Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time

After watching I am Legend I was really bothered by what I perceived as a disconnect between the end of the movie and the rest of the movie. Spoilers after the break.

Keep in mind that I never read the book this was based on so all of my thoughts are based on one viewing of the movie. How could the Dark Seekers be unthinking monsters as Neville portrays them? I watched the same male go into the light to rescue his female companion, rig a trap to catch Neville that was exactly the same as the trap used to catch the female, and track Neville to his house in order to rescue the female. Those were not the actions of an unthinking, unfeeling monster. When Neville blows them all up at the end I felt kind of disappointed. He never learned about the Dark Seekrs capacity for feeling. He never understood.

So I did some searching and came across a lot of information. About how different the movie is from the book for instance. But the most interesting thing I found was that the theatrical ending was not the original ending. You can follow this link to see the ‘alternate’ ending.

I have to agree with the person who posted it, this ending is far more powerful than the ending they used. It is also more true to the story that was laid out during the rest of the film. I am glad to see I wasn’t just imagining that the Dark Seeker male was trying to rescue the female and had feelings and was able to reason. It also makes me wonder if the Neville of the alternate ending, upon realizng that he was killing people and not monsters, felt remourse? It kind of looks like it in Wil Smith’s expressions. A much better way to end the film, with much more emotional impact. But I suppose that is why they didn’t use it. It wouldn’t be a Hollywood blockbuster without a good monster-killing explosion at the end.