I am Legend - Book Review (Warning - spoilers)

"The book is always better than the movie."

I have not seen the movie - yet. I plan to. I try to read the book before I see the movie whenever possible. In fact, believe it or not, I wouldn't and still haven't seen the movie The Client (by John Grisham), because I read half the book and never finished it.

I am Legend reminds me of The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury - or slightly Ayn Randish....
You can tell it was written in the 50's, during the science fiction boom.

Half the book's main focus is I am Legend. The story is sad, really. Not that post apocalyptic stories are happy. But to be isolated for several years only to find out you are not just prey for blood thirsty vampires, but the one that is feared and spied on by a separate race of vampires who have learned to live a different way....and they are out to assassinate you.

It is a rarity for me to finish a book, close it, and sit - truly reflecting on it. The final words of the story sum up exactly what the story is. I didn't even realize it until that moment. It was amazing. I can honestly say that I really enjoyed the story and would read it again.

I sincerely hope the movie is nothing like the book. I really can't say that I could see anyway for them to reflect that story just as Matheson wrote it. In a movie, Robert Neville would seem depressing, boring, a coward. You wouldn't be able to get to know him the way you do in the book. At least not as intimately.

I would rather the movie entertain me. Give me flesh hungry zombie-vampires any day of the week. I want the movie to follow those rules. I want to see the modern Hollywood twist. I want to see cities in ruins, papers blowing aimlessly thru empty streets. I want to see a man surviving and succeeding in it. I want a bang up ending. I know Will Smith will not disappoint.

The bottom line is simple. I hope they leave the essence of the book alone, and out of the movie. I want to leave the movie feeling different than I did after reading the book. I got the excellent mind fuck the book gave me, now I want to see the flip side.