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One of my favorite films of the past year gets one of the worst DVD releses in this apocalyptic Will Smith epic.

Richard Matheson. It’s a name that by all rights should be ingrained into the very fabric of popular culture. The author’s sci-fi and horror stories have not only inspired fifty full years of adaptations, but have permeated every inch of the essence of those genres. The Incredible Shrinking Man? He wrote that. That cool Twilight Zone episode with the gremlin on the wing of the plane? Him again. All those cool gothic Edgar Allen Poe films from the 1960s? He’s the one that adapted the best of them into screenplays. Duel? Well, the list goes on. One of his most important works, though, has now been translated into film three times, and in three tries, we’re still waiting for the definitive film. That would be “I Am Legend,” Matheson’s tale of the world’s last man struggling against an Earth full of vampire-like creatures, the last remnants of humankind. Originally presented to the screen in the 1950s as The Last Man on Earth and starring Vincent Price, that version, while somewhat faithful, was a tad threadbare and low-budgeted. In the 1970s, Charlton Heston tackled the role in The Omega Man, which at times only has the faintest similarities to its source. Fans were hopeful when it was announced that Will Smith would be starring in a new version, this one actually titled I Am Legend. And while it’s a remarkable film, it too deviates from Matheson.

Smith is Robert Neville, a military virologist. After a miracle cure for cancer turns out to be an even worse disease, causing people (and animals) to turn into bloodthirsty ghouls, Neville ends up as the last person living in New York City after the disease goes airborne. Three years after the disaster, Neville (whose immunity is a mystery even to him) spends his days trying to stay sane while working on possible cures. His nights are spent huddled in fortified shelter as the vampiric inhumans roam the streets. His only companion is his dog, Sam.

Smith gives a thoroughly commanding performance in the film. Outside the dog, he’s the only actor we see in non-flashback for more than half the length of the movie. His straddling the border between sanity and insanity is gripping, and the entire scene where he follows Sam into a dark warehouse is one of the tensest segments I’ve seen in a film. It only breaks down when (and this isn’t giving away too much) more survivors arrive. The most controversial part of the film is the ending, which not only deviates from Matheson’s, but seems to lose the entire point of the story itself. That said, I found the end to be fitting and moving, even if there is a deus ex machina thrown in.

Warner Brothers’ 2-disc special edition DVD release of the film is, for want of a better term, extremely lacking. With two whole discs, what do we get? The entire second disc is an “alternate theatrical version with controversial alternate ending.” What does this amount to? The same damn film, with about five-ten minutes difference at the end. They couldn’t just include that as a bonus in the alternate/deleted section? Oh, that’s right, there are no other alternate/deleted scenes included. Or a commentary. Or even a bland making-of featurette. What great and wonderful features do we get instead that would require two full discs? Four “animated” comics dealing with survivors in other parts of the world and what they had to deal with. Lame.

Oh, wait, here we go. “Intense bonus material chronicling the movie’s creation and exploring the history and current status of life-threatening viral infections.” Hey, that’s kinda neat-sounding. Guess what? It’s only here as a DVD-ROM weblink! I call bull**** ten times over!

I Am Legend. Okay, it’s not the Matheson story, but I think it made for an enjoyable film. The DVD on the other hand, is one of the bigger piles of manure I think I’ve seen in some time. If this is how we’re to expect regular DVDs to get treated in the wake of Blu-Ray, then it’s a damned shame. Save yourself the extra five dollars, buy the single disc edition and just watch the alternate ending online.

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