JLCM Book Club - I AM LEGEND

[Greatfrito]

Hi, I'm new to the forums (though I've read the comic forever now), but this discussion really pulled me in.

I really have to agree with Broken Clock that the film really just crashes when he meets the girl. Being familiar with the source material really lead to the massive disappointment one might expect, though it was mostly of the "there was so much Potential!" variety. Still, I made my parents go since I'm home for the holidays, and both of them felt the same way even without knowing the source material.

The film comes across as a glorified zombie-movie in the end - and without the societal messages that are usually part of a zombie-film. Even ignoring the book, and treating the film as an independent piece, the entire ending segments really seem to undermine the rest of the film, and then the last few moments with Neville are just kind of an "Out of Left Field" kinda revelation that, up until that point, really had no point being in the story.

When I left the theater, I felt the best way to describe my gut-reaction to it was "Literally Angry with Rage."

[joerules]

I enjoyed the ending but agree with the sentiment that it's not nearly as good as the books turn. Really it's just a happy Hollywood ending where Smith gets to be Bruce Willis in Armagedon instead of Frankenstine. (I realize he's supposed to be Dracula, but Frankenstine just draws the better metaphor wherte the towns people are the real monsters. )

What bugged me is that they teased the evolution of the monsters. They set a fucking trap for him! I thought for sure that this was a good sign they would follow the evolution of society angle. But nit just makes that final scene in his lab with the "head" monster slamming into the cage, so much more frustrating.

It's a good movie but after three attempts, what's stopping hollywood from telling the real story? Is it not as good as we think it is?

Justy a quick note - thanks to everyone for stopping in and making the first attempt at the JLCMBook CLub worth while. I really appritiate everyone sharing their thoughts.

[Waycos]

Sadly, all of the movie adaptations of "I am Legend" seem to completely miss the mark on the ending and what makes the title of the story so great.

I think they also miss the mark by making Nevill a doctor or military Virologist as in "Omegaman" and the Will Smith character. The Vincent Price version is so loosely adapted from the original story I wont even mention it. Making Nevill a custodian allows any every day person feel like the complete randomness of being immune to whatever disease or radiation could happen to them. The frustration of reading medical books to try and figure out what is going on would be a frustration you could relate to.

The setting in LA is an important one because of the fact that there are so many lonely or empty places. The fact that it's a bit more spread out and flat as opposed to NY's high rise buildings allows people who are from suburbs or other areas feel like have been to this setting even if it's being called "LA". When you've been to an empty or dead part of a city or town and you were able to watch a movie that is set in the same environment allows you to say "I've felt that " or "I've been there. I think they could also make language an issue. Making the society adapted vampires/mutants speak only Spanish and Nevill only speak English makes it believable that no one tried to negotiate a truce or understanding between them.

I'm not saying the movie was bad for all these reasons. I just wish they had not used "I am Legend" as a name. I can still hope they do a word for word translation as a movie, but I just don't think Hollywood would allow it. The original story, I think wouldn't have enough action for them. But here's to Richard Matheson. The man really knows how to right a story (just look at all his work).

[matt!]

i'm not ready to read this thread yet, but i just wanted to convey my support. JLCM book club is a great idea.

if you respond to this post, i won't notice for two weeks.

[HeirToPendragon]

Next book: Watchmen

Nah just kidding.

[gerbo321]

if you respond to this post, i won't notice for two weeks.

Your a douche. Suck on that 2 weeks from now.

[Col]

You could do "Jumper" for the next book since it comes out in February.

[gerbo321]

You could do "Jumper" for the next book since it comes out in February.

Is that based on a book? When I watched the trailer I thought it looked way, way to original to be someone's original screenplay. But I thought it would end up being based on a graphic novel I somehow didn't know about.

[opie301]

You could do "Jumper" for the next book since it comes out in February.

Is that based on a book?

Jumper by: Steven Gould

[joerules]

Unfortunetly everythgin in January and February is childrens books. Spiderwhick Chronicals or Jumper seems like the best bet. Jumper probably moreso since it's target audien ce seems to be a little older than the books. I'm open to anything though. I mean - we'll probably read Horton Hears a Who when that comes out.

[SirGecko]

I have to agree with the people that said that the movie falls flat once he meets the girl. It had so much potential up until that point! To me the really seemed to be going in the right direction because of a few parts:

1) The "head monster" guy seemed to be mad because that girl was kidnapped. Neville writes it off as "loosing their basic survival instincts" but to me it looked like loss.

2) Neville's "treatment" of the captured girl seemed just cruel enough were it would seem an atrocity to an objective observer (if the girl were considered to be more human and not a monster) but would seem right to him. I was really disappointed when the girl looked upon his wall of death and just kinda shrugged in a "cool with me" sort of way.

3) The whole setting a trap for him thing. That was awesome. Again it didn't seem like a monster thing but more a "give me back my daughter(?)" thing.

Overall I left the theater feeling a little betrayed by how good the movie was because of the stupid cliche ending.

Oh and the bit with the dog was amazing. Loved it. (since the befriending the dog part would have taken to long to do right I think that having the dog be his daughter's puppy was a really good choice for a substitute) I also fully support the choice to change the city to New York for the movie.

[clivestaples]

we'll probably read Horton Hears a Who when that comes out.

i'd be way more interested in reading spiderwick chronicles and horton hears a who than jumper. not only would they probably be shorter, but better.

[HeirToPendragon]

You could do "Jumper" for the next book since it comes out in February.

Is that based on a book?

Jumper by: Steven Gould

Read that first page. Sort of, meh

[Col]

You could do "Jumper" for the next book since it comes out in February.

Is that based on a book?

Jumper by: Steven Gould

Read that first page. Sort of, meh

It picks up eventually. If anything, I found it a fun read since it takes the approach of what someone would or could do with teleportation powers besides becoming a superhero. Nothing too involving though.

[Daniel Greyman]

As a long time lover of the book and having just seen the movie last night (hey, I'm 38 and have a kid, I can't jump opening nights anymore), I had a couple of points I would like to share after having read many of your comments.
On the pacing of the book; I believe that the author was purposeful in keeping these slow, dragging sections as he did. Every time the pacing slows a bit, the character is fully engrossed with near superhuman focus on the event or problem at hand. The rest of his life flys by in a blur of tedium that never ends. Even to the fact that the only recourse he has against the decline of his mental/emotional state is to drink, hate himself for drinking and, inevitable throw his half-empty glass against a wall. But, even this becomes tediously repetitive, showing that he was really getting no where with maintaining the status quo that his life had become. Yes, he must focus so acutely on the dog because it's the only living thing that has come into his world. And by the point it arrives, he's so used to focusing on the study of minutia, he makes a study of the dog's responses as well. The part that keeps these scenes moving is when his emotions break through the facade of his controlled existence and he remembers what it is to be truly human...and to be truly alone.
This, for me, was the only saving grace for the recent movie. Will Smith's attempts to show us a scientific man on the verge of losing his mind was brilliantly done and I couldn't think of a better man to play it. Oh, sure, maybe Tom Hanks, but then the dog would have been easily replaced by a volleyball and the scene would have lost all its meaning. Now, if Wilson had begun to grow fangs and attack Tom on the raft, that would have been AWESOME. But, I digress. Of the film, I am Legend, the monsters were rediculous, even the name they give them is cartoony, which pretty much sums up what I thought of the CGI, but they were still better acted than the woman and kid. Okay, I can't blame the kid, it must be hard for a tot to sit there while Will Effin' Smith is quoting Shrek verbatim like an idiot savant. I even started laughing uncomfortably in the theater. I don't know how that kid managed it. (might make for some interesting outtakes). Even with the beautiful acting by my fellow Philly brother, the movie was an overall disappointment, simply because they went for, what I consider to be, the cookie-cutter ending instead of the more thoughtful end the book presented. The fact that, even after the end of the world, the mutated, viral, maybe even vampiric survivors would naturally attempt to create a civilization with rules and structure to safeguard their survival and that civilization would come to fear and hate the previous civilization that caused their misery with such passion they would hunt down any icon of that age, including its last surviving member, makes the human animal the monster, the villan of the piece, instead of having the whole, "we few survivors will live on due to the sacrifices of one man". They had a chance at a truly brilliant ending, but chickened out, and for that, I cannot forgive them.