The ending of the book is closer to the alternate cut of I Am Legend, with Robert discovering that some of the infected have been able to resist becoming undead due to mutations in the bacteria, and have formed a new society. One of the big changes was the film’s ending, which was reshot to give the film a more commercial conclusion. Filter by. It's a full, polished ending, with complete special effects intact, so I'm assuming it was ripped from the special features on the imminent DVD. Which is funny, because throughout the film, we see a Time magazine cover that names him a savior, with his own addition of a question mark after that very word. Even the film’s path of fateful “butterflies” is manipulated between the versions of I Am Legend’s ending, as the theatrical ending you saw above sees that symbology leading Neville to believe that Anna is the hope he’d been searching for this whole time. Published in 1954, acclaimed author Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend is one of the most highly regarded works of apocalyptic fiction to date. Already a symbol of fate, thanks to the memory of his dead daughter telling him to “look at the butterflies,” Neville’s sighting of a butterfly tattoo on Anna’s neck tells him he has to trust her as the deliverer of the cure. LinkedIn. Search. Whichever ending Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ridley Scott had planned for their version. Neville lets her rejoin her brethren, and seemingly realizes that to the "Darkseekers" as they're dubbed, he's their biggest fear. CinemaBlend's James Bond (expert). It should be noted that both versions of I Am Legend are pretty much the same, up to one crucial sequence. While still far from the book, it's much closer in spirit, as Neville learns that he isn't quite as righteous as he thought. Another big part of the I Am Legend book that's never been adapted faithfully is its ending, which sees Neville commit suicide rather than be executed for his apparent crimes. But he's not alone. Now what appears to be the original, alternate ending to I Am Legend is online. Oddly enough though, none of the three films is really a satisfying adaptation of the text, as each differs greatly from the source material. The difference in the two versions of the film’s ending proves that, as all it took was a couple of scenes, and a rewrite reframing the finale, to totally change just how the film would be seen in the long run. The plot and ending of the original movie “I am Legend” that was released in theaters is as follows; December 2009, military virologist Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville (Will Smith), lost his wife Zoe (Salli Richardson) and daughter Marley (Willow Smith) in a helicopter accident during the chaotic quarantine of Manhattan. We never really knew the significance of the Alpha Female before I Am Legend’s alternate ending, as the Alpha Male’s charging of the glass enclosure Neville, Anna and Ethan are safely hiding in looked like a sheer show of aggression against the human he’d previously encountered. If, for some reason, you haven’t seen I Am Legend before reading this rundown, first of all, we warned you. The story of Dr. Robert Neville (Will Smith) plays out identically, with him roaming the city, trying to cure the Krippen Virus that turned humanity into the Darkseekers (or Hemocytes, as they’re more pleasingly named in the DVD subtitles) and ultimately meeting fellow human survivors Anna (Alice Braga) and Ethan (Charlie Tahan). The site also got Lawrence to confirm that the alternate finale is his scenario of choice, as he explained the entire scenario below: I agree it's the better ending. As far back as the film’s original home video release in 2008, there was already whispers floating from sites like Vulture that I Am Legend’s ending was changed due to test audiences not really enjoying what it had to say about the hero they’d followed through an entire film’s worth of adventure. All of the breadcrumbs that I Am Legend had laid out through the entire film lead to a more satisfying conclusion in the alternate ending. මෙන්න මගෙන් උපසිරැසි එක්ක එන තෙවෙනි ෆිල්ම් එක. Published in 1954, acclaimed author Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend is one of the most highly regarded works of apocalyptic fiction to date. If you’ve never seen the film before, it’s now available on Prime Video for viewing. Add to Wish List. I loved I Am Legend the first time I saw it! It’s even retroactively hinted that this ending was preferred from day one, as we still see a shot from the alternate ending at the very end of the theatrical trailer to I Am Legend. Will Smith's 2007 box office hit I Am Legend had an ending that divided audiences, but an alternate ending exists that does more justice to the book. He also loves both Marvel and DC movies, and wishes every superhero fan could just get along. See the Alternate Ending for ‘I Am Legend’ That Was Too Satisfying for Test Audiences. I Am Legend is a 2007 American post-apocalyptic action thriller film loosely based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson.Directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman and Mark Protosevich, the film stars Will Smith as US Army virologist Robert Neville.. The hero doesn't find the cure, right? I Am Legend is a dystopian story very loosely based upon a book of the same name. 12 years ago. Noting the barbaric nature of the Hemocytes, Anna’s questioning of Robert’s experiments and even “the butterflies” all tie together into a conclusion that steers away from the cheese that the third act pumps its narrative full of, and heads back to the promise the film had shown in its earlier acts. There are a couple movies out there that, despite their rather apocalyptic theme, you’re probably going to be tempted to stream. I Am Legend’s “controversial” ending sees Neville, Anna and Ethan still alive and leaving New York City together. Unfortunately, as revealed by I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence, the reason the ending was changed to the happier one seen in theaters is due to intensely negative reactions to the ending where Neville has his villainous realization from test audiences. I Am Legend Ending Explained By Ricky Derisz / Dec. 14, 2017 12:55 pm EST / Updated: Aug. 17, 2020 3:44 pm EST Approximately eighty seconds is all it takes for I Am Legend … Text, image, video. The Godfather Coda And 10 Other Famous Director’s Cuts To Check Out, 8 Great POC Characters In Sci-fi Movies And TV Shows, Artemis Fowl And 5 Other Movies That Radically Changed The Books On Which They Were Based, Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, 8 Things To Remember From Wonder Woman Before Seeing Wonder Woman 1984, Why Tessa Thompson And Nnamdi Asomugha Love Producing Personal Films Like Sylvie’s Love, The Stand: 7 Differences Between The Book And The Show After Episode 2, NBC's One Chicago: When Med, Fire, And P.D. For those of us who read Richard Matheson’s brilliant sci-fi/horror novel I Am Legend, Will Smith’s latest film adaptation — Hollywood’s third attempt at it — was something of a disappointment. The alternative ending shows, supported by 2 preparative scenes, the survival of all mankind, but with a bitter aftertaste. As such, it's no surprise that the book has been adapted for the big screen, in this case three different times. For reference, here’s the clip of the theatrical ending, which will definitely come in handy later: The theatrical ending of I Am Legend has Neville telling Anna and Ethan that the Hemocytes won’t stop chasing them. Facebook. Much like Richard Matheson intended, Dr. Robert Neville is the boogeyman for the Hemocytes. Yes, folks, it’s time for another tale of a movie that kind of lost its way in the reshoots, as I Am Legend’s “controversial” ending was changed into something that was more acceptable to audiences. Instead of sacrificing himself out of spite as a savior of humanity, in the alternate ending, he opts to leave the Hemocytes alone having now seen them for what they truly are. There was a … reddit. Top rated. Faced with an overwhelming onslaught, Neville sacrifices himself to save fellow survivors Anna and Ethan, along with a sample of his cure. Instead of having Robert Neville (Will Smith) die during the final sequence, the original ending allows his character to survive with added implications. Anyway, it's enough to distract you from the December all around. Yesterday, some intrepid soul posted an alternate I Am Legend ending to YouTube. Print. The opening act is too magnificent for the terrible ending to wreck it. That’s not to say the movie’s not good, as it’s some of Will Smith’s strongest work at a time when his career was not getting the raves it once knew, but it’s way different than the inspiration. It was big news that I Am Legend went through a series of reshoots. Posted by Jeanine Krzyzanowski. All formats. Which ending of I Am Legend do you prefer? Otherwise, scrub up and join us as we head into the examination room to see just where things went kinda/sorta wrong for I Am Legend. It’ll make for some interesting conversation in the comments below, and you’ll be able to take part in the poll we’ve shared to gather your valued opinion. In the theatrical cut of I Am Legend, Neville's house is stormed by the vampires, right as he finally discovers a cure for their condition. Anna and Ethan are saved, and during her final monologue describing how Dr. Robert Neville cured the Krippen Virus in his last moments, we see the two venturing to Vermont, in search of a survivor colony. In 1971, Charlton Heston took the lead in the second adaptation, titled The Omega Man. He relieves her of the cure and returns her to the hemocytes. It was based on a book on the same name which was released in the 50s. The Alternative Cut however gives them a more "human" touch and shows humanity as a disturbing factor for them. ප් Directors Francis Lawrence Genres Drama Subtitles This alternate ending to I Am Legend is (IMHO) far superior to the abrupt version in the theatrical release, and fits in better with something that happens in the film about midway through.. At one point in the movie when Will Smith's character took the lead zombie's mate away from them, the zombie reacted with extreme rage, indicating that there was some vestige of humanity left in them. Horror legend Vincent Price starred in the film, titled The Last Man on Earth. A FL native, Michael is passionate about pop culture, and earned an AS degree in film production in 2012. More: I Am Legend 2 Updates: Will A Sequel (Or Prequel) Ever Get Made? In an even greater context, we see that the Hemocytes have also seen Dr. Robert Neville as their own boogeyman, much like Richard Matheson’s source material had done with its own overall plot. Is Sam still the goodest girl in this ending? I Am Legend's Alternate Ending Explained: What Happens & Why It Was Cut. The Will Smith I Am Legend once again fails to replicate this ending, but its alternate conclusion is much closer to the book's message. And it all starts with a very different sighting of that butterfly tattoo. As popcorn movies go, this one has enough of the good in it to make it watchable, and enough of the bad to make it disposable. It’s here we learn that the Hemocytes aren’t mindless brutes, and they’re more socialized than we thought. Has The Mandalorian Been Hiding A Star Wars Rebels Character In Plain Sight? They drive off into the unknown and the creatures you've been saying are the bad ones the whole time you learn actually have humanity and aren't the bad ones - the hero's the bad one. I Am Legend: Alternate Ending (408) IMDb 7.2 1h 43min 2007. Twitter. One that culminates in the original, and somewhat preferred ending, to I Am Legend, shown below: This new chain of events sees Neville realize that the Alpha Male was trying to save the Alpha Female this whole time. ගොඩක් දෙනෙක් මේක ගැන දන්නවා ඇති. According to the Theatrical Cut, the darkseekers are displayed as monsters who deserve their annihilation. At the very end of I Am Legend, Anna discovers the colony is still active, and hands over the vial of cured blood to the authorities. I Am Legend 2 Updates: Will A Sequel (Or Prequel) Ever Get Made? In that time, Michael has written over 2000 articles for the site, first working solely as a news writer, then later as a senior writer and associate news editor. Why was it so controversial? I Am Legend subtitles English. As they head to Vermont in the hopes of finding that survivor’s colony, Anna records a new message, much like Robert’s previous broadcast that attracted her and Ethan to the dock, telling anyone who’s still alive to find them up north. Allegedly Hash Out Deal. The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. Films like Contagion, Outbreak and even Will Smith’s viral epic I Am Legend, are all finding new popularity with folks who are trying to handle the COVID-19 pandemic through a sort of fictional catharsis. I Am Legend‘s Alternate Ending. Mutant victims, watching his every move. I am Legend – Alternate Ending. Neville, forced to look at his own actions closer, apologizes for his murder of Hemocytes in his experiments for a cure, and in an act of atonement, he releases the Alpha Female back to her mate, no cure in hand. I mean, it's the more philosophical version of the end, but in terms of story math we're doing everything you're not supposed to do, right? Will Return With New Episodes, Sacha Baron Cohen’s Wife Isla Fisher Reveals What It’s Like Being Married To Borat, ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Interviews with Gal Gadot, Chris Pine and Pedro Pascal, Pixar’s ‘Soul’ Interviews with Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Angela Bassett & More, 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' Interviews with Viola Davis, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo & More, Doctor Strange Director Seemingly Hints At Reasons For Leaving Multiverse Of Madness, Why Netflix's Virgin River Ended On That Major Cliffhanger, Big Things For Dune And Godzilla Vs. Kong May Be On The Way As Legendary And Warner Bros. Michael Kennedy is an avid movie and TV fan that's been working for Screen Rant in various capacities since 2014. 2020 Fall TV Premiere Schedule: List Of New And Returning Shows, Fifty Shades Of Grey’s Jamie Dornan Opens Up About How He ‘Struggled’ With Playing Christian Grey, Will Smith Sums Up COVID-19 Quarantine With Perfect I Am Legend-Inspired Meme, 13 Intense Post-Apocalyptic Movies And Where To Stream Or Rent Them Online, Video, Prime Video: James Bond And More Are Coming In April 2020 To Help You Quarantine In Style, Will Smith Explains How I Am Legend Prepared Him For Covid-19 Crisis. I Am Legend is an interesting film (reminds me a lot of the game 'The last of us'), and follows the main character Robert Neville (Will Smith) a survivor in New York City after a virus outbreak with symptoms similar to 'vampirism'. Which, naturally, is provided below as a resource: So if this ending to I Am Legend is so damned good, why was it changed to begin with? This was actually the third time it had been made into a movie. All reviewers. Robert Neville seems to be the last human in NYC. All of those questions and more are about to be answered as we look at two paths that diverge on the studio lot, and we’re about to venture down both of them. The ending to the Alternate Theatrical Version varies from the original ending. He then takes a grenade and kills the Darkseekers and himself, saving the cure. For one, while Robert Neville in the book is far from an expert on the plague that's destroyed humanity, the Neville in every film version has been a genius scientist capable of devising a cure. Also versed in Large Scale Aggressors, time travel, and Guillermo del Toro. However, that wasn’t the original ending of I Am Legend, as when the film hit home video in 2008, it came with the “controversial” alternate ending that brought us here today. With that in mind, please watch the same pivotal scene from the third act of I Am Legend, but with a very different detail: As the butterfly tattoo is no longer on Anna, but rather on the Alpha Female (Joanna Numata) that’s been Dr. Robert Neville’s guinea pig for a good portion of the film, everything leads to an alternate ending that makes so much more sense. 19th April 2020 17th August 2009 by Kevin Muldoon. And so you've basically turned everything on its head. We tested it twice and it got wildly rejected, wildly rejected, which is why we came out with the other one. This isn't the first instance of a test audience making a movie worse, and probably won't be the last. බලලත් ඇති. The first adaptation came a decade after I Am Legend's publication, in 1964. Test audiences can shift the course of a film like I Am Legend in subtle, but fundamental ways. It turns out those changed into vampire-like creatures by the plague have formed their own society and are still mostly intelligent, and view Neville as a monster, a kind of boogeyman they fear and loathe due to his killing of their species. By contrast, the alternate ending has Neville learn that the reason the vampires are attacking his home is that the creatures' leader is the significant other to the latest "test subject" that Neville had kidnapped in order to try and create a cure. Deciding to sacrifice himself for their safety, Neville pulls the pin on a grenade and charges into the Hemocyte scrum headfirst, killing the Alpha Male and his army. Stay safe, stay indoors and stay in the light, as you watch I Am Legend on Prime Video. And wouldn’t you know, the attack happens just as his cure for KV is starting to work on a random female Hemocyte he had captured for testing. K.V. Instead of blowing himself and the hemocytes up with a grenade, Neville discovers that the hemocytes actually came for the female he captured earlier in the movie. AKA: I Am Legend: The IMAX Experience, Я - легенда, Men Efsaneyem. So if you’re keen on visiting this 12-year-old blockbuster with fresh eyes, head over to Prime Video, as it's just put the film into its streaming library for you to enjoy. 4.7 out of 5 stars 4,550 ratings. Second, and more importantly, keep in mind these facts, and feel free to revisit the clips above after you’ve seen the film. While we may never get the prequel, sequel or reboot that was proposed to keep I Am Legend on the books known as “active development,” there is still an interesting example to be seen in the film that we did get from the famed sci-fi/horror text that still inspires fans to this very day. However, it’s in the final moments of I Am Legend’s big third act finale, with the Alpha Male (Dash Mihok) and his fellow Hemocytes overrunning Neville’s base of operations, that the film takes its big divergence. 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I Am Legend Alternate Ending (Blu-ray + DVD) by Will Smith Format: DVD. Related: I Am Legend’s Batman v Superman Easter Egg: Why Is It There? It’s as if the film is not only building his character with that moment, it’s also openly asking us to question our feelings for this character, and ultimately his ending.