I Am Legend Movie And Book Differences

I Am Legend Movie And Book Differences

In this entry I am going to go over the differences between the book and the movie and discuss my opinion on the changes that were made. There are some differences that I like better in the movie and others I like better in the book. I will be discussing both of them.

First, the location. In the movie it is located in Manhattan, and the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges are both destroyed. In the book it happens in a small town on a average street, where he has to drive a distance to get to any type of shopping store. I have to go with the movie on this one. Putting it in downtown Manhattan gave it the familiar scene and emphasized the number of people affected by the virus. It also adds to the movie by making a city that is always extremely busy abandoned.

Second, source of virus. In the book you learn that the virus was a natural evolution. It always existed, since the first stories of vampires, but then was killed quickly because the vampires were eliminated quickly. In the movie the virus was created because someone came up with a cure for cancer, and that cure mutated into the virus. I have to go with the book on this one. It seemed like we were suppose to not like technology and technological advances. That it was a human created condition. I personally think that the book premise was better. I like the idea that sometimes nature just goes wrong, and it is not always the fault of man.

Third, the hero. There were a few major differences in the hero (leaving nationality aside, and race). The first major one is in the book he is your average Joe Shmoe. He works at the local power plant as your average white collar laborer. In the movie he is a national military hero (notice the Time Magazine article of him on the fridge) that is a super scientist that is working on a cure for the virus before the island is quarantined. I have to go with the book on this one. I really like the idea of your average Joe being able to over come obstacles and other problems in...