The Last Man on Earth

Another oldie this time, this time even older. 1964, the black and white in the movie Last Man on Earth is almost as grainy and scratchy as they come. Based off of the book I am Legend, it is truer to the novel than the new film "I am Legend" that came out in 2007, which is a good thing. The plot of this oldie is more compelling, but the direction, production and acting of the new version is far superior.

It possesses all of the charm of an old movie, and by no means is it a bad film. The plot is wonderful and dark, and doesn't end with the seemingly forced highnote that "I am Legend" the movie ended with. Both start the same, a scientist who is the last man on earth who kills the living dead one by one by day and battles with the incredible loneliness of being the only human in existence. No offence old movie, but Bruce Willis did this better. Not only that, but in the oldie we learn about the main character's entire past in one super huge flashback. One. The new one at least has the sense to parse them out over the film, keeping the viewer interested by making it more puzzle-like, and this also manages not to break the narrative flow as much as a nearly thirty minute long flashback did. The production technology and budget of "I am Legend" probably helped too.

But where the movie shines is the dark message it gives. It stays on message the whole way through and doesn't muddle about. Robert Morgan really is the sole human being in "The Last Man on Earth". In "I am Legend", introducing other human beings seemed like a cop-out, a shot at a happy ending, a sudden derailment of the chilling and lonely message the film was giving. Not only that, but in "I am Legend", there is never a particularly good reason why Morgan is a legend. It says its because he found a vaccine and everyone knows him for it, but again, it feels like a bit of a cop-out. In TLMOE, Morgan is a legend amongst the undead community, regarded with fear for being a "day hunter", someone who had slain countless undead. What do I think of when I think legend? Do I think of a man who made a vaccine? Or do I think of the guy who slayed the undead?
I'm gonna go with 2 on this one.
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The Last Man on Earth is a more chilling, darker retelling of the book I am Legend. Its acting is sup-optimal and its direction, I have to say, is a bit uninspired. One of the things that nagged at me was how lazily the camera was placed most of the time. At certain moments, I couldn't tell what the film wanted me to look at, because the camera wasn't very centered on it, it just lazily hung in the vicinity.
Scary? Ha, no. I didn't expect it to be scary, but in case you might think it would be... it isn't. The undead in this movie are the most pathetic things I have ever seen. No horror movie has had zombies that are more of pushovers.
But if you want a good story and you can bare a bit of laziness in direction, and don't want to read the book, then watch The Last Man on Earth. It's in the public domain, so you can go ahead and just download it free.