Back in his school days, life was so much simpler for Dave. At home he played computer games, in school he slept and conversations with friends focused on comic books, vampires and zombies. One such conversation had his friend Macca telling him about a great book he was reading,
"It's really cool. Everyone on Earth has been turned into a vampire and only one man is left alone to fight them."
"You realise," said Dave, "That that makes him the bad guy."
"No. He's cool."
"If he's the last man on Earth then the vampires can't be killing anyone and he's not protecting anyone. He's the bad guy."
Skip ahead a week or two.
"Yeah, turns out you were right. The end of the book he realises he's the monster. The vampires talk about him as a legend. A creature of the day."
Skip ahead seven years.
Will Smith in a new movie were he's the last man on Earth and everyone else has turned into a monster.
'Hmmm...', thought Dave, 'That sounds familar...'
Skip ahead another year.
Dave had now been without Jean for a month. That morning he decided to give blood. Later, bored and finding it difficult to type with a plaster on his right hand and a needle hole in his left arm, he headed over to TVlinks to find something to watch.
"I am Legend", Will Smith, last man on Earth battling monsters. Switch Earth with his house and monsters with a thesis and Dave could relate.
Story time:
Scientists have mutated the measles virus to create a cure for cancer. Yay! Unfotunately it mutates again and ends up having some small side effects: 90% of infected die, remaining 10% lose intellect, suffer from increased rage, cannibalistic tendencies and become hyper sensitive to sunlight to such an extent that it kills them. It also becomes super contagious. On the plus side, no more cancer and improved night vision.
Less than 1% of people are immune. Unfortunately for them, the infected like eating them and three years after the outbreak only Will is left, with his dog Sam of cause.
Life isn't too bad for Will. In the morning he hunts deer which are now roaming the empty streets of new york. At midday he waits around by the docks to see if anyone has responded to his constant radio signal which keeps repeating a message which says something like "Friends wanted, come see me by the dock, I'm there everyday at noon," but he must come across too needy because no one ever shows. In the afternoon he plays around in his lab with infected rats to find a cure. If something seems to work on a rat he catches an infected human to play with. So far they all die on him. At night he locks up his house and has a nice sleep. Or watches a DVD. He's seen Shrek so many times he knows every word of it.
*Spoilers ahead, look away now.*
Isn't it strange how nothing can really happen for three years then suddenly it all happens at once? It's Will's bday, he ends up getting in a fight, his dog gets infected, he kills his dog, he loses will to live, goes out to kill infected at night, is about to die when someone saves him. Someone responded to his radio call. Good timing or what? He stays consious just long enough to tell them where he lives.
It's a woman and a kid, using some kind of bright light to scare away the infected. They're immune like Will, heard his radio call. Came to say hi as they pass through, they're on their way to a place up in the mountains where all the other surivors are. Will seems upset, "No, your ruining the story, I'm suppose to be the last man on Earth. Maybe a girl and a kid I can just about accept, but a whole village of survivors in the mountains? That takes the biscuit."
Night falls, the infected show up wanting candy. "Trick or Treat". Turns out they were followed home last night. Not to worry, Will's had three years to transform his home into a fortress. Less than 3 minutes later the infected are inside. The three run down into the lab, the infected not far behind them, and lock themsleves in an isolated glass chamber where they find Will's latest test dummy girl is actually starting to turn human again. Again, great timing or what?
A male pushes his way to the front of the infected and starts hurling himself at the glass. It begins to crack.
The movie now has two alternative endings. Lots of internet debate goes on as to which is better.
The original ending tries to follow closer to the book. Will realises this male is the females partner and the infected just want her back. There are clues throughtout the movie that the infected still have basic human emotions and Will realises they can still love. He opens the doors, releases the girl and the infected go away happy. He remembers all the infected he has killed so far and realises he is the monster.
A test audience didn't like this ending, so they changed it. The ending it was released with is as follows:
Will realises they have no hope. They're trapped. He takes a sample of the test dummies blood gives it to the girl with the kid, shoves them in a hole in the wall and tells them to stay there till dawn, the blood has the cure in it. He then pulls out a hand grenade and blows himself and the infected to little bits. The next day the girl and the kid drive to the safe spot in the mountains they were talking about. It's there, just like they said, full of survivors. Will becomes a legend. The man who gave his life to save humanity.
There are pleanty of questionable moments in the film. For example, why were the girl and the kid still around at night when Will needed saving? Rule number one of survival being don't go out at night, how did they manage to survive so long? Why was Will's house so rubbish? Given the situation you'd imagine at least that the place to be packed full of weapons and ammo "just in case" and a load of UV lights wouldn't hurt. Some kind of excape plan maybe? I mean he has had three years to think about it, with enough spare time to memorise every word of Shrek.
But none of those littler things matter. The main let down is that the ending sucked. Both of them.
In the first, despite the clues that the infected have feelings, the idea that they just walk away is stupid. They have a history of eating the non-infected, what stops them from killing Will and co? Lets say they can be thought of as primative humans. Primative humans slaughtered all other evolving monkeys to extinction and usually weren't very nice to each other either. Will should be dead.
In the second, WTF? There is a village of survivors in the mountains less than a days ride away?!?! And not one of these survivors thought about trying to contact the outside world? Will has been sending out a radio message "on every frequency" every day for three years. Can't get a signal up in the hills. Well send the occasinal person down. It's perfectly save during the day. Send out your own messages. Swine.
*Spoilers finished, you can look back now.*
