An Outline
In the movie “I Am Lege
nd” (2007) the original storyline (taken from the book of the same name by Richard Matheson, written in 1954 - another offshoot of which was “The Omega Man” starring Charlton Heston (1971)) is spruced up with a ‘you beaut’ 21st century measles virus that had been re-engineered “to be helpful rather than harmful” says scientist Alice Griffin in a television interview in the film’s opening scene. The year is 2009 and she claims that, during trials, she and her team have already used this altered virus to cure cancer in 10,009 cases out of 10,009.Another news item revealed well into the film but which was first aired in 2009 (or thereabouts), concerns the “ongoing mutations of Alice Griffin’s once hailed miracle cure for cance
r.”Apparently, over 5000 patients have exhibited symptoms like the onset of rabies and 25 patients have already died.
“Dr Neville has asked hospitals to stockpile anti-viral drugs and to begin preliminary quarantine protocols,” says the newsreader. “We are fully confident that Dr Neville will see us through”.
Also later in the film there is an exchange between Robert Neville (played by Will Smith) and another character in the film, Anna, which reveals the extent of the damage done by this momentary ‘saving grace’ which went on to become a harbinger of doom for the human race.
Anna: “The world is quieter now. You just have to listen. If we listen we can hear god’s plan.
Robert: “Let me tell you about your god’s plan. There were 6 billion people on earth when the infection hit. KV had a 90% kill rate, that’s 5.4 billion people dead. Crashed and bled out dead. That’s a 1% immunity. That left 12 million healthy people like you, me and Ethan. The other 588 Million turned into your ‘dark seekers’ and then they got hungry and they killed and fed on everybody. Every single person that you or I have ever known is dead. There is no god.”
A further excerpt taken from later in the film concerns a voice-over by Anna, one of the film’s few central characters who says:
“In 2009 a deadly virus burned throughout civilisation crushing humankind to the edge of extinction. Dr Robert Neville dedicated his life to the discovery of a cure and the restoration of humanity. On September 9 2012 at approximately 8:49pm he discovered that cure and at age 52 he gave his life to defend it. We are his legacy. This is his legend. Light up the darkness.”
I don’t know if the ‘9/11’ was intended by the writers as a ‘cute’ touch - or the year ‘2012’, but I suspect they both were, these dates having as they do inbuilt associations with devastation, whether real or imaginery.
