Review: I Am Legend
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson was one of my earliest forays into Sci-fi. The book, the 1964 & 1971 adaptations as well. (Not the 2008 will smith version which was forgettable).
I suppose every dude has, at one point or another, pondered the hypothetical scenario when the world has ended, and they have to survive the fall of civilization much the Ron Swanson way. By building a bunker fortress, stacked with food and other necessities, armed to the teeth, ready to face the unknown from outside, Robinson Crusoe style. That, and which animal they think they can take in a fight.
The original 1954 version doesn't hold up when it comes to the origins of the vampiric pandemic, or the science surrounding their hemophilic traits. But the reason it has continued to endure in popular imagination, is not because of the surface level premise, which is shared by most works about the zombie apocalypse.
Rather, it's the deep dive into the mind of an individual who believes themselves to the last human on earth, and is waging an unending, often fanatical crusade against what he sees as the abominations that his fellow humans have turned into. The psychological trauma he experiences, dealing with loss, guilt, loneliness, emotional repression, and violent homicidal tendencies, that drive him to the brink of insanity. As well as how he transforms, from viewing himself as the last hope of humanity, to coming to the realization that humankind as he knew it has come to an end. And with it, his actions, which he felt were righteous, were in fact viewed with fear and hatred by the novo hominis that have come to inherit the world of man.
Viewing through their eyes, how he has turned into the monster that he was meant to be hunting. And the stark almost heart-breaking realization, that in this new world, he is the one in wrong. A world where he is the abomination, and a world he no longer has a place in.
Readers are treated to a whole roller coaster of emotions, as he goes through all this, and meets a melancholic end.
The visualization of that story, by Steve Niles, is able to capture that sense of dread, hopelessness, misery and loneliness which our protagonist Robert Neville goes through. The black and white, blurred visual aesthetic, with plenty of shadows and darkness, only serve to further accentuate these elevated feelings and atmosphere.
The monochrome treatment serves to take away any sense of hope or purpose which we might feel towards our main character and lets us experience just how dreary and unbearable existence has become to him. At the same time, keeping the action razor focused on Neville, giving our eyes little chance to wander over unimportant information in the background. Because first and foremost, he is the one we're meant to focus on.
After reading the whole thing in one sitting, I felt quite mentally exhausted and slightly nihilistic, which I think is the intended emotions the story was meant to invoke.
Go ahead and take a gander at this graphic adaptation, which does justice to the original work.
I suppose every dude has, at one point or another, pondered the hypothetical scenario when the world has ended, and they have to survive the fall of civilization much the Ron Swanson way. By building a bunker fortress, stacked with food and other necessities, armed to the teeth, ready to face the unknown from outside, Robinson Crusoe style. That, and which animal they think they can take in a fight.
The original 1954 version doesn't hold up when it comes to the origins of the vampiric pandemic, or the science surrounding their hemophilic traits. But the reason it has continued to endure in popular imagination, is not because of the surface level premise, which is shared by most works about the zombie apocalypse.
Rather, it's the deep dive into the mind of an individual who believes themselves to the last human on earth, and is waging an unending, often fanatical crusade against what he sees as the abominations that his fellow humans have turned into. The psychological trauma he experiences, dealing with loss, guilt, loneliness, emotional repression, and violent homicidal tendencies, that drive him to the brink of insanity. As well as how he transforms, from viewing himself as the last hope of humanity, to coming to the realization that humankind as he knew it has come to an end. And with it, his actions, which he felt were righteous, were in fact viewed with fear and hatred by the novo hominis that have come to inherit the world of man.
Viewing through their eyes, how he has turned into the monster that he was meant to be hunting. And the stark almost heart-breaking realization, that in this new world, he is the one in wrong. A world where he is the abomination, and a world he no longer has a place in.
Readers are treated to a whole roller coaster of emotions, as he goes through all this, and meets a melancholic end.
The visualization of that story, by Steve Niles, is able to capture that sense of dread, hopelessness, misery and loneliness which our protagonist Robert Neville goes through. The black and white, blurred visual aesthetic, with plenty of shadows and darkness, only serve to further accentuate these elevated feelings and atmosphere.
The monochrome treatment serves to take away any sense of hope or purpose which we might feel towards our main character and lets us experience just how dreary and unbearable existence has become to him. At the same time, keeping the action razor focused on Neville, giving our eyes little chance to wander over unimportant information in the background. Because first and foremost, he is the one we're meant to focus on.
After reading the whole thing in one sitting, I felt quite mentally exhausted and slightly nihilistic, which I think is the intended emotions the story was meant to invoke.
Go ahead and take a gander at this graphic adaptation, which does justice to the original work.
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