Not a Hollywood ending...

Went to see The Mist over the weekend, which does NOT have a Hollywood ending. Or if that's a Hollywood ending, they're certainly changing, because I'd resigned myself at this point to lame, everything-turns-out-alright-in-the-end fare from the big studios. Everything absolutely does not turn out well in the end, which was quite realistic, and really left you wondering what things would be like if the movie continued.

I've actually had the pleasure of watching another big ticket movie over the last couple of weeks that turned out to be far more thought provoking and narratively complex than the trailers would've had me believe. But then again, Beowulf's script was co-written by Neil Gaiman, so I should've known it would be more than the big-muscle smash-em-up action film the trailers tried to make it out to be. I haven't yet decided whether I like this new Beowulf better than Beowulf and Grendel. I think it depends on what kind of mood I'm in - whether I want an extrapolated story, or one closer to the original. Both are quality films, but for different reasons.

My experience with both The Mist and Beowulf has me cautiously optimistic that Hollywood might not have ruined the ending of I am Legend. Having seen trailers for it almost a year ago, and remembering a colleague at a conference raving about how good the book was, I read it several months ago. And I immediately despaired about the movie, because the book is anything but a Hollywood ending.

So now I am very curious to see if the producers of I am Legend have made it palpable for an audience who wants everything to turn out alright in the end, or if they have remained faithful to the book's darker and more philosophical ending. I won't give anything away, except to say, if you've seen the trailer, have you ever wondered why it's called I am Legend?