I Am Legend

February 17th, 2008 by Fullforce | Posted in Random |

I finished the novel of I Am Legend today. By God, it’s a brilliant novel. After seeing the film (and being fairly disappointed), I read about how the film deviates so much from the original book, so I decided to go out and purchase said book.

And it’s brilliant. And yes, the film is very different from the book. So different, in so many ways. It’s aged so well, too. For a novel written in 1954, it still reads like new in 2008.

I can’t really talk about it much without treading awfully close to spoiler territory - but be assured, it is brilliant. The ending is unexpected and better than the film, and the overall feel of the book matches the feeling of despair that should accompany such a situation, as opposed to the films happy outlook and ending, by comparison. Rather than a man prepared for the extinction of humankind as he is in the film, this is a man who’s survival is entirely unexpected, troubled by the loss of his wife and child, and plagued by his own humanity.

They’re proper vampires in this, too. Garlic, stakes, and all that. However, Robert Neville’s experiments to find out why they’re scared of the cross, among other deterrents, give a very realistic and scientific edge to the novel, and make it a much more interesting read. While the dead vampires stalk his house at night, infected (and alive) humans sleep in their homes in a never-ending coma. At least, that’s how I understand it. The book never seems to be particularly clear about what state infected humans are in, which may be my only criticism of it. However, it may just be me accidentally skipping vital parts. Which is unfortunate, considering it’s quite vital to the storyline and ending.

Which leads me onto my second topic of this blog post. With the up-coming release of Grand Theft Auto IV, and it’s inevitable release on PC, I am sure there will be a ton of mods released for it.

I Am Legend, the film, is set in New York, just like GTAIV (The book is set in LA). Put 2 and 2 together and you get… an I Am Legend mod for GTAIV. It could be great, providing it’s done correctly by people who are both good at modding but also passionate about I Am Legend. It could be a match made in heaven - the realistic map of GTAIV along with a compelling and enjoyable game-style.

Right?