Spring Break
New Ending Adds To 'Legend' On DVD
Stephen Ortiz
Issue date: 3/20/08 Section: Focus
When "I Am Legend" was released last December, most audiences and fans of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel had one standout issue with the film - the ending didn't reflect the rest of it. Well, good news for those who left the theater feeling slightly cheated: Warner Bros.'s two-disc DVD release of "I Am Legend" includes a second cut of the film - in other words, a better, alternate ending.
Francis Lawrence's version of the sci-fi classic revolves around Robert Neville (Will Smith), a virologist who believes he is the last man on Earth after a horrific man-made virus turns everyone into violent, vampire mutants. Neville's life is one of loneliness (his only companion is a German Shepard named Sam and mannequins placed throughout the city) and routines (he has a set agenda including exercise and waiting for others at the dock at noon, which ultimately culminates in sleeping in a tub each night in his locked down house).
The movie has a few surprises - nothing that will be ruined here - and is genuinely entertaining, but then the ending happens, and while some will like it, most won't.
Outside of the bad call on the ending, there's a lot of good to be talked about in "I Am Legend." Smith's acting is great and terribly convincing as the planet's last man standing. You can't help but feel sympathetic for his character, especially when things begin to take turns for the worst midway through the film.
"I Am Legend" was entertaining, but it was nowhere near as entertaining as it was beautiful to look at. Lawrence was able to create an empty, desolate New York City, overgrown with vegetation and littered with abandoned cars. The CG images are clear, the buildings and streets are well-detailed and, all in all, the transfer is consistent.
Sound is used as properly as it could be here to deliver the eerie feel of what an abandoned New York City would sound like. Neville's lone car echoes off the buildings, gunshots bounce and explosions split pure silence. Sound is also used well to deliver tension and anxiety in some of the more intense scenes like the climatic chase through a pitch-black building.
If you pick up the single-disc version of the movie, expect nothing more than the original cut and four six-minute long animated comics, which are a pretty cool concept. The four - titled "Death as a Gift," "Isolation," "Sacrificing the Few for the Many" and "Shelter" - show the virus' effect in different parts of the world. The rest of the basic content, like making of features and behind-the-scenes footage, is offered only as DVD-ROM material. For the content offered, the hassle isn't worth checking it out.
The real draw here, and the reason why the DVD is worth revisiting the film altogether, is the second cut featured on the second disc. The movie itself remains much unchanged but it is the ending that reinvents the meaning of the film and the final act. Viewers will surely not be disappointed this time around.
Francis Lawrence's version of the sci-fi classic revolves around Robert Neville (Will Smith), a virologist who believes he is the last man on Earth after a horrific man-made virus turns everyone into violent, vampire mutants. Neville's life is one of loneliness (his only companion is a German Shepard named Sam and mannequins placed throughout the city) and routines (he has a set agenda including exercise and waiting for others at the dock at noon, which ultimately culminates in sleeping in a tub each night in his locked down house).
The movie has a few surprises - nothing that will be ruined here - and is genuinely entertaining, but then the ending happens, and while some will like it, most won't.
Outside of the bad call on the ending, there's a lot of good to be talked about in "I Am Legend." Smith's acting is great and terribly convincing as the planet's last man standing. You can't help but feel sympathetic for his character, especially when things begin to take turns for the worst midway through the film.
"I Am Legend" was entertaining, but it was nowhere near as entertaining as it was beautiful to look at. Lawrence was able to create an empty, desolate New York City, overgrown with vegetation and littered with abandoned cars. The CG images are clear, the buildings and streets are well-detailed and, all in all, the transfer is consistent.
Sound is used as properly as it could be here to deliver the eerie feel of what an abandoned New York City would sound like. Neville's lone car echoes off the buildings, gunshots bounce and explosions split pure silence. Sound is also used well to deliver tension and anxiety in some of the more intense scenes like the climatic chase through a pitch-black building.
If you pick up the single-disc version of the movie, expect nothing more than the original cut and four six-minute long animated comics, which are a pretty cool concept. The four - titled "Death as a Gift," "Isolation," "Sacrificing the Few for the Many" and "Shelter" - show the virus' effect in different parts of the world. The rest of the basic content, like making of features and behind-the-scenes footage, is offered only as DVD-ROM material. For the content offered, the hassle isn't worth checking it out.
The real draw here, and the reason why the DVD is worth revisiting the film altogether, is the second cut featured on the second disc. The movie itself remains much unchanged but it is the ending that reinvents the meaning of the film and the final act. Viewers will surely not be disappointed this time around.
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