i am legend: fact vs. fiction
January 2, 2008 by Cash
Yesterday a friend and I saw “I Am Legend”, Will Smith’s new tale of a virus gone bad that wipes NYC clean of humans, leaving behind a trail of infected zombie types who hunt him after the sun goes down. Overall, I was impressed with it on almost every level. The cinematography was stunning, Smith’s performance nuanced (given the one-man-show nature of the role) and the ‘infected’ were truly horrifying.
Being a huge fan of apocalyptic stories in general, I did some perusing online today and found an interesting article discussing how accurately the movie portrays what would really happen if such a catastrophic event was to occur.
In some ways, the movie sticks close to the truth; showcasing how gasoline powered generators could be used to power a house for many years. The movie’s portrayal of the infected however gets a big thumbs down from the scientific community:
And what about the Infected? “As far as this thing turning people into vampires, and making them look a specific way,” Lipkin says, “that’s quite bizarre. This is Hollywood. That’s all I can say.”
Read the rest of the fascinating details here.
I liked this movie also. However, I was disappointed in the fact that the irony of the title of the book was not used in the movie. Had I not known about the the book version ending, I would have thought this movie was even better.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend
nice info alexander
I agree with Alexander - my Father read this book was back when and the ending with the juxtaposition of the main character vs. the infected sounded much more interesting. I’m sure some producer somewhere beat that ending out of the original script.
Also, for a cool depection of what might happen in the case of an infection (more Zombie-like) check out World War Z… Great read.
Thanks for the comment and suggestion Brian. Checking WWZ on wiki it sounds pretty interesting.. Judging by the following I should try and read it before it hits the big screen:
A film adaptation is in development after the rights were obtained by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, with the screenplay being written by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski.[2]