Legend

This film was truly awful. I am a Tim Curry fan, but he was not enough to save a film which just made you cringe one moment and make you wish for some kind of plot/humour the next. It might have been beautifully photographed, but this can't save it from the script.

When I first saw this movie,on DVD, I was like wow! This movie is gorgeous to look at, a famous trademark of Ridley Scott. The main flaw in this movie is Tom Cruise. He looked confused throughout the movie, but he was still likable. The other flaw, is that the storyline takes a while to get going. But all this actually managed to pick itself up, and do bear in mind it is theme driven film. I was impressed with Mia Sara. She started off a little uncomfortable, but when she turned evil, she came alive. In fact, the personifications of good and evil were one of the main reasons why I like this movie, other than Tim Curry, who is one of my favourite actors. The performance of Tim Curry is what makes this movie. He was unrecognisable, underneath all the Oscar-nominated makeup, but what a performance, it blew me away, in perhaps the most definitive portrayal of Satan ever on screen, both frightening and sexy at the same time! Even more amazing was that he is only 5'9 or so, and he had to wear stilts, also that he was in his late 30s when he took on this role, and I am glad he did. I felt as though I was in a different world when I saw this movie. The supporting actors David Bennent and Alice Playten offered solid support. I also liked the script, a little inappropriate with the goblins perhaps, but not that bad. The outstanding music score by Jerry Goldsmith is without doubt one of his finest and most underrated works. This was evident in the dress scene, Lilli's song, the final underwater scene and the very end. Magical! I liked the American version, but I much prefer the version I have on DVD, the European version, somehow I like less the score by Tangerine Dream . One definite thing that I liked about the American version was Darkness's "Mother Night" speech, in the European version he is a lot more mysterious. When this is on TV, it always shows the American version, but my personal opinion is that the European version is better (this is the one I have on DVD). If you are a fantasy fan, watch this movie, and either version. It is just beautiful, and definitely under-appreciated! 8/10. Bethany Cox

Legend is director Ridley Scott's attempt at 80's style fantasy, starring Ferris Bueller's Mia Sara as Princess Lili and as her love interest a pre-Top Gun Tom Cruise as forest dweller Jack. In a convoluted series of events, Jack takes Lili to see some sacred unicorns - which he shouldn't for some reason – and then she proceeds to touch one – which she shouldn't for some reason. This turn of events leads minions of the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry, in top form) to chop off the stallion's horn – an item of coveted power – and kidnap Princess Lili, both to be brought before Darkness in a master plan to bring eternal night to the world. Now the 'heroic' Jack, aided by his misfit band of elves and dwarfs, must rescue the princess and save the world from its inevitable pitch-black doom. The massive problem with this movie, and there are copious issues, is the fact that it takes so much pleasure in being so damn dark that there's minimal fun to be had – a crucial element of fantasy. Take similar genre films from the time – Labyrinth had the music, Willow and Princess Bride had charm and characterisation, and the one thing that they all shared was a sense of wonder. Legend is too dark and scary for children yet the plot and pacing is too juvenile for adults. Which leads me to the plot – or lack thereof it would seem. We have some basic thematic elements such as good versus evil and all that crap, but it's amazing that with such a simplistic storyline that nothing that is happening on screen is ever really clear, instead it seems to rush through the motions of the plot without focus. This is partly due to the fact that these characters are just so damn one-dimensional that we as an audience simply don't care. The acting by the leads is really appalling. Mia Sara is just plain terrible with an accent that slips in and out constantly, and it's amazing that the fledgling superstar career of Tom Cruise was not affected by this. The major, and dare I say only, highlight of Legend comes in the form of the Lord of Darkness. Tim Curry is super intimidating as the red-skinned demon, delivering an awesome performance with a really fantastic makeup job to boot – Darkness is one of the greatest and most iconic villains in cinematic history. I do also need to point out the elf Honeythorn Gump, played by David Bennett – I was constantly creeped out by the fact he looks like a tween Anthony Hopkins, running around in a loincloth. I understand that this was a troubled production – the sets located on the legendary Pinewood Studios were completely lost in fire and replacement sets were thrown together at the eleventh hour – but it doesn't really excuse this abortion of a film. Although Ridley Scott has made some masterpieces (Blade Runner, Alien) his track record of films such as this make me sceptical of his revered status in the film community. And I am also aware of multiple versions of this movie existing as well. The one that I have viewed does not seem to be the patented Ridley Scott director's cut, but a 90 minute offering with a score supplied by composer Jerry Goldsmith – the original European release if I'm not mistaken. The Lord of Darkness alone cannot save this heaping pile of unicorn crap from being one of the lamest and boring films of the genre. Legend = 100% ironic title.

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.