Vampires in "I Am Legend" Are Ugly
When Richard Matheson penned I Am Legend in 1954, he probably never imagined that after 50 years and two underwhelming adaptations, over $150 million would be spent on bringing his lonesome, vampire-infested apocalypse to the big screen. Or that fans of his novella would continue to protest that they'd yet to see a version that faithfully captures the ghastly intelligence of his work.
For now, Matheson will have to settle for the love of the masses. I Am Legend pulled in a record $76,000,000 its opening weekend, becoming the greatest December release in history and affirming Will Smith's position at the top of the heap—not to mention offering New Yorkers a crowd-pleasing worst-case-scenario to tide them over until Cloverfield debuts next month.
In the movies, vampirism is always portrayed as a dreadful affliction—but just how intolerable (or even problematically desirable) that curse may be varies greatly depending on where you look. Supernatural powers and heightened sexual prowess often seem like fair trades for ravenous hunger, complexion problems, and a vulnerability to garlic. But the afflicted creatures in I Am Legend have sprouted from the homelier side of the family tree; those teen dreams of The Lost Boys or Interview With a Vampire would hardly call Will Smith's nemeses their kissing cousins. Score one for the uglies.
Matheson's novel was the first attempt to give some kind of logical scientific basis to vampires. And the meaning of the title as explained on the last page of the book has never been translated to the screen.
I was disappointed by the movie because it had such potential. How can starving virus infected vampires be super fast and strong anyway? And why wouldn't Neville just pick some defensible high ground to fortify?
A great novel was reduced to a mediocre monster movie with no real story to tell. I wonder what the script looked like before the re-writes? Why not just pay Matheson himself to write a new script as he did for "The Last Man on Earth" - which got re-written to the point Matheson took his name off it. Just a big disappointment, but I think this movie will be re-made again at some point.
I think you forgot Gerard Butler from Dracula 2000 and Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula.
I haven't gone to see I Am Legend yet because I'm waiting until friends can go with me. I can't sit in a theater by myself and watch it--not because it's scary, but because I won't be able to handle it when something happens to that dog. :( I am a wuss.
Oh man, my girlfriend broke down over the dog. I pointed out that over 5 billion people had been destroyed by the virus also, but she claimed she didn't care for them as much.
I enjoyed the film. Yes, I read the book and have seen the other film versions. I didn't go in comparing it to the book and let it stand alone as a medium of storytelling, just the movie, and I had fun. It didn't blow me away or anything, but I thought it was a good flick.