Synopsis: 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.
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Legend : The Director’s Cut 3.5
Sigh… what kind of drugs was Ridley Scott on when he made this movie?
‘Legend’ is so badly put together it’s beyond words! Even the editing is horrible: there are many scenes when characters are talking with their backs turned to the camera. And this for extended periods of time. Sometimes you can even see them talk but no dialogue can be heard.
The opulence of the sets fails to make one forget that they are nothing more than… sets. Here is a case of “more is less”: give us less of this crap and more quality pieces. It’s as if they spread their budget over too many things, instead of focusing it on a few credible bits (I mean… Jiminy Cricket, even the unicorns’ horns wobbled!).
As for the acting… it was wooden at best. Tom Cruise, who wanders mindlessly through a really fine deer-in-headlights performance, actually fared okay compared to some of the low-grade “thespians” featured here. The disguises couldn’t mask their ineptitude. And the masks weren’t very good.
Truly, this is fantasy adventure schlock just the way I hate it: hokey and incoherent. It gives a bad name to the genre – and that says a lot, when you consider the average quality of fantasy adventures. If I hadn’t paid 5$ to buy the darned thing, I would have stopped well before the halfway point to watch something -anything- else.
…maybe even ‘G.I. Joe’… or ‘My Little Pony’ 
This movie is a frank mess – and it’s the director’s cut, for crying out loud. I can only imagine what the theatrical edition, which was lopped together in desperation (no joke!), looks like. Eek! 
thecriticaleye 
Haha… “Sigh… what kind of drugs was Ridley Scott on when he made this movie?”
Anyway, yes, this film is laughable and silly. I even reviewed it before (http://patdanbow.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/legend-1985/)
Both versions (theatrical, director’s) were edited from a 150-minute cut, so that may explain the film’s incoherency. But Tim Curry is a scene-stealing villain, and that Jerry Goldsmith score is magnificent.
Guess I’m kind of biased towards cheesy fantasy flicks from the 1980s. There were a lot of them back then.
Ha! I went back to both of my blurbs and it looks like I preferred the even more truncated American release! 😛 Sigh… I remember how pained I was watching this film. Unless they find a 150-mins edit somewhere and that it’s leaps beyond these, I highly doubt I’ll revisit it again.
So what are some of your favourite fantasy films? Perhaps I could check a few of them out… 🙂
“Fire and Ice” (1983) is a laughably bad animated fantasy film.
“The Thief of Bagdad” (1924) and (1940) versions are both great, although I like the latter more.
Pretty much a fan of most of Hayao Miyazaki’s famous works. My favorite are “Spirited Away,” “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind,” “Princess Mononoke,” and “Castle in the Sky.”
Nice! I have ‘Fire and Ice’ but haven’t watched it yet. It may be a long while before I get to it, but I had heard that the animation was pretty decent (don’t worry: I tapered my expectations about the script and voice acting ;).
I also have a whack load of Miyazaki films. I’m a definite fan. My favourites (so far – I haven’t seen them all yet) are ‘Spirited Away’ and ‘Castle in the Sky’. Phenomenal stuff. The first I ever saw was ‘Spirited Away’ and it left me wanting. I need to give it another shot at some point.
I don’t have ‘Thief of Bagdad’, but the library has the 1940 version so I just requested it. Thanks for the tip! 🙂
I’ve watched the American version of Legend twice. Still can’t quite like it better 🙂
I totally understand. For me, it’s likely just a matter of it hurting me for 20 minutes less than the other cut 😛