I Am Legend: Comparisons between the 2007 film adaptation and the 1954 novel
February 19th 2008 23:36
Warning: this post describes the movie and the novel in detail, revealing massive spoilers for both. I suggest that you read this only if you're familiar with both...
I Am Legend was a groundbreaking novel by Richard Matheson, depicting a world ravaged by a plague that turned everyone into vampires, except for one man: Robert Neville.
"I Am Legend" is also the 2007 film adaptation of the novel, starring Will Smith as Neville. I gave the movie a poor review, feeling disappointed with the haphazard script and the overuse of miserable CGI.
Read my review of the movie!
My brother recommended the novel to me, and a friend let me borrow it - it's a fairly short read and I devoured it over a week. The brevity of I Am Legend is not reflective of the depth and searing emotion encapsulated within the covers... this is a tremendous work of fiction and deserves its place on the SciFi Masterwork series.
Perhaps Matheson's greatest achievement with this short book was the essence of the story: human isolation. Neville spends his days in a familiar routine, but has moments of weakness and strength - he might fly into a rage in one moment, then sorrowfully reflect on his dead wife. Throughout the entire ordeal, we are exposed to his thoughts, his dreamy memories and his rollercoaster moods. As Dan Schneider wrote, in a lengthy, terrifically detailed article on hackwriter.com:
" Instead, it is perhaps the greatest novel written on human loneliness. It far surpasses Daniel DeFoe’s Robinson Crusoe in that regard. "
Agreed... DeFoe's novel was groundbreaking, naturally, but I Am Legend takes the concept to another level. Robinson Crusoe's moods and relationship with God ebbed and flowed on his days on the island, as does Neville, with the exception that he rarely thinks about God, except in one poignant instance. Neville's loneliness is haunting, and we cringe at the thought of spending every day preparing for the howls and screams of the night.
The film adaptation gives Smith a dog to begin with, and becomes more of a buddy film; certainly, Smith is alone, but having a dog keeps him social. While Smith does an adequate role as Neville, he never really gives us the depth that Matheson wrote into the story.
Indeed, Smith seems so entirely capable of handling his situation, except for a few, forced moments, that we don't really feel that he's in any danger. He's a military scientist, after all, in the grand tradition of American films, using combat figures to save the day (see: "Under Siege", "Die Hard", "Lethal Weapon", etc), and he's got a fantastically fortified fortress to hide in.
When Ruth appears - she's the woman that rescues Smith from his suicidal encounter with the ghouls, motivated by the death of his dog - Smith reacts coldly to her and her son, suggesting that he's so used to being alone that he doesn't know how to react to people. Personally, I found this change in character to be unbelievable and forced, though other viewers may have sympathized.
The appearance of the dog and Ruth in the novel, however, carries much more impact. Neville spies the dog walking around in the daylight, and his heart aches to touch it... he spends weeks coaxing it to come near him, offering it food and water. It's a heartbreaking section of the book, as Neville holds himself back from lunging at the dog, so desperate to feel warm flesh again.
When he finally brings the dog into his home, it's a joyful, tearful moment.
When the dog dies from exposure to the plague, it's pure abject misery.
Likewise, Ruth appears in the same way, with Neville chasing her down in the day, forcing her into his house. He's wary of her, suspecting her to be a vampire, but ends up falling for her. They're the last two people on Earth, as far as he knows, and he can't help but throw himself at her.
He examines her blood, though, under a microscope, and finds that she is a vampire. Ruth knocks him out and flees, leaving him a note indicating that the new society of vampires would eventually come to get him, begging him to run.
It's a black ending, and one that destroys any chance of hope... while Neville though Ruth was human, he wondered how many other survivors they might be. It didn't seem unrealistic at that moment.
After he learns the truth, however, he sees his place in the world. An anachronism, belonging to a forgotten age.
Will Smith's adversaries were not vampires, as the novel used, but an odd type of ghoul, with superhuman speed and strength, rendered in abysmal CGI. The ghouls all appear to be quite similar, robbing them of any human-like qualities. One of the essential rules of zombie flicks is that the zombies must look like people from everyday life - it's this familiarity which makes the scenario harder to handle.
Matheson understood this, and his vampires are individuals, including the females, who pose seductively outside his house, showing their bare bodies, hoping to entice the sex-starved Neville to leave his fortified house. A passage from the novel, taken from this gushing review:
"Did he have to start thinking about them [the vampire women] again? He tossed over on his stomach with a curse and pressed his face into the hot pillow. He lay there, breathing heavily, body writing slightly on the sheet. Let the morning come. His mind spoke the words it spoke every night. Dear God, let the morning come."
Even more emphatic is Neville's former neighbor, Ben Cortman, who, every night, yells out 'Come out, Neville!' and doesn't fear crosses because he used to be Jewish. He's Neville's personal nemesis, and they hunt each other: Neville during the day, Cortman at night.
The relative humanity of the vampires is of foremost importance in the novel; indeed, at the end of the book, when the new society of living vampires arrest Neville for his crimes, we see exactly how important Neville was. He hunted vampires during the day, killing them as they slept, regardless of their innocence - he was, to them, the monster, a cruel, senseless killing machine. Matheson uses the final words, 'I am legend', to show Neville's realization that his morals, taken from an antiquated world, made him a terror in the new world.
Naturally, the movie glosses over this entire aspect. The ghouls are faceless and seemingly unintelligent, except when it's hinted that they might live in a new society - the alpha male seems to care for the female that Smith captures, and he appears to have social dominance at the final scene.
Still, it's all for naught... Smith, being the fabulous scientist, finds a cure for the plague and gives a sample of it to Ruth, a woman that rescued him in the night. The final words of the movie use 'I am legend' to indicate that Smith is a legend for finding a cure, a trite, mindless, Hollywood ending.
The differences between the book and the film adaptation are immense... while "I Am Legend" was a commercial hit, giving mainstream audiences enough Will Smith, friendly dogs, and violent ghoul action, critics that were fans of the genre were rather dismissive of the movie.
How could I enjoy the movie after it failed to capture even the slightest impact that the novel delivered? The movie was, in essence, a totally separate story, built on the name and setting of Matheson's work. Other reviewers have praised the two previous adaptations, "The Last Man on Earth" and "The Omega Man", as much more faithful and satisfying adaptations, though they were released too long ago for modern audiences to be familiar with them.
I Am Legend is a monumental work of fiction - an apocalyptic scenario with vampires, that avoids all the easy leads and goes into a deep examination of the human mind under the stress of isolation.
* The first image is taken from this review of the movie and the second image is from Wikipedia.
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Comment by DuskDevi
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I agree with you. I too thought the film weak...and found that scene in Neville's house awkward and not because Neville is not used to people.
It was just as you say forced acting to depict social awkwardness but it was just...not 'realistic'!
...I honestly thought that if Neville had been that 'hungry' for human interaction, he would have been quite scary in his need and instead of being cold, he would have been 'clingy'.
As for the ending...a part of me..that part that likes cheesy happy Hollywood endings, wanted Neville to come striding up that road to the 'safe community'..."I am Legend"...and then there's a sequel.
I am kidding about that! Sort of...
As much as I like Will Smith, I didn't like this film. It just turned out to be another zombie v lone stranger saves the day and sacrifices his noble military ass because he would die for his country flick.
...and oh wow...Neville was a legend not because he finds a cure but because of what he was to the vampires. Wow. Totally different connotation.
I thought 'I am Legend' was a remake of 'The Omega Man'...completely forgetting that 'The Omega Man' was based on a book.
I'm not sure how I feel about the way novel characters are depicted in the film adaptation. Why are we okay with literary lead characters being human but expect our celluloid lead characters to all be superhuman?
(David Morrell's John Rambo wasn't a beefed up hero and Pierre Boule's protaganist was a French journalist named Ulysse Mérou, but in the '68(?) film 'Planet of the Apes, he was an American astronaut, Colonel George Taylor.)
Haven't read the book ('I am Legend') but intend to change that soon! Excellent review Cibbuano.
Hope you're as well as can be.
Dusk
...but...this film makes 'The Invasion' starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig look like a classic work of art. Can't wait for your review on that...if you can be bothered.
Comment by Cibbuano
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I strongly recommend you reading Richard Matheson's book... while it starts out firmly grounded in horror lit. it veers off and becomes a hearty examination of humanity.
You're right about film adaptations... they almost always deify their protagonists. What's the best character adaptation? Raoul Duke from Fear and Loathing?
No, no review for Kidman's "Invasion"... I'll try to see the original first!
Comment by Louie
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I don't think i could ever sit through this remake of the remake of the remake...just to fond of the source material.
Great review and observations, you have confirmed all my fears for the film.
Though i do think the definitive screen version of the tale is still yet to be made. The likes of Cronenberg or Fincher could do some revolutionary work with the novels power.
Comment by Cibbuano
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It's really incredible, isn't it, that a single book could spur so many people into action?
Comment by Anonymous
Nice review/critique, totally agree with you, but I still didn't hate this movie as it had one really scary scene in it (when he's looking for his dog), still not enough to make it good though.....but can the film ever be as good as the book?.....with the exception of bladerunner/DADES that is..comments please.
Thankfully they've never made a movie of 'the forever war'....or have they?
Saul.
p.s. can I have my book back now?
Comment by Cibbuano
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Films as good, or nearly as good as the original source material? I'd say "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"...
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Somehow I knew they'd change the ending.
The novel's ending is so ironic and tragic, yet so powerful and full of resonance.
I wish Ridley Scott had managed to complete what he started in the 90s.
I haven't seen the Vincent Price version, but to be honest the Charlton Heston version is mediocre at best. Some great location shooting, but it's very much a movie of its time and place (low-budget with early 70s "poetic licence" and very much a vehicle movie for Heston).
Perhaps like The Stars, My Destination (aka Tiger!Tiger!) they'll never make a faithful adaptation, or even an adaptation at all ...
Apparently Neuromance is finally being made. I shudder at the thought at how they'll ruin another masterpiece of sf fiction.
Comment by Damo
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I have to agree.
An unnecessary remake for no reason.
I don't mind the Charlton Heston version. It seems much better after viewing Will Smith pretending to be smarter than he is. This is without ever having read the book.
The symbolism of the Omega man seems to better thought out. Heston is tough macho but not pure. The religious overtones are subtler but still visible. The final scene where he speared near a cross shaped statue is just one example. (this was before Heston went nuts about NRA and could still act) The survivors go off to the unknown. (A film about religious fanaticism using religious symbolism to make its points)
Will Smiths death seems pointless and contrived. The symbolism as more patriotic than religious The escape at the end is to a Classic American postcard small town. Protected by the wall and soldiers. Was it metaphor for how some in America see them self?
In the end I was still scratching my head as to why they were calling Will Smith a Legend. His method of research would make Klaus Barbie proud. So what are the film makers trying to say?
Comment by Cibbuano
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Bryn, is there a The Stars, My Destination adaptation? If not, there'll be one eventually. Ridley Scott was attached to I Am Legend? That would give me greater hope...
Comment by Bryn
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various screenwriters have written screenplays or treatments on the novel; Michael Backes (Rising Sun), David Giler (Aliens, Alien3), Lorenzo Semple (The Parallax View, Flash Gordon, Three Days of the Condor), William Wisher (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Judge Dredd). For a long time a German film company held the rights and had conceptual artist Neal Adams to do a whole series of production design illustrations (apparently quite similar to Mobieus's work on The Fifth Element cityscape designs).
The closest it ever got to filming was in 1996 when Paul Anderson announced it as his third feature after Mortal Kombat and Shopping for a budget of $50 million. Instead Anderson did Event Horizon. Curiously Anderson's next film was Solider, which curiously uses many similar elements to Stars.
... Imagine if Martin Scorsese decided to do a sf ...!! I always hoped he'd do Neuromancer ...
Ridley Scott went into pre-production during the mid-90s on I Am Legend, but failed to secure the kind of total control and budget and script he wanted, so it went into turn around. Damn shame too.
Comment by Cibbuano
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Read the post I wrote today!
Comment by Anonymous
and while I'm in a critical mood, lets hope it would be a time travelling Scorsese to do a SF, and not the recent poo he's been doing, or else we could end up with Leonardo DiCrapio as a rather wet and wimpish Case or worse Gully Foyle....
Comment by Cibbuano
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I wonder if we'd have to go overseas to Miike in Japan, or Guillermo del Toro?
Comment by Bryn
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How about them apples?
Comment by Cibbuano
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Did you ever see Kevin Smith talking about Superman Returns?
Comment by Miswanderlust
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Thanks for this informative post.... arguments well executed my friend... I will certainly skip the movie and get to the library straight away!
Mis