Entertainment :: Movies
I Am Legend - 2-Disc Special Edition by Robin Kavanagh
EDGE ContributorTuesday Mar 18, 2008 I Am Legend is the third film adaptation of Richard Matheson’s post-apocalyptic novel of the same name. The first film was, "The Last Man on Earth," which was released in 1964 and starred Vincent Price. The second was entitled "The Omega Man," came out in 1971 and starred Charleton Heston. Given that time scheme, it seems that a bigger, badder version finally sporting the book’s title was long overdue.
For years "I Am Legend" was supposed to star the Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. After too much studio interference/politics, Schwarzenegger dropped out and the script languished in development limbo until finally Will Smith was tapped to star. This was an appropriate casting since Smith has proven himself worthy of playing characters who kick butt and take names later in films such as "Independence Day," "Bad Boys" and "I, Robot," and equally adept at bringing character to the sci-fi genre.
In "I Am Legend," Smith plays U.S. Army virologist Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville, who seems to be the last "man" alive in Manhattan after a mutated cure for cancer turns viral and changes the inhabitants into something far more primal. Neville spends most of his time hiding out with his dog in a brownstone near Washington Square Park and searching for a cure for those who have been infected and turned into Darkseekers, who only come out at night and Neville must fend off to survive.
This version of the Matheson story veers off from the source material by making the denizens mutated humans, rather than the vampires Matheson originally created (although the Darkseekers retain some vampire characteristics, such as seeking blood, being harmed by UV light and coming out only at night). The normally gregarious Smith does a convincing job of playing a character who is isolated and determined to come up with a cure for the Darkseekers, which I think is a measure of his talent.
The two-disc edition of the DVD has several interesting extras. The first disc includes four animated comics that use the "I Am Legend" storyline as a basis for short stories about characters in different parts of the world (Hong Kong, Colorado, Central America and New Delhi), who all experience the same plague. The animated comics tapped some of the top writing and graphic talent in the business today and gave new perspective to the story by showing how the entire world was affected by this virus and how different cultures dealt with it.
The second disc has both a digital version of the theatrical release that you can download to your PC, as well as a second version of the movie that has what is billed as the "controversial ending." What this really amounts to is the same movie as the first disc, but with a different last four minutes that I thought was in no way controversial. While the theatrical version has Neville finding a cure and sacrificing himself so that another survivor can find a rumored camp of survivors and mass produce the cure, this new ending is a little less heroic for Neville. I think "alternate ending" is a better label than controversial. I will say I’m usually a fan of the alternate endings, but in this case the theatrical version is the better of the two.
What I would have liked the DVD to have included was a commentary track by the director (or better yet, Will Smith) and some featurettes about the making of the film, which the HD and Blu-ray editions have. But since I don’t own either of those formats I won’t be able to view. Grumble, grumble.
Theatrical Feature Film
EC: Animated Comics
ROM Link for Additional Exciting EC Online
Alternate Version of the Film
Digital Theatrical Version for PC Download
Robin Kavanagh is a freelance writer based in NJ. She has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, Asbury Park Press, Bergen Record, Parenting magazine, The Aquarian, North Jersey Media Group, and Blogcritics.org among others.
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