Loganotron

I went with Migs and a couple of other friends to see I Am Legend the other night. There were parts that I liked and parts that I didn’t.

Generally I liked the translation of the original story to a current setting. I thought it was clever to make it be a cancer cure that goes awry in the movie. In the book, the pandemic virus is related to a loosely referenced nuclear attack. In the 1950′s nuclear annihilation was a huge fear in America. Today, we fret less about nuclear war, and seem to worry more about what virus or health crisis is likely to kill us. Thus, I thought it was an interesting adaption of the original story.

I also liked that the movie was a story of loneliness. That is the true essence of the novel too. Robert Neville goes years without talking to another living human. Both the movie and book explore the coping mechanisms Neville employs to keep somewhat sane. Unfortunately, I didn’t think Will Smith carried the lonely solo performance very well. Tom Hanks pulled it off (albeit snoozily so) in Castaway. Will Smith is a good actor, but he’s no Tom Hanks.

I didn’t like the Hollywoodification of the movie. The vampires were uber monsters that bore almost no resemblance to humans anymore. In the book, they were still capable of speech and higher level thought processes. The worst part of the movie is that it deviated from the book’s ending dramatically. Dude, Why?! The book ends with such an amazing twist. It leaves you feeling weird, but makes you think hard about how we define “society.” Specifically, you begin to wonder how a new dominant species could redefine what society and societal norms mean. The movie slips into the typical Hollywood “hero sacrifices himself to save the girl” ending vomit. Of course, in so doing, the hero also saves the last remnants of humanity too.

Overall I enjoyed the movie, but wish it hadn’t been so molested by Hollywood blockbuster fucktards.