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256 reviews in total

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94 out of 110 people found the following review useful:
To take the horn of the Unicorn is to end all hope!, 4 April 2002
Author: Noel Bailey (uds3@hotmail.com) from Longmont: Colorado US

Never did the phrase "a beautiful film" have more relevance than in this wonderful piece of adult fantasy. Make no mistake, this masterpiece, Ridley Scott's fourth film (it followed BLADE RUNNER) was never intended for children. Those who have written it off as a kids' movie totally betray their limitations and inability to see what is being offered here.

A youthful Tom Cruise was such a good choice as Jack, the forest dweller destined to plunge the world into darkness and then have but one opportunity to restore the light. Mia Sara is the beautiful princess, part Cinderella, part angel, all virgin! and Tim Curry? well, what a simply staggering contribution as the Lord of Darkness. Totally unrecognizable both visually and audibly but what a performance.

All the Ridley Scott trademarks are here, the back-projected blue light, the filtered scenes of wonderment, central characters in a crisis, the enigma of life itself. If anything, LEGEND is better now than when it was released. In '85 it received critical praise - just no-one went to see it! Well that's not strictly true. I attended the Sydney premiere and sat thru it entranced as others fidgeted, whispered, and generally brought attention to their limited attention spans and lowered perceptions!

Certainly it is a film that on one level children could relate to and even enjoy but it is a far deeper film with a host of reflective ideas and quite magical concepts. What really IS the Lord of Darkness? What is the significance of the Unicorns? What becomes of the innocence we leave behind in childhood? If none of this interests you, make sure you avoid this film!

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58 out of 67 people found the following review useful:
There really should be two different "Legend" movies listed., 25 December 2006

Author: docstrange

There's the original version, released in 1986 and on videotape, and the 2002 Director's Cut, available on DVD. The latter version is one of my all-time favorite movies. It compares quite favorably with Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" and is a modern classic.

The theatrical release of 1986, shamefully butchered (chopped up and badly re-edited) by the mindless suits at Warner, and with its original Jerry Goldsmith score replaced by the rather trite Tangerine Dream soundtrack, is the version most people have seen. It was released on videotape as a children's movie. What it is, and was intended to be, is a fairy tale for adults. In fact, it's too intense for really young children.

It's hard to say that the '86 version deserves any more than the "6" it's rated at on its IMDb main page. It is a disappointment, primarily because it's now impossible to watch without think how much better it could be. The feeling and tone of the film were ruined by its treatment.

The Ridley Scott Director's Cut, released in 2002, is a completely different movie. If you haven't seen this version, you haven't seen the movie. It deserves a score of 9 or 10.

It doesn't look like a movie made 20 years ago. Scenes which are vital to the tone of the film and the meaning of the story have been restored. The sumptuous original soundtrack, recorded with a full orchestra, has also been restored, and this adds more to the film than can be put into words.

About the performances: A very young Tom Cruise is excellent as the hero. Tim Curry as the Lord of Darkness is awesome; his costume and voice alone are worth the cost of renting or buying the DVD. Mia Sara is absolutely stunning as Lily. She actually plays two different versions of her character, both wonderfully. This was her first role, a risk for Scott on such a big budget film, and she turned in the performance of her career. She's never been better, or looked more beautiful, than in this movie. The elves and fairies, both good and evil, are incredibly real-looking and believable. The costumes are perfect, and the sets are breathtaking, literally. One of the largest indoor sets ever constructed - a huge fantasy forest - was built for this movie.

If you haven't seen this version, rent it. If you have kids, buy it for them; they'll watch it over and over. My daughter and her friends watch it repeatedly, she's probably seen it 50 times.

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65 out of 93 people found the following review useful:
LEGEND: Gothic, Grim, Beautiful, Enchanting, Magical, Dreamy, Fantastic, and ultimately Constant., 22 January 2006

Author: TruPretender from Sundance, Utah

Ridley Scotts' fallen masterpiece "Legend" has, in it's own rite, become one of the most infamous, if not fascinating, legacies in Hollywood. In 1984, Ridley Scott, director of the famed sci-fi "Alien", set out to tell a defining fairy tale. Once he was joined by writer William Hjortsberg, the duo started off on a creative journey to conjure what would become the beloved film "Legend". The film was further more given the appropriate elements for the general fairy tale. The Princess, the Hero, the Villain, the Goblins, the Fairies, and the other magical characters and creatures such as the Unicorns and Honeythorn Gump. Seeing as the film is intended to be a definitive fairy tale, this would also mean tracing the modern genre back to its' roots, Grim style. Indeed, the completed product was pure in it's woven fables. Just as it is tender, and bright, is it also dark, surreal, nightmarish, and ultimately entrancing. More of the film deals with the overshadow of darkness in the magical land. A proper way to show the sudden switch from light and happy, to dark and fearsome indeed.

In the story, we have the world, happy, beautiful, completely compelling in its' own nature. The dark truth lies within its' own reality. Darkness once ruled the world, but has since retreated into the lower levels of the earth, to groan and complain of times in a better existence. The world is happy, because the Unicorn, a very dear, and sacred animal, rules the land. These gorgeous creatures know only love and laughter, and thusly, protect the world from evil. They are attracted to one element in man kind, innocence. Princes Lily is pure at heart, as well as mind and spirit. Her soul friend, Jack, leads her to the creatures, as a gesture of love and affection. Quite unfortunately, however, the Lord Darkness has sent his own army after the creatures too. Once both sides are at the right place, and the wrong time, the Unicorns are harmed, and the earth, in danger. Thus begins a journey full of action, adventure, and suspense.

Tom Cruise has only performed well in this one film, for me anyway. He is actually quite affective, and believable as the hero Jack. He shows both strength and bravery, to contrast with confusion and fear of the unknown. Very plausible indeed. Mia Sara is so gorgeous, naive, and pure as the Princess. Her characteristics consist of a blind ambition, love stricken playfulness, and of course, Innocence. Never, has this genre seen such a perfect portrayal. Now, Tim Curry turns in one hell of a performance. Thanks to modern film-making, Curry is a frightening, disgusting, and yet sexual portrayal of ultimate Darkness. The three stars are all mixed together in a real Fairy Tale, with a message at the end. (note, this message is only seen in the 2002 restored Directors Cut).

I do not feel the need to bring up the controversy that ensued the principal photography, as it is well known by fans and film buffs of all kind. What I can say, is that Ridley Scott was certainly determined to give us the product of his imagination. That said, he gave us a real fantasy. he has given us a real story of magic,, love, hate,adventure, and all kinds of elements that create what a film like this should be. One thing to truly be mentioned, however, is the late Jerry Goldsmith. This master at film composition of the musical persuasion, gave us his ultimate best, and that was being generous and forgetting about getting stabbed in the back during the processing of "Alien". Again, the great musician was tricked, and his beautiful score was thrown out the window from US versions, leaving the film to sugary and sappy. Even worse, important scenes were cut, leaving much of the film uneven and seemingly rushed. Sad enough, this kind of treatment happened a year earlier with 1984's "Supergirl". Fortunately, however, we were given the true version of the film in mid 2002, and rightly so. The film has since then, been seen, and loved by fans as myself, who loved it way back when....as well as now.

The best I can say, is that this movie has a full blown mastermind to it, and the producers and creators etc finally gave the film justice. Same happened with "Supergirl" in 2000. Bottom line, this film is brilliant, and touching, and an ever- glorious masterpiece!

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47 out of 59 people found the following review useful:
Violation of innocent, virtuous flesh, 9 June 2004
Author: DarthBill from United States

The Lord of all that is Darkness (Tim Curry) tries to take over the world by slaying two unicorns. He is distracted by the temptation of innocence, which comes in the form of pretty little Princess Lily, played by Mia Sara in her film debut. The Dark Lord decides he would like to have his way with virgin princess, while her true love Jack (Tom Cruise) tries to rescue her and save the world.

Long, dark, murky, loaded with black humor and undeniably well crafted. A beautiful film to look at that is hopelessly chopped up in the American version which replaces Jerry Goldsmith's original music with music by Tangerine Dream.

Cruise is alright as the hero, as alright as he's ever been anywhere else. Mia Sara is very lovely as the virgin princess whom this film revolves around. Curry sounds like he's having fun as the villain.

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34 out of 42 people found the following review useful:
A stunning movie ., 28 April 2003

Author: Shadowman82 from Canada

Legend is one of those movies you either love or hate . It's a fantasy movie but it doesn't really contain a whole lot of action which is probably why many people are turned off by it . But the film is visually stunning and features a good performance by Tim Curry as "Darkness" , Tom Cruise on the other hand looks a bit confused throughout the movie . Also Rob Bottin's Make up is just amazing .

Now things weren't helped by the fact that there are so many versions of this movie and some are vastly better than others . The weakest and shortest of the all is the US theatrical cut because it misses many scenes and ads a few that seem tacked on but worst of all it contains a score by Tangerine Dream instead of the original one by Jerry Goldsmith .

The European cut is better in that it is longer and it features Jerry Goldsmith's score .

The best version however is the Director's Cut featured on The Ultimate Edition DVD . It runs alot longer than any of the other cuts and it is the most coherent cut as well and it features the score by Jerry Goldsmith.

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53 out of 85 people found the following review useful:
Watch both versions and make your OWN cut, 9 November 2004
Author: apkacdh from Just outside Raleigh, NC

As a huge fan of Tangerine Dream and Jon Anderson, I praise the fact that their music is in the "American" cut of this film; their music has always sounded like they were trying to do soundtracks to a movie. You hear a song, you get visual images in your head and make a movie of your own.

However, ...

I do have to say that the American Version with Tangerine Dream's soundtrack only makes this movie into a "Cult" film. It could have been great, but (well, you fill in the blank).

Fortunately, I've seen the way it was SUPPOSED to have been released in the States (which you can find on the 2-disc DVD, which has both versions).

The Non-American version has a story which is much fuller, and the music (with a full symphony orchestra) is much better and adds more drama and punctuates the mood of each scene more properly.

I do find the American version's end much more climatic musically and story-wise with Jon Anderson (singer of Yes)'s angelic voice thundering with Tangerine Dream's score in the background.

So, pick an afternoon when you got about 4 hours to spare and watch BOTH. Then, take parts of each version and make YOUR OWN wonderous story.

And another thing, keep in mind that this movie came out a whole 20 years ago. The early 80's. Next year it can buy it's own beer (if it was a person). So, Tim Curry and a lot of others would have been just voices over CGI characters instead of being in actual makeup and there would have been MORE to the story and script if CGI was as available back then as it is now.

There IS such a thing as knowing limitations, you know.

American Version, good enough to make one wonder what was more.

International Version, done much better and fuller (though I like the American ending better)

As I said, watch both versions and make your OWN version to enjoy.

Aaaaannnd ... CUT!

That's a wrap.

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55 out of 91 people found the following review useful:
How Americanization ruins..., 2 December 1999

Author: Mr Ghostface from London, England

Legend...

I can only say that this film, at least the European version, succeeds into the creation of a fantasy world that very very few other films have. And NEVER has a fairytale forest been realised so vividly and fantastically as here. The production design at Pinewood Studios is truly outstanding.

Of course, this film was a considerable flop. And looking at it, it isn't too hard to see why. A film that retains some semblance of morality - in this case the most basic, good versus evil - will not play to young audiences of the late 20th century. The tone of the film is perhaps too dark for young children, the overall theme of the film perhaps too juvenile for most adults. And so Legend finds itself in a cinematic limbo, a place without a core audience.

Of course, a cult audience has evolved around this film as it does around anything that misses its major target, and so Legend is a film that is either loved or loathed. Either way, Ridley Scott's stunning visual imaginings are realised with undeniable skill.

In addition to Scott's and his team's visual successes, this film - at least for European viewers - is embellished with one of the most beautiful scores ever written. Jerry Goldsmith has, during his transition from traditional to synthesied orchestra, created one of the richest scores ever bestowed on a film.

Quite what Warner Bros thought they were doing when they removed this score and cut chunks out of the film (and re-edited what was left) I will never understand. The film would and did flop in both versions, but that doesn't necessarily mean it shouldn't have been made.

If you are knew to this film, do yourself a favour and never watch the American version, unless it is the revamped widescreen version with the Goldsmith score back in place.

A visual dream, a beautiful score, a moral tale. Is there any wonder it flopped?

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22 out of 26 people found the following review useful:
A film for special people, 13 April 2007

Author: ozthegreatat42330 from Central City, Kentucky

As often happens I have again bucked the crowd. A fine director has given us a charming morality tale for adults. It is lush, sensual, sweet perhaps naive, certainly it is charming. I am sorry that I did not ever get to hear the Goldsmith score, but I thought the Tangerine Dream score was very fitting. The youthful Tom Cruise was perfectly cast as the forest boy Jack and Mia Sara was just right as the girl. But the makeup job and prosthetics that made Tim Curry the Lord of Darkness was outstanding. a film with brownies, fairies, Unicorns, goblins. What more could a fantasy film deliver, and a a bonus the plaintive voice of YES front man Jon Anderson singing the song over the final credits. I am sorry that there so many people that were not mature enough to enjoy the artistry of this film. I would still like to get the DVD version to see the cut I missed.

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15 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
The Director's Cut is Gorgeous!, 12 August 2007

Author: mstomaso from Vulcan

I will join the chorus... This is a beautiful, and thoroughly enjoyable fantasy film as long as you watch it in digital widescreen and do not bother with the 1hr 30min version. The Director's Cut(better known as the European release) is worthy of an IMDb rating of 8. The American theatrical release is worthy of a 6.5.

This is a fairly straightforward fantasy conceived and directed by Ridley Scott, one of the greatest mainstream directors of our time. The story follows a young man who lives in a forest (Jack, played by Tom Cruise) and a spirited young princess (Lily - Mia Sara) who is in love with him. The lord of darkness (Tim Curry) has sent forth his minions to capture the last two remaining unicorns so that he can banish light from the world forever. Unicorns are attracted to innocence, and so they find themselves in Jack and Lily's company just as the dark lord's play begins to unfold. Before long, Jack and his magical forest friends must save Lily, the one remaining unicorn and the world from the grasp of the dark lord at any price.

Even the lengthier director's cut goes by just a little too quickly. But it's pace is not comparable to the incredibly hasty studio chop-job of the American release. The story is epic, but the medium is not. All considered, however, the production team did a great job given the length limits afforded for the film.

Cruise does pretty well with a role that must have been a little hard to interpret. Jack must behave as a hero, a young man who has learned most of his lessons from nature, and a teenager to varying degrees throughout the film. Mia Sara is delightful a Lily. Tim Curry and David Bennent (Honeythorn Gump) get pretty close to stealing the show. In all, the acting is fine, but the start of the film is really the camera.

Scott has often proved his ability to create immersive experiences in worlds which are somewhat alien (no pun intended) to his audience. Legend does this perhaps as powerfully as his most far-out films (Alien, and Bladerunner). The cinematography, editing, and special effects are exceptionally good, and make the fairly average plot glow. Each scene is a work of art.

Highly recommended for fantasy fans, Ridley Scott, Tim Curry and Mia Sara fans and those interested in artfully presented effects. Recommended for fans of Pan's Labyrinth and Mirrormask. Weakly recommended for Tom Cruise fans.

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
A fairy tale on film., 14 February 2008

Author: Gary2012 from United States

I've read a lot of opposing views here and there are valid views on both sides. I guess it boils down to what your imagination can be hopefully transfered to film for you enjoyment.

I've seen my fair share of fantasy films in my life and Legend probably reached to that part of me quicker than any film of that genre than has been done before and since. Lord of the Rings surpasses it on many levels...but Legeng still has the ability after all these years to make me think of pure fantasy, and that's what I believe this film is about. Good vs evil is what most films are about, but Legend is what fairies and goblins and a mystical forests are!

Visually I doubt you can find much better even 20 odd years later! Good vs evil in a setting that is set in a purer forum. Character development here are not too strong, but they're not meant to be. They are strong enough to portray love vs evil vs good and bad, and they do it well in the context of the story. Tom Cruise did a good Job as the Nieve and yet courageous Jack, Lily was a the prize of his longing and it came across as undeniable. Mia Sara as lily is the stuff of youthful longing.

Tim Curry played the spoiler and he did it to the point of stealing all of the film. He is the stuff of fantasy. The costume was spectacular, and his portrayal of the character was commanding...And over the top cause that what he does well!

I enjoyed the directors cut film more as it is longer and tells the story just a little better, but I enjoyed Tangarines Dream's score more as it captured the mood of fantasy ( for me) as set in a mystical place! Jerry Goldsmith had some very good moments, but TD for me layed out a fairytale with my eyes closed better.

But at the end you either see this for the pure fantasy it is about or you see it as something deeper that it doesn't pretend to be. It's much purer in it's view on good vs evil and to my taste it hits on every level of that platform. And not to mention it's ability to make for a great dream filled with hope and danger.

Pure fantasy...and should be viewed with that intent.

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