Legend (1985) [Blu-ray]
Fantasy | Adventure | Romance
The Ultimate Edition includes the director's cut and the theatrical version.
Legend, from director Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator), is a visually stunning fantasy-adventure in which pure good and evil battle to the death amidst spectacular surroundings. Set in a timeless mythical forest inhabited by fairies, goblins,
unicorns and mortals, this fantastic story stars Tom Cruise as a mystical forest dweller, chosen by fate, to undertake a heroic quest. He must save the beautiful Princess Lily (Mia Sara) and defeat the demonic Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry) or the world
will be plunged into a never-ending ice age!
Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown, June 12, 2011 No apologies, no hesitation, no shame. I love Legend. I always have. In spite of all the years that have passed, all the criticism that's been laid at director
Ridley Scott's feet, all the Tangerine Dreams that have gone unfulfilled, my affection for Scott's dark fantasy hasn't diminished. Alex Thomson's dreamlike cinematography, Mia Sara and Tim Curry's mesmerizing performances, the film's production design and
still-impressive special effects, makeup and prosthetics... I've long been taken with it all. I'm well aware that Legend isn't a perfect film -- it certainly isn't Tom Cruise's finest hour, its comedic bits are arguably endearing but admittedly
awkward, and Jon Anderson's "Loved By the Sun" gets under my skin without fail -- but every time I revisit it, I find myself falling under its spell. I can't say I have the same affection for its resurrected Director's Cut though. I don't deny its value,
it just strikes me as more of a curiosity than anything else; a sentiment Scott seems to share. Even so, Legend's high definition debut is as remarkable as fans have been hoping it would be and both versions of the film look and sound infinitely
better than they ever have before.
Once long ago, before there was such a thing as time, the world was shrouded in darkness. Then came the splendor of light, bringing life and live into the Universe, and the Lord of Darkness retreated deep into the shadows of the earth, plotting his
return to power... by banishing light forever. But precious light is protected, harbored in the souls of Unicorns, the most mystical of all creatures. Unicorns are safe from the Lord of Darkness, they can only be found by the purest of mortals... such a
mortal is Jack, who lives in solitude with the animals of the forest. A beautiful girl named Lily loves Jack with all her heart. In their innocence, they believe only goodness exists in the world. Together they will learn there can be no good without
evil... no love without hate... no heaven without hell... no light without darkness. The harmony of the Universe depends upon an eternal balance. Out of the struggle to maintain this balance comes the birth of Legends.
Jack, of course, is played with naive devotion by Cruise, Lily steps straight out of a storybook courtesy of Sara, and the Lord of Darkness, one of the most grandiose, intimidating, visually striking villains of cinema, is none other than Curry,
delivering the best performance of his career while encased in full-body prosthetics and makeup. Cruise is constantly upstaged by his castmates -- even by the character actors who play the goblins, elves, dwarves, fairies and monstrosities that inhabit
Scott's fairytale -- but the evisceration he's received at the hands of his critics borders on excessive. It's easy to forget that Jack is an innocent; an untainted soul who has little care or understanding of the world beyond the boundaries of his
forest. As heroes of legend go, Jack is as transparent an archetype as they come, and Cruise doesn't attempt to make him anything more. I'd even go so far as to say it's his persevering sincerity that allows his fellow actors to indulge in such ambitious
theatrics. He's an anchor point that demands nothing from his audience, reacting to everything that transpires rather than analyzing and contextualizing his character's harrowing journey. Sara, meanwhile, is given ample opportunity to bend, waver and
break, raising doubts about where Lily's heart and loyalties truly lie. She's equally convincing as Jack's beloved companion, Darkness' reluctant bride-to-be and the black-clad seductress who seems all-too-willing to douse the Light of the universe with
one stroke of a sword.
But Legend is Curry's film. Curry fuses his Lord of Darkness with near-biblical malevolence, twisting what could have been lifeless prosthetics into the primordially bestial, eternally tortured face of the Devil himself. Scott doesn't hem him in or
pull him back. The bigger and grander the better. He isn't a brute; his all-consuming hate and deep-seated bitterness is too rich and complex. He isn't a fallen angel divorced from God's grace; his very nature is entwined with fear, the night and the
unknown beasties that lurk in the dark. If Darkness were anything less than a fully realized creature, the entire film would come crashing down. If he were anything less than a terrifying force of nature, Jack's quest would seem like child's play. If
Darkness' castle were anything less than a grim, fiery hellscape, Lily's trials and the Unicorns' peril would simply sit on the screen with listless indifference. Like Wolfgang Petersen's The NeverEnding Story, Legend doesn't dilute its high
fantasy with flights of frivolous fancy. It weaves an oppressive, foreboding tale of malice and menace with only the faintest hint of hope to guide its heroes toward their goal.
For those who insist Legend represents an early-career misstep for Scott, I can offer little solace. Like Kubrick and other legendary filmmakers, Scott wasn't (and isn't) interested in being a mere genre director. His fascination with a variety of
genres has sent him careening from one corner of cinema to the next, searching for whatever tale captures his imagination and inspires him, regardless of where that tale takes him. While Alien and Blade Runner are clearly superior films,
Legend shares the same meat, marrow and tendons as Scott's previous productions. The world he creates is exceedingly immersive, the story he shares is gripping, the balance he strikes between music and imagery is entrancing, and the sets and
creatures he designs are unlike anything else from the period (even rivaling those in more recent fantasy epics like, dare I say, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings). I'm not about to pretend my own nostalgia isn't coming to bear on my love of
Legend. But I've revisited plenty of childhood favorites, only to walk away disheartened and disillusioned. Legend is one of those rare films that continues to lure me in, year after year, defying its age with every swamp demon, dying
unicorn, dungeon escape, dark seduction and crown of horns it has to offer.
Legend remains one of my personal favorites and, while it hasn't weathered the ages as well as other films of the era, it stands as both a fantasy classic and a memorable Ridley Scott production. Honestly, it's worth the price of admission for Tim
Curry's performance alone. Universal's Blu-ray release doesn't disappoint either. It not only delivers two versions of the film, each one is backed by an excellent video transfer, a solid DTS-HD Master Audio track and a generous helping of supplemental
materials. Like the film itself, Universal's Blu-ray edition isn't perfect, but it thoroughly trounces its DVD counterpart and earns its stripes as a worthwhile catalog release.
[CSW] -2- The director's cut is considered to be much better than the theatrical version. I had hoped that the higher definition of the Blu-ray transfer along with the Director's Cut and D-Box motion would add enough to this film to make it worth having
in my library but alas it was not so for me. I think that I need to read the book to find out what the internal thoughts and motivation of many of the supporting cast were as well as exactly what they were. In a nut shell this movie just didn't do it for
me.
[V4.0-A4.9] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box 3.1/10.
--- JOYA ---
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