When it comes to post production, it is often the small details that will be changed at the last minute. However, in “I Am Legend”, starring Will Smith, the entire plot was completely changed because of the final scene. With some opinions from a test audience and a few reshot scenes, the film went from meaningful message to mindless explosion with absolutely no transition between the two themes.
The story of “I Am Legend” takes place in New York, where a disease has turned a large population of people into vampires. A man by the name of Neville is the only human in the city, and is trying to find a way to cure the people that he must hide from every night. This is how the movie sets up the story, which is how it was depicted to begin with. Along the way, Neville notices that the vampires are acting in ways that indicate a higher level of intelligence than had been previously assumed. This was leading to the final scene, which was disapproved by the test audience before its release.
In the final scene, the vampires are revealed to be “thinking, benevolent creatures who were merely attempting to rescue a vampire that Neville had captured earlier” as explained in an article on Cracked.com, which was supposed to be the plot twist which revealed that Neville, who was to be viewed as a hero to the audience, was seen as a monster to the vampires. However, because there was disapproval over this portrayal, the last scene was reshot to depict the vampires as mindless bestial beings that could reason no better than a rampaging bear.
While this change might seem favorable to those who don’t get invested in the story and its importance, those who do appreciate what the original story had to offer have expressed disdain not only towards the change but also to those who have preferred it to the original ending. Critics have expressed negative opinions toward the end of the film as it was in theaters, though fewer have mentioned the alternate one, the contempt for the original is still evident. “The story ultimately disappoints. It starts out strong, hooking viewers in, but it sputters in the end. It's as if the screenwriters (or director, or producer) ran out of ways to wrap it up” says Commonsensemedia.org in its review on the film, while the New York Times says “In its last section “I Am Legend” reverts to generic type, with chases and explosions and a redemptive softening of its bleak premise”.
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