Alternate I Am Legend ending (spoilers)

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xdarkyrex

Vault Senior Citizen
http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/03/05/must-watch-i-am-legends-original-ending-this-is-amazing/

Today I've got to break some rules. We normally never ever talk about anything related to DVD, but this time this is too amazing to pass up. And all in the same, I'm putting a theatrical spin on it, so let's just get to it. Last December when I Am Legend hit theaters, one of the biggest complains I heard was that the ending was completely changed from the book and in turn the entire "legend" concept that Richard Matheson originally wrote was never actually seen. The DVD is arriving in a few weeks and Francis Lawrence's original ending that was made is included on it. Thankfully we've grabbed the new version for you viewing pleasure below. And to say it simply - you NEED to watch this.

You've been warned - everything from this point forward contains spoilers. Proceed at your own risk!

I actually really loved I Am Legend quite a damn bit. I think I saw it around three times in theaters and loved it more each time. Up until the point where Alice Braga's character appeared, I was enjoying it so much that I was considering making a spot for it on my best of 2007 list. However, by the end, I wasn't as sure. The scene at the end where the vampire creatures break into Robert Neville's lab is intense and amazing, and I enjoyed it, but it wasn't how it should have played out. This ending below is what we should have seen.
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Link for video of the alternate ending folks.

WHY DIDN'T THEY USE THAT ENDING INSTEAD!?!?!?!
CAPS FOR DENOTION OF ANGER :evil:
 
Brother None said:
The chick is still alive. So it still sucks

Sucks less, tho'
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Exactly.
But the improvement is pretty big imho.
I can only wonder which producer was the piece of shit that demanded they change the ending for the theatrical release.
He deserves to be smacked, he is the epitome of all that is evil.
 
The change is a pretty logical one

- The emotional connection to the vampires is jarring. There is no real build-up in the film for such a connection (at least not a good build-up, the Will Smith-head vampire dynamic is really shitty)

- Dude, you can't have the film end with Americah winning.
 
It's "a" improvement.

However, that badly written and acted piece of shit of a movie, would need to be completely re-cast, re-written and otherwise, re-made from scratch to make this ending plausible.

It's kinda like finding a small gold nugget in a puddle of reeking crap, only, it's not gold, it's some corn.

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Brother None said:
still sucks

Sucks less, tho'
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Agreed.

That movie annoyed the crap out of me. I mean - 'The Omega man' was awesome, I like Will Smith, and it would have been real easy to follow the book. But of course they did like they always do.... movies are bullshit.
 
In my opinion the problem with I am Legend stemmed from the lack of realism in some parts and a lack of emphasis on the mystery of the infected. It would have helped my suspension of disbelief if they had kept the infected more in the dark (literally) and hadn't made their mouths so unnaturally huge and hadn't made them into superpowered humans - at least in 28 Days Later the infected seemed like they were just doing things that you or I could do if extremely motivated.

It would have been great if Will Smiths character gradually uncovered the sentience and organization of the infected. But instead we got one great gotcha moment with the trap and then just pointless battlecries by the smart one. Yes, the interaction should have been greater.

As far as vampires are concerned - yes they could have made it a true man vs. vampire story - but from the final product we can see that they were more interested in updating the story from Omega Man while making the infected near idiotic super zombies.
 
Thanks for the link. Once I heard about an alternative ending, and with this thread I realised it was true. Great stuff.
 
iridium_ionizer said:
more in the dark (literally) and hadn't made their mouths so unnaturally huge and hadn't made them into superpowered humans
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Yeah, the mouths looked like they were from the mummy. But superpowered? Humans can do everything the infected did. Even the headbashing is plausable. Normal functioning humans would stop, but druged up people have been known to do shit like this.

As for vampires... fuck no...
 
I just picked up the book this afternoon, and it's pretty good, but I'm not a big fan of the Bram Stoker vampires, thus far. I like the 28 Days Later style weirdness of the movie's vampires, and the intelligence of the book's. It's like, y'know, whatever.

That ending was a lot better. I like the movie a lot, and this opinion hasn't really changed yet. I don't think it's great, but I had a good time, and it was different enough from most hollywood movies to be distinct. Pretty solid flick.

I didn't like that gorram mexican chick, though. SHUTUP ALREADY YOUR ACCENT ISN'T CUTE
 
I like this ending because it makes the creatures look NOT like generic evil zombies. It wouldn't have fit thought, because the rest of the film makes them look like...generic evil zombies :(
 
fedaykin said:
I like this ending because it makes the creatures look NOT like generic evil zombies. It wouldn't have fit thought, because the rest of the film makes them look like...generic evil zombies :(
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Well thats what your supposed to think until the end. Then the end was "hey, despite the traps and the domestication of rabid dogs they really are generic evil zombies."

Its like, fuck your ignorance mr man of the year, we do have some semblance of humanity. Even with our detachable jaws.
 
As lame as it that they didn't use this ending in the theatrical version the fact that it was made at all suprises me. Hopefully most people who buy the DVD will watch that and find the movie alot more moving and sensible.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
 
spoilers:

Brother None said:
- The emotional connection to the vampires is jarring. There is no real build-up in the film for such a connection (at least not a good build-up, the Will Smith-head vampire dynamic is really shitty)
Click to expand...

in all respect, the book doesn't really feature an emotional connection to vampires either (except hate that is and later the connection to the girl, but he doesn't know she's a vamp) until the very end.


PS: yes the alternative ending is far better than the original release, but the movie is still shit.
 
SuAside said:
spoilers:
in all respect, the book doesn't really feature an emotional connection to vampires either (except hate that is and later the connection to the girl, but he doesn't know she's a vamp) until the very end.
Click to expand...

Not really. in chapter 15, Robert Neville spent his time hunting his former neighbour and now dead vampire, Ben Cortman during daytime for fun. And he shed tears when he saw Ben was killed brutally by a a band of mercenary (vampires too).
 
well, as said, that's at the end.

and hunting the mofo down falls under hate in my book. ;)
 
This is a spoiler, so it has been made dark. Only select it if you wish to spoil the ending of the movie for yourself. People that have already seen the ending, should read the spoiler because it has my comment in it. For those that didn't see the ending; "It sucked, alternate is much better".

I was actually upset in the theather when the main evil zombie didn't stop bashing the glass, because you could tell that he just wanted his daughter back. He was chasing Neville throughout the entire movie because Neville kidnapped his daughter. Unfortunately, the Hollywood board thought it would be cooler to have their main character run out with a fucking grenade in his hand and blow himself up to bits; along with any emotions that the film had been building up until that point.
 
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