Generally the differences between a book and the movie version are subtle, yet easy to pick out. The book I Am Legend written by Richard Mattheson and the movie starring Will Smith are hardly even the same thing. First off I am not an Al Sharpton, or more recently a Richard Williams (I'm not even black) where I attempt to make race an issue for each problem, but in the book, Robert Neville was white, with blonde hair. I don't know if I'm losing my vision, or more possibly my sanity, but as far as I know Will Smith is not white. In the adaptation, Will Smith's dog, Sam, plays a rather important role in keeping Neville "sane", but also helps in capturing food, and is just a generally cool character. The real version of Sam? what real version of Sam? Sam appears for about a chapter after Neville finds that it is infected with the virus, and died shortly after. Neville's family? They died in a helicopter crash, right? Unfortunately, both became infected, and Neville most likely killed them with a stake. Either that, or they were eaten by the other infected victims. Speaking of the victims, what were some of the symptoms? It seemed that those infected acted much like a zombie throughout the movie. In the book however, they acted more like vampires. They absolutely hated garlic, couldnt stand the sunlight, and were easily killed with a stake. In the book, the "dark seekers"(As Smith so affectionately calls them), know where he lives, and go outside his house every night to be haunted by the women taunting him as they know that he has "needs", and a former friend of his, Ben Cortman is actually able to speak to him. The creepiness factor of the vampires goes up by about 1000% after finding this out. The ending is what really gets me. I had a hard time accepting that Robert Neville, after he finally looked like he was turning things around in his life, gets captured and dies via execution, so imagine my surprise when the ending for the movie adaptation was even worse. Some dumb broad named Anna mysteriously shows up, and valiantly rescues him out of nowhere. The zombies follow them home and attack the next night. Neville makes one last stand, and blows himself to bits along with the rest of the zombie population allowing Anna and her son Ethan to escape to the colony waiting in the mountains for them. Which raises a much bigger question. HOW DID THEY GET OFF OF THE FREAKIN ISLAND?! No one could get off, as the bridges were blown up. She said they got there by boat with others, but what happened to the others? Did they just wait on the boat, allowing her to risk her neck to save one person? Even if that person is the last hope for mankind, the logic is far fetched. And in the book, there is no Anna. "Anna" just turns out to be a more advanced form of a vampire who tricks Neville into getting all of his research, and then running away, only to capture him later. Okay, so lets recap:

1. Race change

2. No dog opposed to main character being dog

3. Change in family death

4. Change from vampires to zombies (wtf?)

5. Ending change from execution to suicide

6. Leading lady change from vampire to Anna

Personally, i like the changes because you get a whole new experience. I've grown tired of just reading what i could see in a movie, and vice versa. This gives the consumer a chance to both read a story, and then see an entirely different thing. They did a great job adapting this ground breaking piece of literature into a film without destroying it like Omega man, and the last man on earth. overall rating 9.5/10