I Am Legend
Apparently, this movie is based on a book written in 1954 by Richard Matheson. I didn’t know that when I saw the movie, which obviously means I haven’t read the book. Actually, that’s not entirely true because I can now remember reading somewhere that a book existed, but it didn’t register.
Anyway, upon watching the movie I felt a lot of things were missing because it simply didn’t make sense. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie, but there were huge holes in the plot. Things happened in the movie that didn’t ring true, that were unbelievable and simply unrealistic. Those things bothered me a lot.
Today, I read a post on a message board which compared the movie and the book and I have to say the writer of that post – Alan Baxter – intrigued me. I want to read the book. I don’t mean the version that is in line with the movie, I’m talking about the original book written over fifty years ago. I believe I’ll enjoy it a lot.
It seems to me that those people who haven’t read the book might enjoy the movie, even with the holes. However, for those who have read the book, they might be a tad disappointed with the differences between the two.
Have you read the book and/or seen the movie? What did you think?
Filed under: Books & Movies
I read the book and watched the movie right before Christmas. The book was great, if not bleak. What surprised me (and others) was that the publisher tacked a handful of short stories that had no relation to the novella.
As for the movie, I thought it was good. I liked Will Smith’s performance. But it was definitely produced by Hollywood and therefore had a Hollywood ending.
If I was forced to choose between seeing the movie and reading the book, I’d opt for the book because there was so much more emotion and suspense involved than the movie could ever portray.