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You mean it wasn't smart to change the ending from the book that was the gut punch the entire book was leading up to, making the book memorable?
Aka, money is more important than challenging people to think, so, pander to morons and make more money.
The Matrix "batteries"
What about them? I don't see the analogue
Apparently, the original idea was for humans to be used for computing power, not as batteries. But they were worried people wouldn't understand that so changed it to batteries (which makes no sense). Something like that. The similarity is in dumbing down the concept
I see the confusion. In this article we have a situation where the audience wanted a worse idea. In the Matrix example, the audience came up with a better idea (computer power makes more sense than batteries). So it's the reverse scenario.
But from your "Apparently", I'm guessing you are not aware that's it's a long debunked urban legend. It was always supposed to be batteries. It just makes so much sense for it to be computing power, that the urban legend was really captivating.
Actually just made some comments elsewhere on lemmy about that lol.
Now you're understanding hollywood!
It's such a weird heel-turn when Will Smith slaps the zombie and tells it not to talk about his wife.
My favorite part about this is the 1964 film The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price avoided using the same name as I Am Legend because they felt they were taking too many liberties with the story, when it is hundreds of times closer than anything since.
The ending to the book is one of the best reveals I've read/watched. The movie discarding it was such a huge disservice.
On this topic: The Hobbit movies.
What the fuck?
I’m rereading the book for the first time since childhood. They retconned all of Thorin’s character traits and Bilbo did not play for time to save them from the trolls.
It’s frustrating.
The animated Hobbit movie is infinitely better than the live action abominations the studio created.
Hobbit movies in general were stupid with how much they padded the story
There's a good movie in there, spread thinly over three. Like butter scraped over too much bread...
Have you tried watching any of the fan edits, such as this one, that condense the trilogy down to a single film following the plot of the book?
Yeah, there's lot of good stuff there, some scenes are absolutely beautiful, and I enjoy them enough to rewatch every couple years, but they're absolutely garbage in how they respect the source material
Also yeah, it feels stretched, and it also feels like it's not the story I want to hear
Also a little afterthought. I've been reading hobbit again after very long time, now to my daughter, and some of the scenes from the books just don't translate to the big picture at all. Some of the stupid ass jokes only linguist could have imagined, and that we love so much, such as the "good morning" -scene or "eleventy-one" from LotR just doesn't give you the smile it deserves.
Some other scenes, like "I am no man" in RotK when Eowyn kills the Witch King just loses all it's glory when it's shortened into a short jest that fits into a movie
I'll leave the last one here for those who don't remember or haven't read the books (yet!)
Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!" Then Merry heard in all sounds of the hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel.
"But no living man am I! You are looking upon a woman. Eowyn am I, Eomund's daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him."
The winged creature screamed at her, but then the Ringwraith was silent, as if in sudden doubt. Very amazement for a moment conquered Merry's fear. He opened his eyes and the blackness was lifted from them. There some paces from him sat the great beast, and all seemed dark about it, and above it loomed the Nazgul Lord like a shadow of despair. A little to the left facing them stood whom he had called Dernhelm. But the helm of her secrecy had fallen from her, and and her bright hair, released from its bonds, gleamed with pale gold upon her shoulders. Her eyes grey as the sea were hard and fell, and yet tears gleamed in them. A sword was in her hand, and she raised her shield against the horror of her enemy's eyes.
The second to last paragraph of article is the most important. The mythos of the alternate ending has grown so much in the 19 years since the movie has been released that people ignore its flaws.
The Alternate ending doesn’t fit the movie at all and the folks that claim the theatrical ending is so different from the book make me laugh.
Everything in the movie is different from the book. The only thing that the I Am Legend movie has in common with the book is the title and the name of Smith’s Character.
Every other aspect is different right down to where it all takes place.
The mythos of the alternate ending has allowed people ignore the idiocy of the alternate ending. Why would Smith be allowed to live? If me and a bunch of my buds had a monster who had been terrorizing us for years captured in his torture chamber basement, the torture chamber basement that had dozens and dozens of pictures of my friends that the monster had tortured to death, I would tear him to shreds. I sure as hell would not allow him to live happily ever after.
Yes, the movie has a version of infected fast zombies. The book had vampires.
Also, I didn't think the main character of the book was monstrous. The other book characters should not of thought that either. The vamp faction that caught him was actively hunting other vampires that were not part of their faction, so no one should have been shocked.
The book had two types of vampires, mindless ones that wiped out humans who were then wiped out by thinking vampires that had built a society.
To me the main failing of the movie was that it used CGI “zombies/darklings”. Good lord they looked so terrible on screen. Why the hell the movie didn’t use actors and actresses in costumes and makeup is beyond me.
There is a lot greatness in the movie that gets overshadowed by the endless posts about the alternate ending. Sam is one of the best on screen depictions of Man’s best friend ever and the sequences with Smith scavenging around NYC are great.
I know! And it still pisses me off! Worst remake ever.
My poor boyfriend has had to listen to me vent about this a couple of times when I am reminded of this shitty movie. The entire point of the movie's title is tied to its ending and its so clever and horrifying in concept. Never had the pleasure of watching the original movie.
I just really like the message of the original because it makes you think!
The Will Smith version is just a movie you see once and then you see the poster 20 years later and go: oh yeah. That thing. Forgot I saw it lawl.
I looooveee post apocalyptic stuff and even i didn't really like the film. They were fucking zombies for a start! Don't remember much about it at all. Shame cos it could have been incredible
(Smith) claimed “it was the only movie I’ve ever had that the audience booed.”
Somehow Wild Wild West escaped booing.
Well you need an audience to boo…
Fuck you I loved Wild Wild West. I mean it probably helped that I was a kid watching it on VHS, but it's still a very fun movie.
It was one of the biggest flops and he turned down the Matrix to do it lol
Which is why we have to thank it every day. Can you imagine?
Yeah I actually do think the matrix would've been a worse movie with will Smith. He is not a good actor.
Well that's easy to explain, wild wild west was a masterpiece
Test audiences also ruined the ending to Scott Pilgrim, if the sources can be trusted. I don't have a lot of faith in Will Smith, not that he is a bad person.
It was the slapping incident that showed us he's not a good person. It's weird to me he can come up without anyone mentioning the fact that he did that. To me he's forever that dude who is so volatile and violent that he's absolutely beaten his wife before.
Yeah, seriously. That incident tells me everything I need to know about him. Before that, I thought he was an entertaining actor with a massive and unhealthy ego, but fun to watch. Which is pretty much how I feel about most famous actors. After he assaulted someone in public, while they were both at work, I lost all respect for him. He’s a shitty person.
I’ll always leave some space for the possibility he’s extremely unwell mentally and/or emotionally, but until that’s known, he’s just an immature and violent dick who I won’t watch anymore.
Keep that incident out of your fucking mouth!
I guess you'll have to slap the shit out me so billions of people can see how tough you are
I'm the comic he ends up with Knives anyway. Who I believe is still 17 and he's still like 23 in it.
Tbh I like the movie ending better; it's a little less creepy, and everyone has an understanding of what they just went through.
I think the movie made their ages much closer, if I'm not mistaken, but yes she is underaged in the comics and theres even a whole plot point where her dad doesn't approve of the situation. Still, in the comics it's clear that Scott isn't smart or heroic and the movie kind of has the opposite story.
the movie kind of has the opposite story.
I'm not so sure about that one. It has been misconstrued by people as Scott being a model to look up to, but the movie literally showed him and his 'evil twin' being cool together, marking the original Scott as the actualy evil one. It also had him growing from his mistakes of cheating on his GFs, but it definitely started with him being a cheating asshole.
I just remember watching the movie, then finding the alternative ending (only the last couple minutes) and realizing the polar opposite naritives.
One is where he becomes martyred fighting the enemy, the other is realizing even when others are different, we are still able to relate and find peace.
So yeah, whoever made that decision ruined the entire movie.
They pandered to the test audience in the hope of making more money, versus ignoring them and making a better movie.
And what the heck was wrong with that test audience, anyway? Personally I love when a movie manages to throw a clever curveball and challenge my expectations.
Says a lot about the world in general that people want to 'pick a side' and then dislike anything that challenges their support for that side.
Well. If you have 50 people help you pick an ice cream flavor. You're gonna get vanilla.
Probably something to do with the majority of the country having an IQ below 50
When i don't understand a movie, my first thought is: i'm too dumb. A focus group's first reaction always seems to be: the movie is dumb.
IMO you cannot make a focus group for art. I Am Legend had a choice; try to be art or try to be mindless entertainment. By making the focus group dictate the movie they decided to back down from their artistic vision in order to please mindless drones who didn't want to be challenged.
Sure, I would probably also be upset watching that twist for the first time, but it would have got me thinking. I'm more of an exception that I don't rate movies on the first go, but for most people that's what they'd do. The focus group only gets one chance to share their feelings and it's one of challenging their core beliefs resulting in being upset, a negative feeling. Hence a negative rating.
But all movies aren't supposed to be feel-good movies. The absolute best movies in history makes us think. Have you ever seen Wes Anderson or Robert De Niro or the like change their vision bases on focus group feedback? No, because they know the first impression and thus first feeling might not be a positive one and thus inadvertently translate to a negative rating.
There's a balance though, sometimes an auteur needs a reality check, take Coppola's Megalopolis for example. I haven't seen it yet, but from what I heard he kinda went off the rails on that one. We have yet to see if it makes us think down the road, but maybe he needed someone to say, "you know, this doesn't work." But not from hundreds of random movie enjoyers. From experienced film creators who know to look deeper. Writers, cinematographers, gaffers, sound mixers. People who know their craft and can say "this has been tried before and didn't work." Or if you're feeling adventurous: "we've never tried this before. Let's see if it'll stick."
