***Spoiler Warning***
Don't read the rest of this post
I ruin the ending if you haven't seen the film
Don't read the rest of this post
I ruin the ending if you haven't seen the film
I'm not impressed with this version. While the ending that was released in theaters was meant to be the more easily consumable version, this one saps the story of its grander overtones. Without Neville's sacrifice the film loses its point. Removing the transferring of the vial of blood and the arrival of Anna in the Eden-like human retreat at the end also drains the piece of some rich symbolism. There's a theological angle to the end of the original ending that this version simply doesn't supply. Let me know what you think.
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6 comments:
I prefer this version, actually.
(As of this moment, it's available at
http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/03/05/i-am-legend-alternative-ending/
)
The original ending was disappointing to me because it seemed to abandon the hope that the whole movie had been moving towards: that the infected were capable of real human feelings.
This ending is the ending the rest of the movie deserves.
Dang, didn't get here fast enough and now the video has been withdrawn. Hmmm ...
Julie -
Check out the link in my earlier comment.
That's what I get for just looking at the email of the comments! :-D
Thanks! Ok ... I like the point that the zomb-pires (as our family called them) actually have a rudimentary social structure. That was set up early in the movie and then dropped as the monsters merely were bestial. I thought that having a safe area with a giant wall around it was too "easy" an answer, too "pat." So I liked this alternate ending in those ways.
However, I miss having an ultimate answer about the cure ... as well as a more sacrificial aspect from the theatrical ending. Although I thought the glimpse of the many photos on the wall was a nice touch ... how many victims who weren't without some sort of reason that Smith had sacrificed without thinking.
The biggest problem with this original version is best explain by a commenter from my other blog:
"It's the old moral equivalence play - "Zombies are just like us! They love, we love. They care, we care. They kill, we kill. The only difference is a higher metabolism and bad skin.""
The alt. film (not just the ending) is superior to the theatrical version, and-- excepting that Neville lives-- far more in line with the original novella.
The evolution of the creatures into a higher (or newer) lifeform was integral to the book, and Thank God it's available in this alt. version.
My assesment of the theatrical film was dismal. I hated it. Well-made crap, I called it. In this altered version, with just five minutes of other-ish footage, the film is near gold.
-simmans
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