Along with comments about the history of its 50+ year trip to get there - by Ed Green

For those who haven't read Matheson's I Am Legend - you really should. It's a tale of the last normal man on earth; an every man named Robert Neville who has no special training or skill. He just draws the luckiest (or depending on you point of view, the worst) hand in the poker game called Apocalypse.

And, it was also the first modern story to suggest scientific reasons for the existence of vampires.

It works on all levels, and is scary as hell all of the time.

More so for those of us in the Los Angeles area, who will have a passing familiarity with the surroundings of the novel. The city has changed, with the book having been written almost 50 years ago when Neville’s home (and author Matheson’s) was in Inglewood. Back then, it was another racially mixed bedroom community, instead of the proto-ghetto it is today.  Still, within its pages there are images of a dead and deserted LA that are haunt those of us who know the area. It seems more terrifying, knowing just how crowded this city is, to see through his eyes the empty streets.

When you consider how damn well written, how lasting the images are, it seems to be a serious injustice that I Am Legend can't get made into a decent, thought provoking and *scary* film.

Although, the history of this book making it to the big screen is scary in its own right.

When first released, the book created a stir in the movie making community. It is rumored that Orson Welles was interested in making version of the film! While a version directed by Welles might have been interesting to watch, his acting in it as Neville might not have worked.

By 1958, he had gained a fair amount of weight, and that certainly would have impacted the visuals of the film. But his ability as a director certainly would have created a dark and brooding film.

Eight years after the novel's publication, we have the first film adaptation, brought to us by American International Pictures. With a screenplay written by Matheson himself, it was originally slated to be produced by Hammer Films, but they dropped out fearing that the British censors would hobble anything they could produce, and it would lose money. Apparently the censors board was more scary than vampires.

With a name change to Last Man on Earth, it ended up being produced and directed in Italy by a joint American/Italian production team. Matheson's screenplay was still used, although he requested this name be pulled from the credits because he was unhappy with the way the production was going.

Even that didn't last, since his agent advised him that in order to retain some rights, he had to have some stamp on it. If you watch the film, you'll notice a Logan Swanson as credited with writing. That's Matheson's nom de plume.

The film itself?

Vincent Price, a very good actor was cast to star, along with several Italian actors. It was felt that Price's name heading the cast list would be enough star power to make money.

Commercially, the film did okay business at best.  But, considering the reduced costs of the production, that was good enough.

Price himself was actually a reasonable choice for Robert Neville, although for some reason, the character's name was changed to Robert Morgan. His looks were fine, the age was right, his range as an actor fit, and nothing being asked by the script was beyond him. Even at the end of the film, when Morgan is being chased by the survivors of the vampire plague, none of the physical action is out of character.

But the film suffers from stiffness and, oddly for a film about a man trapped every night in his home, a sense of claustrophobia that hurts the film.

Morgan seems to be muddling through life, unsure of his future, grasping for some stability in the past. But there's no sense of a reason to survive. Not even the inertia of day to day life. In the book, Neville was too stubborn, when he was sober, to let go.

In this film, that element is missing. And because of that, no connection is made with the audience.

There are moments when you do care about him (when he is watching an 8mm film of his daughter's last birthday party), but later on when he is (through flashbacks) dealing with her infection and final death, the scenes are unmoving. The right actor with the wrong director and script.

At the end of it, you really don't feel sympathy for Price/Morgan.

There is no sense of *why* Morgan just doesn't leave the city and leave the terror behind.

You almost feel sorry for Price, but you can't make that final leap.

The ending is closer than any other version to the book. Yet, it all fails to stir the viewer.

Charlton Heston's 1971 version (The Omega Man) was even further from the original novel, with the character of Robert Neville now becoming a full Colonel and Medical Doctor in the US Army. A scientist and an infantryman, armed to the teeth with modern weapons (and we're talking about Heston's teeth at that!), he is on a mission to survive.

This is so much a 70s film that elements of it don't seem as terrible or likely when viewed 30+ years after it was made.

The plague that leaves him as the last normal human is the result of a biological missile attack against the US. Who actually attacks the US is glossed over, but it is clearly set up as spill over from a massive war between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China (which was a distinct possibility back then. Both countries had several border clashes with each other during that time - with at least two of them involving thousands of troops on both sides).

The writers had background in biochemistry and English Literature. The husband and wife team felt the vampire threat had no credibility with the then current culture and shifted to human plague survivors.

Neville drives through the streets of LA, hunting down the members of the cult that calls itself "The Family" (a not so subtle nod to the terror that Charlie Mansion and his "Family" visited on the streets of LA only a few years previously).

Led by former local television newscaster Mathais (Anthony Zerbe) they all wear robes, sunglasses and albino make-up. They cannot go into the light. They have a horrific and physical aversion to bright lights. It blinds, and possibly burns them. Also, the plague has created a mental psychosis among them.

'The Family' and Neville play an often lethal game of hide and seek with each other.

At night, The Family storms Neville's fortress with primitive weapons. They have strength in numbers and religious frenzy.

During the day, Neville hunts them down, using not only modern weapons, but also a clear analytical mind.

The film also includes a six gun toting, leather jacket wearing, ex-med student biker, a 'Right On, Sister!" Black Woman (played by Rosalind Cash - a great actress, who died far too soon in life), and a clutch of orphans.

All that and Charlton Heston.

In the trilogy of SF films he made, Heston has said it was the least effective production of the three and the one he was most disappointed with.

There are moments when his performance enjoyable. Heston, believing he’s the last real human in Los Angeles is bunkered in a multi-storied mansion. Surrounded by fine art, with food and drink to last for years, he still spends lonely nights playing chess with a life size bust of Julius Caesar, and listening to the member of the family taunt him from the street below.  He's soul weary and tired.  When he bellows 'leave me alone!', you feel for him.

But those moments are sadly few. Many others play poorly.

A scene where he goes to a movie theater to watch the film Woodstock (the days before VHS!) is a prime example. He really must like the film, since in order to view it, he has to fuel the generator to run the projector.  What is not shown, but must happen, is that he has to get up and change each and every reel.

All alone in a dark dirty theater, with a submachine gun in his arms, and quoting the dialogue as it happens. How many times has he seen this? Dozens? Hundreds? This scene should be stunning. The set up is great, the actor can perform at that level - but its the wrong movie for a man like Heston's Neville to be watching.

Not Woodstock.

Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, hell even The Ten Commandments, but Woodstock?

Sorry, can’t buy it.

It is a wildly uneven film, with performances marred with poor continuity and set control (the last man in Los Angeles is driving around the deserted streets of LA - why are people clearly visible in the background walking around in the first two minutes?); the substance of the original work is lost.

In yet another bit of oddness for this film, the score is written by Ron Greiner. Better known as the man who wrote the opening theme for the BBC series Dr. Who! The score by way is, is one of the best parts of the film.

Neville is too damn mean and stubborn to leave the city. You don't feel sorry for him or his situation. You don't need to feel sorry for him. The end of the world isn't a disaster. It's a problem to be managed and solved.  His blood is the cure, and he's going to cure the world.

This Neville's biggest problem is that he knows what he needs to do. But, when he leaves the path he's mapped out, he dooms himself.

Of course, because this is Hollywood, there's a reason to leave the path.

He is sought out by Cash and the remaining humans. They are infected, but haven’t reached the final stages like Mathis. Cash’s brother is in critical condition and guess who the nearest doctor is?

It's a matter of time before he will 'turn' and become just like Mathias and his group. But don't worry, this Neville's blood is the cure ('Good old 100% Anglo-Saxon, baby!" as Heston mutters while draining a vial of it).

Having cured the kid, he decides to leave town with his new charges. His plan for the Family is to declare victory, and let them die of the plague. That doesn't sit well with the now cured boy.  He wants Neville to either "Kill them or cure them, damn it!" And when Neville declines, he decides to act as an unwanted mediator.

It doesn't end well. Things like that rarely do.

In the film that we see, little reference is made to the race difference between Neville and Cash's character, Lisa. However, in early drafts of the film, much is made of it. And questions are raised about whether society, whether mankind itself should be saved.

I suspect they were filmed, but ended up on the cutting room floor. More's the pity.   They were some of the best scenes in the screenplay.

It seems that Hollywood itself can't quite make a movie involving the end of the world without a lot of things blowing up. 

Warner Brothers, the studio that produced the film, had some odd input. At the end of the film, as Heston's body lies in a water fountain, like a modern Jesus, bright and perky music is playing. The studio insisted on that, so the audience would think of the ending as 'bright and upbeat'.  It didn't seem that way to me, but what did I know?  I was a high school student when I first saw the film.

Further away from the original novel, "The Omega Man" is technically a better film then "Last Man on Earth", due to the budget and cast.  Whether its a better film, art wise, is up to you.

Released in November of 2007, the film is directed by directed by Griff Furst. I Am Omega was produced by The Global Asylum. A production company that has been known from time to time to release a film that now and then that has a plot, and has some actors that do not have large breasts.

The last normal human is named Renchard and is played by Mark Dacascos. Dacascos has an interesting history as an actor. Perhaps his biggest credit is as 'The Chairman' in the "Iron Chef America: The Series"

And the secret ingredient for your challenge is... Zombies!

Mark Dacascos (L) as "The Chairman" and (R) as Renchard  

I have listed it here as an expanded footnote. Going into further detail is pointless. It's a poor rip-off designed to piggyback the release in December of 2007 of "I Am Legend".

I've seen it. Its bad. And not bad in a 'wow, that was fun, cause it was bad' way. Bad in a "I saw it for free and I'd like some money back anyway!" bad.

We have however, now gone from Vampires to Bio-Warfare victims to zombies with this film. Apparently, vampires still are no longer hip.

The zombies get all the best lines (okay, best grunts) and pretty much remind you that George Romero could do five better zombie movies on the $200 budget this film had.

The road that the 2007 version of the book "I Am Legend" took was one filled with ruts, pot holes and deep divides.

In an age where major studios greenlight projects designed to bring in big box office receipts, at the cost of acting in favor of more explosions, that this movie even got made is a small miracle.

Over the years, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise, Daniel Day-Lewis, Guillermo del Toro, Michael Bay and Ridley Scott were all been attached to this project at some time or other. Many fans thought that Kurt Russel should have been cast as Neville. Each had baggage or ideas that could have made for a fantastic film or a disaster.

In the book "The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made" by David Hughes, written in 1999/2000, he devotes a full chapter to the attempts at that time to make this current version. Among the concepts that Ridley Scott considered was the first hour of the film being shot without a single line of dialogue. If he really were the last man on earth, who the hell would he be talking to? Himself? A voice-over narration? Why?

Commercially it might have doomed the film, but I believe that with the right actor, it would have been so damn powerful to watch.

At least until you realize that Arnold Schwarzenger was attached to the project then too.

In the run up to the film, I read more and more about what was happening, and finally concluded that it was going to be, at best, a fair film.

My reasons for this belief were many.

The script that is the spring board for this version, written by Mark Protosevich, has been on the internet for years, and was called the 'best unproduced script in existence."(1)

I never agreed with that, because the second and third acts were standard action film offerings. Having read the Internet posted script, I found that lots of stuff blew up and the hero sailed off into the sunset.

But the first act, set in San Francisco, was moody and chilling.

In Hollywood, the first script submitted is rarely the script filmed. As was the case here. At one point, John Logan was called in to write the script, basicly dumping Protosevich's work. Also available on the Internet, it offers a different, yet compelling version of this story. Logan was the one to work on the idea of a silent hero for the first hour of the movie.

One of the interesting things that developed was the use of Neville's dead wife as a narrator. Here, she manages to record several hours of audio tape before she dies of the plauge.

Its unusual, and a major twist from any version of the story we've seen up to now.

I think this script is the stronger one, and small elements are in this current film. This Robert Neville is smart, and very clear minded. Perhaps one reason I like the script is that Neville does things to survive that I had thought about doing on my own, if I found myself in that situation.

Then Akiva Goldsman became involved not just as a producer, but scriptwriter. His involvement isn't as clear, but you can tell he did some script doctoring.

Finally, you consider that it, in the studio's eyes, it ended up as being another star vehicle for the bankable Will Smith, you can only believe that it was doomed to try to make money, over the first couple of weeks and not please many of the fans of the original book.

So, what did we end up with?

This is, sadly, not the story of Robert Neville, an every man living in the burbs of Los Angeles, slowly discovering the horrible reality of being the last normal human being. This movie is not the story of someone who is too stubborn to die, and too emotionally crippled to live.

But, in the creation of his version of Robert Neville, Will Smith goes into the mind of the book's hero. And he comes away with an understanding and a grasp of that man that we haven't seen before on screen.

The movie is an amazing remake of the 1971 "The Omega Man".

Okay, get past the thought, 'why did they have to remake that movie?"

They didn't have to. In this life, many things happen just because they do. Don't waste time asking that question. They remade it.

And, they made a good film.

It is sadly not a perfect film. But it comes close to being a great film. When they get things right, it's a film that keeps you on the edge. You are scared, terrified and riveted to the screen.

When they fail to get it right, its clunky, noisy and distracting.

What works in this version?

Will Smith. As long as he's by himself, or telling us the back-story through his flashbacks, his performance is solid. This is Will Smith as Lieutenant. Colonel. Robert Neville, MD, a big wheel in the US Army Biowarfare Command and cover boy for Time Magazine. (2) And he’s good.

Ground Zero of this pandemic is in New York City, and Neville has the mission to fight the virus and find the cure. He sends his wife and daughter away, while remaining at his duty station.

He reassures his wife that the right things are being done, and that he'll find the cure and fix the problems.

He's that good and he's knows it.

Will Smith, with his daughter, Willow Smith (playing his daughter, Marley Neville).

Except, he's not.

From the moment he makes that promise to his wife, the right things don't happen, or they don't work. In the distance, you can hear the hooves of the Four Horsemen. Right up until they trample humanity.

Now, a few years later, Neville is not just scared. Not just on the edge of sanity. He's over it. He has gone mad. He does a great job of convincing himself he's still sane. And, at the beginning, he convinces you too.

But it isn't until you realize that he's crazy do you nod your head in the dark of the theater and say,

"I get it. Of course, only a madman would do those things!"

But later on, we see some of the reason for the madness, the loneliness, the fear that come over him.

When we first see "The Infected", the humans who did not die of the pandemic, it is through Smith's eyes.

Smith follows his dog into a dark building. It's possibly one of the scariest scenes I've seen in any film. Not a single frame is what you expect. Its drawn out, its painful, you sit on the edge of the seat, not daring to breathe, not wanting to bring the evil on Smith.

Or yourself.

His reaction, and yours, is total, breathe stealing, silent terror. You know, just know, if you were in his place, you'd scream and die painfully, firing your M4 carbine until it was empty. He doesn't, which makes it more terrifying.

It is the most effective use of the CGI monsters in the film.

A little later on in the film, when Neville is working on finding a cure for the virus, he makes a mistake. Its one of those mistakes that, in another film, would have people rolling their eyes that someone could be that stupid.

But here, he makes that observation, that throw away line, that mistake, and you realize that what he has really done is committed the sin of Hubris. In the classical Greek sense of the word. Then, through the flashbacks, you realize that this isn't the first time he's dealt with Hubris.

The world may have paid the price for his earlier brush with it.

What else works?

In the original book, Neville finds a dog, and, near the end of his sanity from being alone, coaxes it into his home. After all that, he makes a heartbreaking discovery about the dog.

In the Protosevich script, there's a dog that's Neville's companion. There's a great deal of business involving it. During that script the dog is attacked, and infected, by other mutated dogs.

Unlike the book, the dog doesn't die, and makes a heroic third act appearance.

Not in this script. Sam, a German Shepherd who is Neville's last link to his family, gets infected. Smith can't cure her. And she has to die.

Sam's final fate is horrifying. Not just to Neville, but to those of you who watch it.

Smith's anger when discussing God's part in the disaster is powerful, and you truly believe the fear you see in the other actor's eyes. If I standing there, in his kitchen and had to listen to someone that crazed, I might shoot them in self defense. And I’m not a religious man.

Neville's final confrontation with the Infected works. Not the build-up to it. The explosions and the gunfire are the standard formula.

But, in the basement of his home, in his lab, there is no last minute redemption for Neville. Hubris is indeed what has come for him, and it is Hubris that he fails to see even at the end.

Do you feel sorry for him and his final fate?

Yes, of course you do. He wasn't in his right mind. How could he see what was going on?

I think, finally, what really works is that you believe Smith as Neville. You believe it for so much of the film, when he has to deal with other normal people , that when you lose that connection with him, the air goes out of the film.

What doesn't work?

The CGI is as clunky as I've seen. Apparently this was a decision by the director, who wasn't please with how the human actors were working out. That decision was late in the process, and it looks it.

The motivation of the 'leader' of the infected is clear.

What isn't clear is his intelligence level. He can't be an inhuman killing machine and still manage a couple of tricks that he does. But the film never really shows anything more than an animal cunning on his part. It doesn't quite work. 

I get where the director was going with it, but I'm not sure other people will. Most of the people reading this review will get it, I'm sure. But it's a little muddy for the traditional, non-fannish viewer.

Part of what doesn't work are the details.

The movie might just be 'too hip for the room'. There are things going on in the background that are never explained. If you get them, they bring a raised eyebrow. "They were doing that? Oh my God, it was really, really bad!" Very impressive stuff, but it gets lost.

In the movie "28 Days Later", the point where the movie losses it edge and its charm (if a movie about killer zombies can have charm) is when the cast is expanded. There's an X point where there are too many people to support a good story.

And it's the same here. Once Smith is no longer alone, the film suffers. This isn't the fault of any of the actors, or I suspect the director. It's just the script. It builds to a certain level of tension and it isn't sustained when other normal people appear.

And even in those parts, there are some amazing moments delivered by Smith.

Smith's reaction to Sam's death after the scene in the lab is lacking.

The emotion, the anger is spot on. Smith wants to, needs to lash out. He does, with intent to die in the process.

But, the choices made by the director turn the scene into an action film set piece.

Finally, the length of the film doesn't work. Either part of Smith's time alone in the streets of Manhattan should have been trimmed (which I think would be a mistake), or there should have been another 15 minutes given over to Smith's interaction with the normal people who show up.

The final location we see in the film smacks of the cheery music in "The Omega Man". Or perhaps worse. There, the music pulled you out of the mood. Here, the final scene glosses over what it meant to be the last man on earth.

Finally, at least one reviewer has said that Smith's performance is Oscar worthy.

I'm not sure. I think this is more a case of Smith doing such an amazing job carrying the film, that you lose any real idea that he's performing. He just is Neville. Is that Oscar worthy? I don't know..

Through a few lucky breaks, I got in for an early and free screening.

Walking in, I was thinking that I paid the right price.

I didn't. It is worth a first run ticket price.

When the DVD comes out, I'm getting it. It will be interesting for the usual bonus features you get these days.

The initial reviews have come out, and whether the critic hates it or loves it, the almost universal comment is that two thirds of the film works.

That hasn't stopped the movie going public. As I am writing this, the initial box office for the weekend is just a shade under $80 Million dollars. That is a new record, not just for Smith, but for films in general. So, at some level, this film is about a legend.

While I'm still waiting to see a true version of the novel "I Am Legend" on the screen, this film will work rather nicely for now.

- -

(1) Any script referenced here is available on the Internet. And they have been for years, so I don't believe any of the writer's are being ripped off or upset about them being online. A search engine of your choice should find them.

(2) A brief note/rant here. I wish someday, someone would be smart enough to ask the short ton of technical advisors how the military rank system actually works. Someone as 'good' as Will Smith is supposed to be, isn't going to be a light colonel. In the military, people listen to Lt. Cols, but they don't always pay attention. If he were a hands on guy, he'd likely be a full Colonel. Seeing birds on someone's

shoulders inspires most service people to take serious mental notes, yet seeing someone like this getting his hands dirty wouldn’t raise an eyebrow.

If his talents were more toward running a lab, he'd be a one star general. Generals get full, undivided and immediate attention, and they move in the lofty arena of politics at that point in a military career. When a general officer shows up, things are serious. It's a minor nit, and just mine, but it does grate.

And since I've sidetracked, let us discuss the safety implications of hiding hand guns and hand grenades in a work station desk drawer, just rolling around loose.

First, you're the last human in New York. The old carrying concealed weapons laws are pretty much null and void. Feel free to strap one to your hip at all times. It means it is where you need it, when you need it. And it will get cleaned fairly often.

If the laws still bother you, hold an election and change the law! If you can't convince yourself that it's a good idea, well.

Now, about the grenade? Grenades are nasty little things that Hollywood has managed to convince 98% of the US population are much more effective than they really are.

Honestly, they don't toss 20 bodies hundreds of yards across the countryside. However, being close to one will kill you in a very sure way. And being in the same room with one when it goes off is ugly. But a personal kind of ugly, not a carpet bombing kind of ugly.