does it with the help of a woman who is an evolved form of the zombie living in a society filled with her kind. Smith scares them because of what he represents: Immunity to their disease. Instead of being hung out in public she gives him a pill to end his life. He dies, the last of his kind.
He is Legend. Man is now Legend. That was the point.
Okay, no one seems like they’ll even do the ending like that, but this new alternate one that comes off the Special Edition DVD that hits stores on March 18th is a bit better for me.
Essentially it looks like the zombies are more than just zombies. They can think and feel, and the reason they come there is because Smith captured their leader’s woman. Or something like that.
Watch it for yourself and tell me what you think. Do you like it better than the original?
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I liked the movie but I do wish they had kept the ending more true to the book even though it was much darker. But I would have preferred it that way. I’ll have to check this out later.
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I loved the movie, but that was judging it by itself as i haven’t read the book yet. For the movie, I like this ending better, but the book ending sounds good too. The problem with using the book ending for the movie, is that they didn’t do much in explaining that the zombies were an evolved form of man. They were just portrayed them as disease stricken animals. Had they done more to explain what they were the book ending would fit better.
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Neither one of them is very good. BTW, in the book, he didn’t scare them because he was immune, he scared them because he kept going around during the day killing them while they were helpless.
Original movie ending: Lame, doesn’t even address the legend part except in a voiceover that would have been better unsaid. Frankly, the whole surviving colony thing didn’t work for me.
Alternate ending: Still doesn’t work, because for so much of the movie we have these mindless (or maybe just really determined) killers that all of the sudden go “hey, fair’s fair so long as VampLeader gets his girl back”. There’s a tenous connection with the meaning of the “I Am Legend” there, but it doesn’t make much sense at that point. If he isn’t the last man, then he isn’t much of a legend, of course.
Adding the female character (never should have had the kid period) but not having her be one of them simply confuses and dilutes the story. The way the story went in the movie, she should have just been left out entirely, as she could not serve the purpose of the female in the book, since instead of infected people you have super-powered CGI monster freaks instead.
The movie was ok on it’s own merits, but where he gets saved by the girl at the last second (not the end of the movie, of course) is where it went off the rails.
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Robert, I have to disagree a bit…I mean, I know he killed them, but he wasn’t killing the ones that caught him at the end. They were different.
And they did fear him, but for some reason I thought it was from what he represented…not because they thought he’d kill them all. Obviously, he was one man, and they were an evolved species. They didn’t need to fear him for that reason.
I think we’re back to talking more about the book, right? He was killing them equal opportunity; in fact he would have killed the girl had he been sure what she really was, at least at first. They were afraid of him because he was different, but also because he went after them as well. No, overall they didn’t have much to fear long term, but certainly you’d want say a bear that wandered into your neighborhood killing people taken care of, right?
But yes, he was their boogeyman, in multiple senses.
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Yeah, I guess that’s it. I think I just remember the scene at the end with him in the bed, she gives him the pill…and she tells him they fear him for what he represents.
Obviously, it was more than one thing.
Movie is not available anymore?
Bummer…copyright issues I assume.
oh please, you didnt like it cause the ending was different? you do understand the ONLY similarities between this movie and the book was the names “I AM LEGEND”, and “ROBERT NEVILLE”; and the whole last-human-on-earth premise. not only was the ending different, but damn near the entire movie was different. the movie wasnt necessarily meant to be a video reincarnation of the book anyways, it was more of a remake of the movie “the omega man”, that came out a long time ago, and was also loosely based on the book. i think this movie was amazing, mostly because i knew it wasnt meant to be like the book.
heres some differences:
vampires vs. “darkseekers”
vampires that can TALK vs. grunts, roars, and mumbles
neville was executed by vampires vs. heroic martyrdom suicide
1972 vs. 2012
vampires camp outside nevilles home nightly vs. hidden house
dog lives for a week with neville vs. over 3 years
neville was WHITE vs. neville was BLACK
no other humans mentioned vs. 2 random survivors + colony
so yeah, many things were different, and i dont think its fair to compare this movie to the book, when it was clear that the devs, producers, and writers were not trying to emulate the book
i thought the movie was great, better than most. it wasnt meant to be a fast paced action film. and last time i checked, it was ok for films not to be fast paced and actiony. ur mention of cast away is exactly right: very popular, awards, still on tv years after its release. AND it was not discredited for it not having enough action.
i simply think your judging this movie by the wrong criteria.
I didn’t think it was slow paced, I just think if you are going to name it I am Legend, then you ARE trying to make people think of the book.
Honestly, I can judge it how I want…there had been two other versions of the book made into movies, and this was the third. I wanted to see one more faithful to the book and I didn’t get it. That bummed me out.
And what happens in the movie is fine, but it’s nothing that new or exciting…it was just a decent little film.
Mike, I agree. It was a huge part of the ending in the book. They sent a spy to see what he was up to because they were scared that he would find a cure and turn them all back into humans…
I think the movie was good, but not as good as the book. But if it was like the book, it would have been to depressing for movie goers.. I expect differnt things from books as I do from movies. Personally, I didnt like either ending in the movie. But if I had to pick, Id pick the first. Like said above, nothing in the movie showed that they had any human characterists left in them.
I was expecting the entire time that the woman was a vimpire,haha… I think they should have made her one though and stick to the books ending kinda, maybe not have him killed, but to show that the race was evolving.. Would have added a bigger WOW at the end…
I think the bob marley and the butterfly part was kinda stupid,haha…
All in all, I really enjoyed the book and the movie and if I would have just seen the movie,I would have liked it even more than I already did.
The movie was nothing like the book - so I don’t see any point in trying to make the ending match the book. That said, the movie is an excellent piece of work in my opinion and the theatrical ending is the better one (though I do agree that the alt ending does a MUCH better job of explaining the intelligence of the vampires and the motivation of the lead vampire in pursuit of his girl).
Here’s my analysis of the film:
The theatrical version creates a new and much deeper context, which is basically the role of God in the story. I suppose some haters will automatically despise any mention of God and say that’s the problem, but I think this theatrical version and the God role bring a whole lot to the story, which hasn’t been done before in the book or previous film adaptations.
Here’s my take (in as few words as possible):
1. The butterfly. The butterfly is the underpinning of the entire movie. The butterfly is the symbol of God’s will or God’s intervention. Think about the occurrences:
• Marley - If Robert had listened to her and not packed her and his wife on the chopper, they’d (possibly) be alive and with him. By not listening he lost his family to fate (not the disease) in a freak accident. In the small point where he was influenced by her (the handing off of the dog), there is salvation and Sam lives.
• The tanks (nobody ever mentions this) - in the opening drive through the city, Neville corners hard to avoid some tanks. The camera pauses on the tanks and a poster with the Hand of God reaching to the hand of man and the slogan “God Still Loves Us, Do We Still Love Him?” One poster is torn in the shape of a butterfly, firmly establishing the God-Butterfly link.
• Anna’s neck (theatrical version)- the butterfly convinces Neville that Anna was in fact sent by God to help him save humanity. In the alt ending, the butterfly on the subjects neck convinces him that the vampires are not out to kill him, but rescue the girl. His “listening” is not just listening but in both versions it’s clear he is choosing drop his despair and disbelief, along with his insistence that he is right and there is no god or plan and chooses to listen to and believe in God’s will and purpose for him and chooses to follow that path.
• There are a few more – a pillow in Marley’s room, and the butterfly while Neville is picking corn. For the corn incident in particular I am having trouble identifying the significance… anyone have any ideas?
2. The role of God. The entire movie is a commentary on the relationship between man and God. Briefly summarized: Man attempts to become god-like by defeating death (cancer) with disastrous consequences that result in the destruction and death of man and society. This is essentially the story of the Garden of Eden and man’s fall.
The resulting plague is “sin” which changes and kills everyone. Neville feels it is his responsibility to save mankind even though he didn’t cause the fall. He doesn’t have the disease and can’t get infected… i.e. he has no sin in him. He offers to save mankind both from sin with his cure and directly from death via his radio broadcasts (come to me and I will give you salvation). Furthermore, the cure or salvation of man comes from his blood. In the theatrical version he has to die to give this gift to mankind. Could there be a more direct correlation to the story of Jesus dying to save man though his blood? Neville even spends 3 years working on his cure - about the same amount of time Jesus spent on earth actively preaching.
There is more, but I’m sure you get the idea.
3. IF you accept the role of God and Neville as the Christ figure, there are very interesting questions around the meaning of the posters featured in the film.
“God Still Loves Us, Do We Still Love Him?”
Given the context of the film, who is God and who is Us?
• Is God the biblical God and Us is all of mankind, which is going through the spread of disease and death at the time the poster was made? It would be unclear if man still loves God, although many feel that the community at the end of the film is religious, indicating that man does still love God.
• Is God the biblical God and Us is the human survivors? In which case Neville does not love God, but is redeemed at the end and embraces God.
• Is God Neville and Us is the vampire race? In which case God is trying to save Us, but Us doesn’t want to be saved, rejecting God’s salvation in favor of their current existence.
• Or…
If you go with the alt ending, you lose the Neville as Christ theme, and reduce God to merely fate and circumstance. The butterfly becomes for a symbol for Neville’s personal beliefs, and in the end he chooses simply to modify his view of the vampires rather than embrace the path of a higher power. It’s still a good story, but not quite as deep. I suppose it’s the preferred version for the atheists in the crowd.
“In as few words as possible” - LOL!
I will read this a bit later, nice in-depth analysis.
so you’re saying that with all the of the geo-political and social ramifications that the minute transactions of the corrilary theorems dont match up, and therefore, thus, transition into what we might call a really wordy synopsis that a sequel is needed……so say we all!!
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