Well, i definitely did the right thing, to start off. I watched the movie before going into the book. The movie was a piece of flaming cow dung being flung into a cesspit of barf and urine. The book on teh other hand was very good, albeit short and I was unhappy about the main character's reaction in the ending somewhat.
It might not be completely accurate, as I can't remember everything.
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Origin
Movie(M) - The cure for cancer goes bad
Book(B) - Germs
Main character's Immunity or atleast speculation
M - Horribly unexplained
B - Robert was bit by a vampire bat, which, he thinks, met with a real vampire (the ones in the story, but in the past and mightve been around since teh bebonic plague or however you spell that.) and it weakened the germ and cause him to gain an immunity to it.
Vampires (or rather, thingies, cuz I dont recall the movie actually naming them)
M - They are all weird mindless things that are weak towards sunlight, water, etc.
B - Only some are mindless, because their brain had deteriorated since some of them came back from the dead. Others though, actually have a mind because they are still living.
Dog
M - A family companion from the start. Dies cuz Robert kills it, after it gets infected.
B - A stray that survived by itself by hiding, and eventually dies. I think it got infected too, Its kind of blurry on how it died.
Girl
M - A survivor like the main character.
B - A spy by the vampires sent in to investigate Robert.
Cure
M - He makes it, and gives it to teh girl to "save teh world"
B - There isn't one.
Resistance
M - Survivors in a camp withhuge ass walls to keep teh vamps away, though I don't see how the walls would exactly help that much, or that long seeing how the vamps figured out things, and coupln'dt get past a wall by stacking thigns up.
B - Vampires, Living ones with the germs, or bacteria, but it had mutated and there is a drug that prevents teh germs to continue growing like it does in the normal ones. Sounded like it was temporary though, so its not a cure, just a stopper of sorts.
Death and Legend
M - I'm assuming hes a legend in it cuz of the title and that he found the cure. And he killed himself to keep teh cure available and taking out the guys who mightve stopped it.
B - Hes a legend because he is the last human. Died because he was caught by the new normals like a beast, feared and killed.
I liked the book, but at the end, Robert seemed a bit too resigned. The movie though, it just seemed to be one of those hollywood's I saved the world thing. This isn't the best comparison and small review you'll ever read but meh, if you aren't planning on reading the book, you find out that the original story was good, it just got screwed when it was made. I haven't seen the other movies or movie (I can't remember if there were 2 or 1 other) of it, but this the new one sucks.