LEGEND
  
STARRING:
Tom Cruise,
Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork
Hubbert, Peter O'Farrell, Kiran Shah, Annabelle Lanyon and Robert Picardo
1985, 120 Minutes, Directed by:
Ridley
Scott
 Description:
A demon who seeks to create eternal night by destroying the last of the
unicorns and marrying a fairy princess is opposed by the forest boy Jack and
his elven allies in this magical fantasy. —
Amazon.com
Thatcher. Reagan. Flock of Seagulls. These weren’t the only evil things from
the 1980s. There were also Hollywood Fantasy movies — everything from
Dark Crystal and
Never-Ending Story to Willow and
Labyrinth . . . Then there’s this 1985 effort directed by
director Ridley Scott (soon after finishing Alien
and Blade Runner) and Tom Cruise.
The plot: Satan (in the guise of the one
and only Frankenfur — I mean — Tim Curry) tries to bring about a new reign
of darkness or whatever by sending his goblin henchmen to cut off a
unicorn’s, er, horn. Along the way, a princess is kidnapped and a
perpetually smiling Tom Cruise as a wild forest child has to rescue her. Or something like that: the plot lacks
focus and clarity. What the
screenplay does however have are some groan-worthy lines about purity,
good and evil, and the like; not to mention some gaping plot holes as the
chief villain succumbs to movie clichés, i.e., he doesn’t just plain kill
off the princess and the unicorn at the earliest opportunity. Satan is a
dumbass it would seem. OK, OK, so
the villain isn’t called Satan in the movie despite his resemblance to the
biblical devil. However, someone responsible for the designs of the movie
definitely had a rather strict religious upbringing as a child and the
fear of hell driven into them! (Some psychological counseling might be in
order!) Tim Curry is a very impressive and the make-up is suitably
imposing. This is however the
movie’s biggest problem.
On the one hand, Legend is
essentially a movie for children. After all, it features a lot of children
with fairy wings stuck to their backs. (Often it feels as if one is stuck in a
primary school pantomime!) In addition, the plot is simplistic and some of
the dialogue and characters quite juvenile.
On the other hand, Legend is so heavy-handed in its approach that
it isn’t a whole lot of fun at all. Its depiction of evil is so intense
and scary, that the little ones would probably be begging their parents to
please switch off the TV!
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"Satan is a dumbass it would seem . . ." |
Some
scenes are simply too adult and scary for small children. Yet the tone of
the movie is decidedly childish. At points during the making of Legend,
I wondered whether the thought that “just what the hell am I doing here?”
occurred to director Scott. A better sense of fun — and perhaps some
post-modern irony á la The Princess Bride and
Time Bandits — would have served Legend
better.
If you have an aversion to
generic fantasy elements — such as faeries, goblins, princesses, wood nymphs
and other cutesy creatures, then it is recommended that you stay away from
Legend, which turned out to be one of Tom Cruise’s few box office
disappointments (it was only his second movie, and he looks particularly feminine
here). If you liked any of the
fantasy movies mentioned at the start of this review, you'll no doubt
want to check Legend out (that is, if you haven't done so already). At least it's better than
Krull . . .
In the movie’s favor are some stunning
locales (apparently, the entire movie was filmed in the giant studios in
the UK used for the 007 movies) and excellent photography. Also, the
director’s cut features an effective
— albeit at times inappropriate (it lacks that lightness of tone I
referred to: it sounds more like Poltergeist than a whimsical
faerie world at times) symphonic score by Jerry Goldsmith. Goldsmith scored a shitload of movies in his
time and is probably best known for his Planet of
the Apes and The Omen scores. Apparently, he composed this
score for the movie before its release, but it was dropped in favor of an
abstract electronic score by the synth group Tangerine Dream.
The director’s cut also restores about half
an hour of running time. Not all of it is welcome however: at times, it
feels like an awfully thin premise spread over an impossibly long time.
However, the best thing about the DVD is probably that it is in widescreen
and allows one to enjoy Scott’s sumptuous visuals. Whatever you say about
Sir (harrumph) Ridley Scott, he sure knows how to frame a shot even though
he won’t recognize a good script if it came up and bit him on the ass . .
.
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