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How the Sequel to Will Smith’s 19-Year-Old Sci-Fi Could Actually Deliver a Proper Adaptation After Decades
While Will Smith’s upcoming post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror sequel was already exciting on its own, the blockbuster follow-up also marks a chance to fix numerous earlier adaptations. Although some horror novels have been dubbed unfilmable, a lot of great movie adaptations have proven that even the most unlikely books can make it onto the screen with their promise intact. There are many books that are better than their movies, but just as many iconic movies that lived up to and, in some cases, even improved upon their literary source material.
This is why Smith’s upcoming sci-fi horror movie I Am Legend 2 is exciting, even if the history of the I Am Legend franchise doesn’t necessarily inspire hope in cynical readers. Released in 2007, I Am Legend saw The Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence take on author Richard Matheson’s seminal 1954 post-apocalyptic novel of the same name. I Am Legend’s altered ending ruined an otherwise enjoyable take on Matheson’s book, but this wasn’t the first time the Hell House author’s novel had been misrepresented onscreen.
I Am Legend 2 Can Finally Be A Great Adaptation of Richard Matheson’s Novel
I Am Legend was previously adapted as 1964’s Vincent Price vehicle The Last Man on Earth and 1971’s I Am Omega, starring Charlton Heston. Although there have been multiple adaptations of the novel date, none of them do the iconic book any justice. Price’s goofy horror stays largely true to the novel’s narrative, but Matheson was so disappointed by the end result that he had his screenplay contributions credited to a pseudonym. Heston’s movie, meanwhile, is an over-the-top melodrama with a soapy love story at its core.
Unlike both of these earlier attempts to bring Matheson’s books to life on-screen, the 2007 Smith movie does get a lot right. The first third of the movie makes the daring decision to leave Smith largely alone onscreen, and the actor captures the main character’s existential terror at seemingly being the last man left alive in New York City better than Price’s histrionics or Heston’s stony-faced stoicism. However, this just makes I Am Legend’s terrible ending worse, as the movie fumbles at the last moment and completely misinterprets the entire story of the novel.
I Am Legend 2 Still Has A Huge Franchise Canon Problem To Overcome
In Matheson’s book, the big twist occurs when Dr. Robert Neville, the last man alive in New York and the only person left to hunt the vampiric hordes that occupy the city at night, discovers he has been wrong all along. The “Vampires” who were hit with the disease are thinking, feeling, sentient creatures, and he is a legendarily callous, heartless ghoul from their perspective. Since this twist gives the novel its haunting title, it is striking and unfortunate that the Smith movie replaced this ending with the protagonist discovering a miracle cure before blowing up himself and his lab.
Now that I Am Legend 2 is bringing back Smith, the movie will need to reverse the events of the original movie’s theatrical ending. However, this will require a massive retcon before the events of the sequel can even begin, which could be confusing for viewers who never saw the original movie’s alternate ending. If I Am Legend 2 hopes to become the first I Am Legend adaptation to live up to Matheson’s book, this upcoming film will first need to explain away the ending of its predecessor with a major change to its existing canon.
