'Legend', The Director's Cut (1985/2002), Unrated, One Hour & 54 Minutes --and-- U.S. Theatrical Version (1986), Rated "PG" by the MPAA, One Hour & 30 Minutes. Content includes: Mild Adult Language, Some Mild Sexual Innuendos, Violence and Some Disturbing Imagery.
My Take ** (Out of ****) or 6/10 on the IMDb Scale.
'Legend' is triumph of art direction, make-up, costume and set design. It's a great movie to look at, but not much else. That goes for both versions of the picture, The Director's Cut or the U.S. Theatrical Version.
'Legend' wants to be a mythical fairy tale. It tells of Darkness (Tim Curry), a demonic overlord, who has been banished from the world to his dark kingdom to reign in exile. The world is a beautiful place of perpetual springtime, complete with sunshine, tweeting birds, pollen in the air and tree blossoms in abundance. The world is kept pure and protected by two unicorns who both harbor goodness, truth and light.
However, Darkness is plotting his return to the world for a hostile takeover. If his lackeys can take out the two unicorns, then Darkness will once again rise to dominate the world. This is not very appealing to Jack (Tom Cruise), a young man who lives in a storybook forest. Jack shares a romance of innocence with the lovely maiden Lily (Mia Sara). When Darkness makes his move for world domination, the world is plunged into a chaotic dark winter. Darkness kidnaps Lily to corrupt her and make her his dark bride. It's up to Jack and his motley crew of fairy friends to put the kabash on Darkness before all hope is lost . . .
Sounds like the groundwork for a fun picture, doesn't it? Unfortunately, that's not the case. For as visually arousing as the film is, it's highly underdeveloped. 'Legend' is all style, with no substance. That's too bad. Everything looks great and the adventure could have been a really great one too.
One problem with 'Legend' is you don't care about anyone or anything in it. There's nothing interesting, funny, witty or imaginative about any of the characters, except for maybe Darkness. We've all seen this kind of story before: Evil is out to vanquish good, the young lad becomes a hero to save the girl and set the wrong things right. It's a timeless story. No doubt, we'll keep seeing it time and time again. When it's done right, we love it. A good example would be the original 'Star Wars' (1977). But 'Legend' doesn't do it right. We're not gripped in the slightest.
Tom Cruise as Jack spends a great deal of the picture looking scared or bewildered. Sara Mia, better known as Matthew Broderick's girlfriend in 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' (1986), is an adequate damsel in distress. Naive, but nice. The scene stealer is Tim Curry as Darkness. He looks great! He is layered in make-up and paint, but he truly looks like the devil, complete with gigantic horns, goat ears, red skin, yellow eyes, a Charles Atlas figure and goat legs. Oddly enough, Curry's performance shines though the latex making Darkness convincing as a sinister presence.
As indicated, the rest of the characters are fairly one dimensional clichés from other (& better) fantasy tales. They're only here as plot devices, completely devoid of any other purpose, to get you through the movie from Point 'A' to Point 'B'. You don't care for them or empathize with them in any way or about their plight. To make a movie like this work, you should at least care about the outcome of it's characters. If you don't, then what's the point of watching it in the first place?
The Director's Cut is more whimsical. It's about 24 minutes longer and has extended dialog with longer scenes. Most notably, this version firmly establishes the lovely Lily as a princess, while the American version is decidedly ambiguous about her background. Also notable is Lily's singing in the forest and to the unicorns. This is more storybook like and I suppose this behavior is to be expected of maidens.
The Director's Cut boasts a lyrical score by Jerry Goldsmith. It's beautifully done and serves the storybook aspect of 'Legend' very well.
The U.S. version is scored by the rock group Tangerine Dream. What I liked about this score is that it's a departure from what is traditionally heard in this kind of picture. I thought this score was a fresh approach to the 'fairy-tale'/'storybook' genre.
Director Ridley Scott has described his director's version of 'Legend' as being the more sophisticated of the two versions. In some ways he's right. Then again, both versions of the picture are rather muddled and lack coherence or any real direction. Both pictures feel choppy, unrealized and cobbled together from other fantasies minus the spark that makes the good ones work in the first place.
Does 'Legend' have a saving grace? It's a visual roller-coaster. It's great to look at. It reminds me of fantasy paintings that have come to life. Too bad that the life we see in the movie is lifeless. If you can get around that fact, then either version of 'Legend' at it's best will be excellent eye candy with terrific cinema-photography and great music, whether it's Goldsmith or Tangerine Dream as the music provider.
In my opinion, The Director's Cut and the U.S. Theatrical Version are on they same par in terms of quality. One is not better then the other. 'Legend' isn't that good to begin with. To be fair, it's not bad either. If it wasn't for the film's visual style, there would really be no reason to even consider watching this picture. 'Legend' is a missed opportunity that left me wanting more from it then what I was given . . .
My Take ** (Out of ****) or 6/10 on the IMDb Scale.
'Legend' is triumph of art direction, make-up, costume and set design. It's a great movie to look at, but not much else. That goes for both versions of the picture, The Director's Cut or the U.S. Theatrical Version.
'Legend' wants to be a mythical fairy tale. It tells of Darkness (Tim Curry), a demonic overlord, who has been banished from the world to his dark kingdom to reign in exile. The world is a beautiful place of perpetual springtime, complete with sunshine, tweeting birds, pollen in the air and tree blossoms in abundance. The world is kept pure and protected by two unicorns who both harbor goodness, truth and light.
However, Darkness is plotting his return to the world for a hostile takeover. If his lackeys can take out the two unicorns, then Darkness will once again rise to dominate the world. This is not very appealing to Jack (Tom Cruise), a young man who lives in a storybook forest. Jack shares a romance of innocence with the lovely maiden Lily (Mia Sara). When Darkness makes his move for world domination, the world is plunged into a chaotic dark winter. Darkness kidnaps Lily to corrupt her and make her his dark bride. It's up to Jack and his motley crew of fairy friends to put the kabash on Darkness before all hope is lost . . .
Sounds like the groundwork for a fun picture, doesn't it? Unfortunately, that's not the case. For as visually arousing as the film is, it's highly underdeveloped. 'Legend' is all style, with no substance. That's too bad. Everything looks great and the adventure could have been a really great one too.
One problem with 'Legend' is you don't care about anyone or anything in it. There's nothing interesting, funny, witty or imaginative about any of the characters, except for maybe Darkness. We've all seen this kind of story before: Evil is out to vanquish good, the young lad becomes a hero to save the girl and set the wrong things right. It's a timeless story. No doubt, we'll keep seeing it time and time again. When it's done right, we love it. A good example would be the original 'Star Wars' (1977). But 'Legend' doesn't do it right. We're not gripped in the slightest.
Tom Cruise as Jack spends a great deal of the picture looking scared or bewildered. Sara Mia, better known as Matthew Broderick's girlfriend in 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' (1986), is an adequate damsel in distress. Naive, but nice. The scene stealer is Tim Curry as Darkness. He looks great! He is layered in make-up and paint, but he truly looks like the devil, complete with gigantic horns, goat ears, red skin, yellow eyes, a Charles Atlas figure and goat legs. Oddly enough, Curry's performance shines though the latex making Darkness convincing as a sinister presence.
As indicated, the rest of the characters are fairly one dimensional clichés from other (& better) fantasy tales. They're only here as plot devices, completely devoid of any other purpose, to get you through the movie from Point 'A' to Point 'B'. You don't care for them or empathize with them in any way or about their plight. To make a movie like this work, you should at least care about the outcome of it's characters. If you don't, then what's the point of watching it in the first place?
The Director's Cut is more whimsical. It's about 24 minutes longer and has extended dialog with longer scenes. Most notably, this version firmly establishes the lovely Lily as a princess, while the American version is decidedly ambiguous about her background. Also notable is Lily's singing in the forest and to the unicorns. This is more storybook like and I suppose this behavior is to be expected of maidens.
The Director's Cut boasts a lyrical score by Jerry Goldsmith. It's beautifully done and serves the storybook aspect of 'Legend' very well.
The U.S. version is scored by the rock group Tangerine Dream. What I liked about this score is that it's a departure from what is traditionally heard in this kind of picture. I thought this score was a fresh approach to the 'fairy-tale'/'storybook' genre.
Director Ridley Scott has described his director's version of 'Legend' as being the more sophisticated of the two versions. In some ways he's right. Then again, both versions of the picture are rather muddled and lack coherence or any real direction. Both pictures feel choppy, unrealized and cobbled together from other fantasies minus the spark that makes the good ones work in the first place.
Does 'Legend' have a saving grace? It's a visual roller-coaster. It's great to look at. It reminds me of fantasy paintings that have come to life. Too bad that the life we see in the movie is lifeless. If you can get around that fact, then either version of 'Legend' at it's best will be excellent eye candy with terrific cinema-photography and great music, whether it's Goldsmith or Tangerine Dream as the music provider.
In my opinion, The Director's Cut and the U.S. Theatrical Version are on they same par in terms of quality. One is not better then the other. 'Legend' isn't that good to begin with. To be fair, it's not bad either. If it wasn't for the film's visual style, there would really be no reason to even consider watching this picture. 'Legend' is a missed opportunity that left me wanting more from it then what I was given . . .