I am Legend times a million. Don't get me wrong. Will Smith's acting was superb, and as a standalone film in itself, it is good. But as a film based off of Richard Matheson's classic novel which singlehandedly created the zombie genre--inspiring even Romero--since it was the first book to separate vampirism from supernaturalism, the film stank. It was NOTHING like the book, and the whole meaning was lost in favor of another mildly annoying, quasi-religious messiah message. The real meaning of the book was much darker, and it was a true criticism of the world at the time--which the zombie genre itself is, at least until it became too commercialized. I want to see a really long film based off of Richard Matheson's "I am Legend." I want it to be the Gone With the Wind of the zombie genre--even greater than the original Dawn of the Dead. This time I want the film to actually be based off of the book word for word, maybe "filling in the gaps" between some of the vaguer parts of the book (like Robert Neville's background or how the world collapsed) to invigorate it with some new originality, but ultimately be based off the blueprint of the book. We need a really good actor who can study Robert Neville religiously and really get into the character of a man all alone in the world, and a good director--perhaps Christopher Nolan or George Romero with a huge budget and total creative control--who can really bring the themes and messages of the books onto the big screen. I would pay an arm and a leg to see such a film based off of my favorite book. Will Smith's "I am Legend" was garbage as a film version of the novel. Sure as a film itself it was good. But it was NOT the book. Plus, ironically, in choosing to cast a Black actor as the protagonist, the original social message of the book was lost. People often don't realize that "I am Legend" and the zombie-genre as a whole arose as a progressive satire of middle-America and the xenophobia that racists felt during Civil Rights. There is one notorious scene in the book where Robert Neville compares the infected to the plight of minorities in the nation. People often interpret this as racism when in reality it was a satirical criticism of racism. It's playing upon the fears of racists, reducing to ridicule their xenophobia. The message is lost by casting a Black man, ironically. Because the satirization no longer makes sense.