I Am Legend
I Am Legend, the book vs. what I've seen of the movie thus far....
Monday, June 11, 2007
I Am Legend
When I saw the preview for this, I was actually excited that I had read the book before knowing it was going to be a movie (it's a different kind of feeling having read a book before the movie than reading it because you want to read it before seeing the movie.) However I'm dissapointed that the movie seems to be almost nothing like the book, and they've just peppered the screenplay with whatever will make it a hollywood hit. The book is not set in New York, nor is Rebert Neville a scientist. In the book he is a drunk just trying to survive in suburban nowhere by boarding up his house and hanging garlic everywhere. In the book, Neville spends his days reading about biology in hopes to figure out a cure, and then when all hope seems lost, he finds another like him. I'm not going to give it away, but I'm already counting on being dissapointed by the movie. Either that or I'll be pissed off because it will be so delightfully different that it will be a disgrace for it to carry the same name as the book. I really hate that because then people who love the movie will read the book and invariably like the movie better. The movie synopsis mentions nothing about the Infected being vampires, although Fangoria rates it "One of the Ten All-Time Best Novels of Vampirism" and Dean Koontz reviewed it is "The most clever and riviting vampire novel since Dracula". Also Robert Neville is played by Will Smith. 'Nuff said.
I'm dissapointed also that this is not the first movie based on a book by Richard Matheson that gets slaughtered in Hollywood. Ever heard of a little movie called What Dreams May Come? The movie is only like the book in it's general premise. Same thing with Stir of Echoes.
<end rant>
When I saw the preview for this, I was actually excited that I had read the book before knowing it was going to be a movie (it's a different kind of feeling having read a book before the movie than reading it because you want to read it before seeing the movie.) However I'm dissapointed that the movie seems to be almost nothing like the book, and they've just peppered the screenplay with whatever will make it a hollywood hit. The book is not set in New York, nor is Rebert Neville a scientist. In the book he is a drunk just trying to survive in suburban nowhere by boarding up his house and hanging garlic everywhere. In the book, Neville spends his days reading about biology in hopes to figure out a cure, and then when all hope seems lost, he finds another like him. I'm not going to give it away, but I'm already counting on being dissapointed by the movie. Either that or I'll be pissed off because it will be so delightfully different that it will be a disgrace for it to carry the same name as the book. I really hate that because then people who love the movie will read the book and invariably like the movie better. The movie synopsis mentions nothing about the Infected being vampires, although Fangoria rates it "One of the Ten All-Time Best Novels of Vampirism" and Dean Koontz reviewed it is "The most clever and riviting vampire novel since Dracula". Also Robert Neville is played by Will Smith. 'Nuff said.
I'm dissapointed also that this is not the first movie based on a book by Richard Matheson that gets slaughtered in Hollywood. Ever heard of a little movie called What Dreams May Come? The movie is only like the book in it's general premise. Same thing with Stir of Echoes.
<end rant>
1
molotov
Thursday, June 14, 2007
You can blame the general population for the perversion of movies as they get slummed through the Hollywood machine. If a story is challenging, or requires thought, rarely does it get through the meat-grinder without a splash of Will Smith or a smattering of cleavage and inappropriate eroticism. A splash of Will Smith isn't always bad (I liked I, Robot, despite how 'Hollywood' it was), and there are times when romanticism is integral to the storyline, but it seems if something doesn't explode, or two people don't fall in love, people feel cheated when leaving the theatre; that they didn't really escape their shared monotony for two hours.
I haven't read I Am Legend, so I don't know how it is different from the preview that we saw, but I'd guess based on your informed opinion that it's another victim of the stupidity of people.
2
Erin
Friday, June 15, 2007
I didn't mean that I don't like Will Smith as much as I meant that he was obviously not typecast for the role. Will Smith is too black to be cast as a person named Robert Neville. Basically the casting person said "This movie really has a boring plotline. Who can we cast as the main character that will make people spend money to see it in the theaters?" Even I will admit that the book as it is would make a pretty boring movie.
3
kyle
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Almost a month with no updates. What's up with dat?!