For me, this film is some sort of a guilty pleasure as I first saw it at a young age while growing up and remember enjoying it immensely. Upon viewing it again very recently, while I realize it's not that great of a film, it's not necessarily a bad one. Also, given the extremely different material compared to his previous work, it is simply mind-boggling to think that the same director also created "Alien" and "Bladerunner".
The film fails for being simply, how do I put it.....gay, particularly in the beginning. The romance scenes are way over the top to the point that it's hard to imagine Scott watching this film without feeling some form of embarrassment. During several moments during the beginning sequences, I thought an overly-eager elf of some kind would bust out of the woods, bend Tom Cruise over a log and mount him....much to his enjoyment. That's how gay the beginning is. The acting isn't necessarily terrible, the direction is simply off. More than needed to set the rest of the film up. As it moves further it gets better, especially the end which is why I like this film and don't bash it into oblivion.
If there's one single redeeming quality for all of those who feel this movie is bad, they would have to admit that the Lord of Darkness played marvelously by Tim Curry is simply amazing. Quite bluntly, the very best personification of any devil or Satan ever put on film; the epitome of such. It's enough to give one chills. Marvelous costume and makeup job. However, without this, there's not much here other than a little kid movie with decent costumes and some impressive imagery. 6/10
The film fails for being simply, how do I put it.....gay, particularly in the beginning. The romance scenes are way over the top to the point that it's hard to imagine Scott watching this film without feeling some form of embarrassment. During several moments during the beginning sequences, I thought an overly-eager elf of some kind would bust out of the woods, bend Tom Cruise over a log and mount him....much to his enjoyment. That's how gay the beginning is. The acting isn't necessarily terrible, the direction is simply off. More than needed to set the rest of the film up. As it moves further it gets better, especially the end which is why I like this film and don't bash it into oblivion.
If there's one single redeeming quality for all of those who feel this movie is bad, they would have to admit that the Lord of Darkness played marvelously by Tim Curry is simply amazing. Quite bluntly, the very best personification of any devil or Satan ever put on film; the epitome of such. It's enough to give one chills. Marvelous costume and makeup job. However, without this, there's not much here other than a little kid movie with decent costumes and some impressive imagery. 6/10