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theweaselking posted a quick review of the movie I Am Legend, noting that it sucked because it did not follow the original story. I decided I had heard enough about that story to actually get it and compare it to the other movies based on the story "I Am Legend," namely Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth and Charlton Heston in The Omega Man, and then give the Will Smith I Am Legend a spin in the player.
He was right, but he didn't go far enough. All three movies, in fact, failed massively to follow the plot and necessary conclusion the novella outlines. Hell, each of them fail to even follow the author's intent as outlined in the very title, choosing instead to make social commentary appropriate only for the times in which each of these movies were made, and to make the ending a happy one in each instance.
It gets worse. Richard Matheson, author of the original story, wrote the screenplay for the first go-round, but exercised his contractual option of changing his name in the screen credits because the story had strayed too far from his original. (I caught an interview with him in the first movie DVD extras.) And I cannot wave my raised fist and gnash my teeth enough at the corruption the most modern movie version did to the heart of the story. It is an abomination in revisionism.
I've been keeping this very post on a back burner for some time now, wishing to review the story and point out all the variations the screen versions bring to it. ( A few things have kept me from the task. . . . )
theweaselking posted a quick review of the movie I Am Legend, noting that it sucked because it did not follow the original story. I decided I had heard enough about that story to actually get it and compare it to the other movies based on the story "I Am Legend," namely Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth and Charlton Heston in The Omega Man, and then give the Will Smith I Am Legend a spin in the player.He was right, but he didn't go far enough. All three movies, in fact, failed massively to follow the plot and necessary conclusion the novella outlines. Hell, each of them fail to even follow the author's intent as outlined in the very title, choosing instead to make social commentary appropriate only for the times in which each of these movies were made, and to make the ending a happy one in each instance.
It gets worse. Richard Matheson, author of the original story, wrote the screenplay for the first go-round, but exercised his contractual option of changing his name in the screen credits because the story had strayed too far from his original. (I caught an interview with him in the first movie DVD extras.) And I cannot wave my raised fist and gnash my teeth enough at the corruption the most modern movie version did to the heart of the story. It is an abomination in revisionism.
I've been keeping this very post on a back burner for some time now, wishing to review the story and point out all the variations the screen versions bring to it. ( A few things have kept me from the task. . . . )