Hmmm. It's still nothing like the ending of the novel, but it makes a -lot- more sense for the movie than what was seen in the theaters.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
I'm at a loss to explain why they didn't use that.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
Wow, yeah. I thought I was the only one confused that the extremely obvious was never settled. This makes a LOT more sense.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by erosomniac: I'm at a loss to explain why they didn't use that.
No hope-inducing fully-human survivor colony. Vampires ultimately aren't portrayed as bad guys.
Apparently such things riled test audiences.
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
I like this one a lot better, although it's not perfect, by any means.
Tangent: why do sites use those "enter your birthdate so we're sure you're old enough" things? Obviously if I were under 13 or 17, or whatever, I could enter a false date. Is it just for legal protection?
Posted by SoaPiNuReYe (Member # 9144) on :
This was a better ending.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jhai: Tangent: why do sites use those "enter your birthdate so we're sure you're old enough" things? Obviously if I were under 13 or 17, or whatever, I could enter a false date. Is it just for legal protection?
Basically, yeah. "Hey, we did our part trying to warn and verify! Can't say we didn't!"
Posted by adfectio (Member # 11070) on :
While that ending makes more sense, and gets rid of the whole "Will Smith sacrifices himself for the world" thing I've come to hate, it doesn't seem to fit the rest of the movie. But I dunno. I guess I can't really see an ending to that movie that I would enjoy.
quote:Originally posted by Jhai: Tangent: why do sites use those "enter your birthdate so we're sure you're old enough" things? Obviously if I were under 13 or 17, or whatever, I could enter a false date. Is it just for legal protection?
It's a pretense at protecting the younger audiences that has been an industry standard for a while. One person, I think it was Jack Thompson, tried to call out a gaming website on it saying it wasn't adequate , and they pointed out how he was only attacking them. Of course, I may be wrong in the persons and the site involved, but that was the general idea.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
See I too resented the Will Smith sacrifices himself to save the world, but as I said before I am getting sorta tired of morally ambivalent bad guys, once in awhile it's nice to have the enemy be feral human beings who have lost their sense of reason.
Yes I know in the book the vampires are morally ambivalent, and having said all I said above I still think this ending was better than the one they went with.
Posted by Elmer's Glue (Member # 9313) on :
It doesn't work for me, what happened?
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Stupid apparently tests well with focus groups.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elmer's Glue: It doesn't work for me, what happened?
Spoilers
* * * * * * * * * * * * * Smith gets dramatic evidence that the alpha male Infected is only trying to save his mate's life. The Infected can still think and love. He wakens and releases her, apologizes to the Infected, and looks crushed by the new light cast on his previous experiments.
Still alive, he drives off with the woman and their kid. No sign of other fully human survivors than themselves...but they've got hope. They update the signal with a new message.
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
quote:apologizes to the Infected
This part upset me. The Infected sure as hell isn't going to apologize for eating people.
Posted by brojack17 (Member # 9189) on :
I liked this one better.
Posted by Elmer's Glue (Member # 9313) on :
Sounds better. Although I'm not sure it makes any sense that they would just let Will go free.
Posted by Xann. (Member # 11482) on :
There is one part i think still needs to be changed, the infected break though a roof, doors, ripping them off the hinges. Yet can not get though the plexiglass door.... well then again, plexiglass is strongest of al lthe glasses.
Posted by xtownaga (Member # 7187) on :
well in fairness they could get through the door, it was just taking them a little while. It was getting all cracked and whatnot and a couple more good whacks probably would have let them in.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
Much better than the theatrical. Still not totally awesome, but if it had been this I wouldn't have been leaving theater pissed and saying WTF?
--Enigmatic
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
It's interesting, but it implies that- far from self-destructing as their food source vanishes and they turn on one another in mindless rage and hunger- that the Infected (or Dark Seekers or whatever you want to call them) are probably going to become the dominant race on the planet.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
This ending doesn't feel set up well. Neither is great, but the theatrical ending, while abrupt, is at least consistent with the rest of the movie.
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
I agree with Enigmatic - better but still not great. I do NOT like that Neville lives in the alternate. But I also don't like how drastically the movie veered away from the book in the first place. I think I lost it right about when Anna showed up.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
The movie we saw was edited for the ending it had. It would probably have been edited differently leading up to this ending.
Now why did he have to die in the book? I think the Darkseekers sparing his life is good.
[ March 06, 2008, 11:33 AM: Message edited by: pooka ]
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
I liked this a lot better. There were lots of hints (some of them slapping us in the face, like the trap the infected left) that they were smart. Remembering what it was to be human. The original ending just ignored that.
I'm fine with him living. They got what they came for.
Posted by aragorn64 (Member # 4204) on :
That ending tied up some of the themes in the movie. For instance, remember when the alpha male stuck his head out the door when Will Smith took his girlfriend? His character was later saying that this must mean that they've lost all of their sense in humanity. In actuality, it was the scrap of humanity that the vampire still had that caused him to do that. When he looks up and sees all the pictures of the infected that he's killed, he realizes he must be sort of a mass murderer to them.
I dunno, I liked that part. Not sure how much I liked the rest, though. Kind of wish they would have restructured the movie completely starting at when Anna showed up. As in, not having her show up.
Posted by 0Megabyte (Member # 8624) on :
Darn it!
It won't show it.
And the youtube copies have already been taken offline.
Stupid jerks. I paid good money to see that movie, and now they still won't let me see the ending the movie actually deserved. They give me crap for an ending, and want to make me pay more for the real one?
Jerks.
Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
Can somebody describe what the ending was?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Much better than the original ending, I'll give them that.
It could have been improved further, and the entire third act deserves an overhaul, but the ending is still, much closer to what the movie was hinting at the whole time.
Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :
Thanks, Corwin!
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tara: Can somebody describe what the ending was?
I did in my reply to Elmer. Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
They certainly implied throughout the film that the one zombie dude was mad about his lady-zombie and either avenging or trying to rescue her. So when that came to nothing in the theatrical release I was pretty disappointed. Sounds like the alternate ending is better from Puffy's description.
Also I was annoyed how elaborate defenses (UV light banks, exploding cars) came to nothing...standard "unstoppable monster" stuff. That movie started out much better than a standard monster movie, and it should have stayed that way. There are plenty of ways to create dread/tension through realistic situations that don't require belief-destroyingly fast and strong creatures.
(This was also the main flaw with "Cloverfield". While it never tried to be anything other than a monster movie, it was still too much to ask us to allow that a biological creature could indefinitely withstand military bombardment. We can make bunker-busters but can't take down a big lizard-thing? But they wanted to use the old "no survivors" trope so they let that guide everything else...Hmmff!)
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
quote:Originally posted by aragorn64: That ending tied up some of the themes in the movie. For instance, remember when the alpha male stuck his head out the door when Will Smith took his girlfriend? His character was later saying that this must mean that they've lost all of their sense in humanity. In actuality, it was the scrap of humanity that the vampire still had that caused him to do that. When he looks up and sees all the pictures of the infected that he's killed, he realizes he must be sort of a mass murderer to them.
I dunno, I liked that part. Not sure how much I liked the rest, though. Kind of wish they would have restructured the movie completely starting at when Anna showed up. As in, not having her show up.
This ending suggests that the Seekers are evolving from a feral existence to a sentient one. The original ending seemed more to imply that the Seekers were going from dangerous like wild animals to dangerous like evil beings (laying traps, rule by the strongest, willingness to destroy themselves in pursuit of destroying others.)
It is somewhat surprising that they retained the bit with the "leader" roaring out into the sun, given the ending they decided to use.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
It showed the lions again, just to hammer home the similarities there.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)