Original Ending vs Alternate Ending

[Junkyard]

Alternate Ending

So, having seen both, which should the movie makers have gone with?

Also, which would have been more riffable?


For myself, I vote Alternate Ending on both points. It made more sense in the context of the rest of the film, and seems a bit more original. As a riffing subject, I find that happy endings after that much dark can be easliy exploited for their absurdity.

One last note: They used a clip from the alternate as the climax of the early trailers. Does this mean they were going to go with that ending originally?

[OmegaR!]

From what I heard, the "alternate" ending and the current one were both up for the actual ending, but the explodey one tested better with some audiences, so that's what they went with

[nummy muffin]

They used a clip from the alternate as the climax of the early trailers. Does this mean they were going to go with that ending originally?

It means they wanted you to buy the DVD for the extras.

I dunno.  Will Smith seems a whole lot less legendary alive.

[gammer]

I guess liking one or the other is subjective. But, I'd have to say the alternate is marginally better.

Oh, and the alternate would have been better for riffing, for sure. I could just hear it now, when the male and female zompire's looked at each other:
Mike - "John"
Bill - "Marsha"

[Junkyard]

I figure they could have done a weirdly sappy song over the "leaving New York" closing scene.

[nummy muffin]

Oh, and the alternate would have been better for riffing, for sure. I could just hear it now, when the male and female zompire's looked at each other:
Mike - "John"
Bill - "Marsha"

Great Disney qoute.  ^_^

But Marsha Marsha Marsha!  
Why does she get all the attention?  Maybe it's the upsetting zombie bra...

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I dunno.  Will Smith seems a whole lot less legendary alive.

Exactly, the title makes no sense with the alternate ending.

Both endings kinda suck.

The original:
  The butterfly images make him realize the cure is in the females blood?  What kind of scientist was this guy?
  And  the big town up in Vermont isn't sending out any radio signals to let people know they exist?  Not a single ham operator survives?

The alternate:
   He goes from obsessing about finding the cure at ground zero to happy go lucky driving down the road.
   They should have developed the zombie culture a bit more, to suddenly have the one controlling all the others, understanding what needed to be done to save it's mate, and then just leaving without killing was too much to dump in there all at once.
   
 

[ShadowDog]

And  the big town up in Vermont isn't sending out any radio signals to let people know they exist?  Not a single ham operator survives?

I wouldn't draw that conclusion.  The woman knew about the community somehow.  I think she just stopped by New York to hang out for a day or two after she heard his transmission, doesn't mean she didn't also hear the town's.

[bratpop]

They're both stupid, but Will blowing himself up with a grenade for essentially no reason is the stupidest.

But everything about the movie is wrong. No ending could save it. I'd love to see the alternate riffed, because blowing yourself up with a grenade ruins all the riffs of future Michael Bay movies!

Also, the lack of a really riffable ending is what made them make Disembaudio sing to distract people from the anticlimax.

[Fortis]

Both endings sucked...I swear the writer that adapted this movie got to where the brazilian chick arrived and then forgot about the script for a few weeks.

But even though both endings sucked...the original had the emotional and character climax that was needed for Robert Neville, for the alternate ending to work they should have portrayed different aspects of Neville's personality so that I would believe that he would just let the girl (who was potentially the cure he was obsessing over) walk off with her boyfriend.

The Robert Neville they characterized would never have let her go...he would have died, if you will. But, they should have handled it better, I've been trying to think of how I would want it to end...but it really is kind of a hard ending to write. They really wrote themselves into a corner with this story, ah well, what can you do.

[Tony Farms AKA Puma Man]

It would have been an even better ending if the lead zombie was like 'PSYCHE!  I DIDN'T CARE ABOUT HER AT ALL!" and then eaten everyone.

In between roaring, of course.

[AmandaGal]

I think the alternate fits more with the themes in the book.  I haven't read the book in a LONG time but I seem to recall that part of it was making Neville the "monster" because the "Zombies" were "normal" and he was killing them.  I thought part of the book was flipping "normal" on it's back, so to speak.  Kind of a play on evolution. 

But, you guys are right.  That wasn't explored in the movie at all.  The ending they picked fits more with the theme of the movie.

[SmilinJackRoss]

I prefer the alternate ending, I like how you see the pictures of other zombies on the wall, and you realize that (to the zombies) he looks like a freaking serial killer.  

[AmandaGal]

I prefer the alternate ending, I like how you see the pictures of other zombies on the wall, and you realize that (to the zombies) he looks like a freaking serial killer. 

I guess that's what I was trying to say, but you said it better   I think that was explored more in the book...but maybe I'm misremembering.  The zombies had their own society and Neville was knocking them off.  You feel for him because he's "human" until you realize that they have families they're defending and they're people like his neighbor and his best friend, etc. that he's killing because he hasn't "evolved" thusly.

So, he's really the killer zombie afterall.

[ShadowDog]

You guys are on target, though the scriptwriter also seemed to forgot that it was VAMPIRES in the novel, not zombies.  Opps.

It would have been an even better ending if the lead zombie was like 'PSYCHE!  I DIDN'T CARE ABOUT HER AT ALL!" and then eaten everyone.

In between roaring, of course.

LMFAO!