Tom
An Old Friend
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.
For those unaware, let me explain the concept of Richard Matheson's book to help clarify why this original ending was so amazing to finally see. Without spoiling too much (incase you want to read it), the entire purpose of the title I Am Legend is that in the book, Robert Neville actually is the last man on the planet. And he has switched places from our reality of what we perceive as legend, to actually being the legend. As in, vampires are "legendary" to us because they're a myth from fantasy. In the book, Robert Neville is "legendary" because he is that myth and goes out day after day hunting them. With the original theatrical ending, they never actually touched on that idea at all - but when you think about, that's a pretty damn cool concept.
While an ending that direct wouldn't have worked at all in this interpretation of I Am Legend, the way this original ending plays out actually caters much more to that concept than the one we saw in theaters. I love the dynamic between Neville and the lead vampire, especially when he finally brushes up against next to him and comes in contact with him. He never got that close to any of them in movie and seeing that gave me a chill. It's rare that I'm this moved by something like an alternate ending, but this was truly breathtaking!
This is the kind of situation where I want to break the rules because I want to show Warner Brothers that the actual audiences in America would have accepted this ending and preferred it over the one that made it into the final theatrical cut. Although I Am Legend performed amazingly well at the box office anyway, I think this is a much more profound and emotional ending. Unfortunately now WB is already thinking that the ending they chose was right because it made them money - so I hope you can prove them wrong and show your support of this new alternate ending. That is, if you prefer it.
