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Dan Owen reviews
One of actor Charlton Heston’s most famous movies is The Omega Man, oneof his three big science-fiction hits (the others being Soylent Greenand Planet Of The Apes). The Omega Man was based on the novel bycelebrated author Richard Matheson, and told the story of the last manleft alive on Earth after a devastating plague kills the entirepopulation.
But the book and the movie are different beasts. In many peoples’ mindsthe book has never been successfully translated onto the big-screen,although the premise has been pilfered in many subsequrnt movies, suchas: The Quiet Earth and the recent Danny Boyle Brit-flick 28 Days Later.
I Am Legend is a screenplay written in 1997 by John Logan, one of thebusiest screenwriters in Hollywood these days(Gladiator,The Time Machine remake,Star Trek Nemesisand The Last Samurai.) His attempt atI Am Legend is less an adaptation of Matheson’s novel and more a rewriteof the highly-regarded Mark Protosevich (The Cell) screenplay from theearly-90s.
Protosevich’s screenplay has been one of Hollywood’s Greatest UnfilmedMovies, and has been attached to such illustrious names as Ridley Scottand Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s just never been made, although conceptartwork has been drawn and rumours continue to surface continuously.
John Logan’s 1997 rewrite was obviously an attempt to streamline theconcept down to something more marketable, focused, and interesting. IAm Legend then had the likes of Will Smith and Michael Bay (Armageddon)circling. But it still remains unmade six years later…
Perhaps the pre-millennial tension has dissipated in audiences – who arefar more concerned with current problems than high-concept apocryphalscience-fiction? Maybe filmmakers are concerned the premise (despite itsremake status) will simply come across as old-fashioned and unoriginal?Whatever the reason, there’s no denying that I Am Legend would, in myopinion, make a great movie.
The story concerns Robert Neville, the last man alive on Earth (or ishe?) following the worldwide extinction of humanity after a bloodcontagion. Unfortunately for Neville, some of those infected transformedinto unnaturally agile vampire-like predators dressed in robes, whostalk the world feasting on fresh blood.
Logan’s screenplay studies the loneliness and isolation Neville feels,living alone inside a high-tech fortress by night having Frenchconversations with pre-recorded tapes, and scavenging the ruined city ofLos Angeles by day. His life is struggle for survival, interspersed withgrieving over the death of his wife Virginia and hope that a loopedradio transmission will alert other survivors to his existence.
Of course, being a sci-fi action film at heart, a great deal of thescreenplay features an assortment of attacks by the bloodthirstyHemocyte creatures, led by their leader – the “Cacique”. What’swonderful about almost any screenplay dealing with a post-apocalypticsuburbia is the description of the dystopian world; burnt-out cars,apocryphal graffiti, overgrown gardens, rotting food, stray dogs, wildhorses, etc.
The descriptive passages in Logan’s I Am Legend are excellent, and theassuredly clipped style of Logan’s prose lends an immediacy and visualpunch that ensures the movie literally “plays in your mind”. There’shardly any dialogue, amazingly, and tension is built and delivered withsome fraught chase and fight sequences.
While Protosevich’s screenplay tended to focus on Neville’s compound fartoo much, deflecting wave after wave of attack, Logan opens the movieout to allow for a number of L.A-based set-pieces that make the storyseem much more expansive and less claustrophobic to read.
Interestingly, Logan decides against giving Neville a dog companion(further isolating him) although personally I missed the dog’sinvolvement. Also, Protosevich’s screenplay wasn’t as entertaining toread, but it did have a more hardcore approach to the violence, whichLogan tends not to copy – instead going for more a stylish and agileapproach to the attacks.
In an ideal world I’d keep Logan’s screenplay, but add Neville’s dogback in, add more of Petrosovich’s scientific explanations for thedisease (which Logan almost ignores entirely), and then rewriteProtosevich’s finale. While both screenplays falter towards the end, Ithink Protosevich’s is more satisfying and scary than Logan’s – whichreally just amounts to a climactic one-on-one punchup.
Overall, John Logan has successfully breathed fluid life intoProtosevich’s bogged-down script and successfully translated Matheson’snovel for modern audience. With some creative combining of both plots, Ithink I Am Legend has the potential to be one of the best apocryphalmovies. I really hope Ridley Scott directs Arnold Schwarzenneger inthis, as Arnie is perfect for the role and it doesn’t really require himat his physical peak.
Can somebody just make this movie… please?
Review copyright © Dan Owen, 2003.E-mail Dan Owen
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.