(Image credit: Warner Bros.) The Themes Compared To I Am Legend Winner for Protagonist: Well… None of them are really all that close to the practical killer in the novel, but if I had to pick one… then I’d pick The Omega Man, but mostly since he seems the most capable in combat. He kicks ass, but he also seems pretty smart, so he’s a nice in-between. Robert Neville is a virologist in this one. What else would you expect from Charlton Heston? This Robert Neville is also a scientist, but he’s one who kicks ass and shoots his rifle out the window. Morgan does use garlic in the film, though, so that’s similar to the book, at least. Neville in the book is badass, killing vampires with stakes and crucifixes. Robert Morgan (Morgan?) is a scientist in the movie, and he kills vampires, but Vincent Prince does NOT look like a vampire-killer. (Image credit: Warner Bros.) Compared To The I Am Legend ProtagonistĪ man named Robert Neville is the sole survivor in the book. Winner for Plot: While I Am Legend does have the fast vampires from the book, The Last Man on Earth is closer, plot-wise, so that wins in this category. Well, that is, of course, depending on what version of the ending you see. Smith gets a dog, which dies, and then the vampires evolve, and he blows himself and the head vampire up with a grenade. So, really, The Omega Man borrows concepts from the book, but that’s about it.Īn Army virologist (Will Smith) patrols New York as a loner while vampires, known as Dark Seekers, try to kill him. Heston meets some people along the way, fights the mutants, and then dies with his arms spread out like Jesus on the cross.

They want to kill him because he represents “science” and they hate science, because they think it transformed them into the mutants they are today. It’s nowhere near as engaging as the novel, but plot-wise, it’s pretty similar.Ĭharlton Heston plays a scientist who drives around during the day, and fights these albino mutants wearing hoods called “The family” at night. The end.īesides the zombie-like vampires (which may have inspired Romero’s The Night of the Living Dead ), the rest of the movie is actually pretty close to the book, even including the backstory with our hero’s daughter, and his vampiric friend trying to kill him. And then, more of the advanced vampires kill our hero. He befriends a dog (which dies), then befriends a woman, who is really an advanced vampire. Not to be confused with the excellent, now-cancelled comedy, The Last Man on Earth, The Last Man on Earth movie is about a scientist who goes out by day and kills vampires (though they shamble like zombies), and hides in his house at night while the vampires bang on his windows.

I am legend novel