This is a small series of entries where the movie "based off of the novel" is tested against it.
I AM LEGEND
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Lets start off with our main-man, Robert Neville. The book's/real Neville is tough and grungy. He does not have patience when things don't go his way, and resorts to violence and drinking to get out his anger. His days are spent repairing his house from the nightly attacks, and cleaning up his lawn of dead vampires. Later, if he has time, he goes and gets supplies to survive on. On these trips trough the deserted Los Angeles if he encounters some vamps (which sleep in the day) he puts a stake trough their chests; even the kids.
This life of his does take its toll though. On quite a few occasions he breaks down and weeps, often for no apparent reason, yet mostly about his deceased wife, Virginia and daughter Kathy. He hates to remember the past and wants to forget about it. It hurts him so badly that he does consider suicide, yet never follows through with it.
Now, If you have seen the movie then you remember Will Smith's Robert sleeping in a bath-tub with an M4 assault-rifle and a dog on top of him three years into the plague.
Now, in the book we are 5 months in, and Neville sleeps in a bed... alone, with vampires trying to find a way in his house and EAT HIM.
While out one day his watch stops working and he does not know how long he has been away from home, with night closing fast, or is it not?, he wanders. So he speeds through the empty, quiet streets and sees a vampire running out of a house after him. He now knows it's turning dark. He fears that they may be at his house when he gets there... And they are. They see him. He guns it.
(You can read what happens next, but I'll tell you he puts up one hell of a fight. Even after he gets in his house he goes back out to fight some more, out of pure rage.)
The movie's now... He decides to hit golf balls, and hunt deer. Then runs away from the... "dark seekers" (not vampires, which completely ruins the entire title "I am Legend". The movie should be titled "I am Wimp".)
Of course Robert himself is physically different...
Book's Neville
Ethnicity: White (English-German decent)
Height: 6' 3'' (In boots)
Eye color: Blue
Hair color: Blond
Will Smith
Ethnicity: Black
Height: 6' 2'' (Close to the book's, I'll give him that)
Eye color: Brown
Hair color: Black
I have no problem with Will at all; he's just not Robert.
Now for one of the most bothersome differences of all... ROBERT IS NOT A SCIENTIST!!!! Which is so great because most of us can relate to that. And therefore are forced to journey with him into learning about the vampires/the plague.
His former job was a factory worker. He's just a regular guy.
The vampires are described as having dark eyes, and of-course the sharp canine teeth. They are not bald, and in-fact their hair continues to grow. They are kind-of dumb, yet can still talk, and are heard muttering, and cussing amongst themselves.
As found out later in the book, the vampire is a bacteria which infects a host; humans, dogs, whatever. Robert never quite finds out what brought the virus to the world, yet it mentions something about test bombings, and there are many dust-storms that sweep trough often. As to why he is immune, he never finds that out either. He theorises that because he was bitten by a bat in a war in Panama, and that the bat had previously got the disease and transferred a small amount into him, causes him to become ill, yet his body fought it off and built up an immunity to it. He also got a tattoo of an ornate cross on his chest while drunk there also.
The music!! Not reggae!! But classical. Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, you know!. I believe this music is completely, entrancingly perfect for this story. It described that Robert's mother taught him to appreciate this type of music. It passes the time well, he thought.
Oh, and he doesn't watch SHREK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's 1976.
Don't get me wrong. The movie wasn't all that bad. I'm glad I hadn't fully read the book yet, or I might have fallen to the ground with a THUMP at the ending.
One of the better, emotional scenes of the movie was the dog, Samantha, being hurt, and dying. I, being a dog-lover, was in tears.
How can the book have a scene as sad as this without a dog?... It can't. Which is why it has a dog-scene. Possibly more saddening. I can't type it all out, so please just read it yourself.
The ending... Too cool to spoil, sorry. Though you may already know it.
The movie's ending can pretty much be described like this... He commits suicide. "He is our Legend".
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