Quote:
Originally Posted by willravel
As for being farthest from the book, have you seen Omega Man? Not one vampire. That alone means that I am Legend is closer to the book than the previous interpretations. Not only that, but I read a review that states the explanation of the title "Why is Will Smith a Legend?" and it sounds just like the book: Spoiler: Will Smith's Robert Neville is a legend to the hybrid vampires because he killed them along with the fully infected.
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I want to address this more fully (because I am a nut for Matheson and waaay too into this topic), but mostly in spoilers. This may indeed be the most faithful adaptation (we shall see) but that does not make it particularly faithful. The whole point of the novel is the crushing isolation that Robert Neville feels. I don't get that sense from the movie. If you want to see a movie that is a faithful adaptation of a Matheson story, look at Spielberg's Duel -- and that isn't totally faithful because of the differences in medium. It's hard to be solely inside someone's head in a movie. Spoiler:
Anyway, this version looks more action-oriented than the novel, which is not about a heroic battle against vampires but a slow and ultimately fruitless struggle against impossible odds. And the title comes from this, will: Spoiler:
in the end, as the last man on earth, as an object of fear and loathing, Neville has changed places with the vampire. He is legend like Dracula is a legend to us.