Movie Review: Legend

Starring:
Tom Cruise, Tim Curry, Mia Sara, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert, Peter O’Farrell, Anabelle Lanyon, Kiran Shah, Robert Picardo

Director:
Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator)

MPAA Rating:
PG

Release Date:
April 18, 1986

Synopsis:
Princess Lily upsets the cosmic balance of light and darkness, and freezes the beautiful land after touching a unicorn. Jack, her beloved friend and forest-dweller, must now stop the Lord of Darkness from achieving eternal dark and cold in the world, as well as from marrying his love, Lily.

My Two Cents:
If you didn’t watch this movie when you were a kid, and would only now see it for the first time as adult, you’re probably going to think this is a really weird movie to watch. And you may be in for quite a shock that this is a Ridley Scott movie. After he directed Alien and Blade Runner, but before he directed Gladiator and Hannibal, he directed Legend.

But this movie does have its fan and appreciators, and a lot of that is probably due to nostalgia. A lot of current fans probably did watch this when they were younger, and it just stays with them (Labyrinth has had a similar effect on a lot of people).

So you may wonder, especially given by the brief synopsis, why would Ridley Scott make this movie?? This is the man who gave us the masterpiece that is Alien, as well as Blade Runner. Well, he was actually inspired by a rendition of Beauty and the Beast, originally. Also, Scott has commented that there is something about the movie that seems and feels operatic, and that has occurred to me, too. It seems he also did want to just make a fairy tale type of movie, and specifically notes that he was inspired by old time Christmas cards; you know the kind I mean, with painted art work.

So anyway, this doesn’t necessarily feel like a ‘kids’ movie’, but it does have the kind of bizarre look and feelings that kids often like to see in movies. And again, if you have never seen this before, if you were to watch it as an adult, it’s going to feel weird, and you may actually hate it.

It’s not a really ‘bad’ movie, but... well, it’s just... I don’t know what else to say except that it feels weird at first. It even has... a couple of singing moments in it; Lily and Jack like to sing to each other. And you know, a lot of people also don’t like... fairy people. If that’s the case, well, almost everyone is some kind of fairy-type person, so just be warned.

Tim Curry is absolutely disturbing as the Lord of Darkness. But in a good way, not in a bad way, like when he played Pennywise... Yeah, I think Tim Curry essentially playing Lucifer is NOT as frightening as him playing a clown. I am dead serious.

Anyway, so yes, the Lord of Darkness (who has no other name given, if he even has one) is clearly supposed to be a Lucifer/Devil figure. He sure looks like one, with those HUGE horns, and hooves. I’d call him the highlight of the movie, because Curry does it so well. His own voice is even perfect for the part, and his laughter, while... kind of funny, is still very fitting, and evil. Apart from Pennywise, this is the role Curry is best known for, I think.

It isn’t explained in the movie why exactly touching a unicorn upsets the cosmic balance, but Scott indicates unicorns are basically divine, godly creatures. But still... just touching one can screw up the universe? Weird. Anyway, the Lord of Darkness takes the horn from one unicorn, who dies by the way, and then needs the other, last unicorn as a sacrifice so he can shroud the world in forever frozen darkness. Sunlight kills him, too, making him quite literally a creature of the night. So having a dark world is the only way he could really thrive.

The Lord of Darkness also begins to fall in love with Princess Lily; or is it not really love, and really just plain desire, since that’s what he essentially represents? Jack and Lily clearly love. They love each other, and the love life, and the forest. But can someone with the title of Lord of Darkness, who only gives in to all his greed and desires, actually love at all? Hmmm... I guess the audience decides that one.



Lily is the figure who becomes corrupted by Darkness in this movie, and her first act was touching the unicorn, of course, which Jack forbade her from doing. Once Lily reaches Darkness’s lair, she becomes even more corrupted and evil, and even gets to wear a wicked black dress. And she wants to kill the last unicorn. Wow, that was a big change of heart and personality in such a short time... Scott has also revealed that originally, he was going to have Lily turn into a giant cat-woman... yeah. Well, that sure would have made this movie weirder. But it also would have still been better than Warner Bros.’s Catwoman. *shudder*

By the way, what and who exactly was Lily the Princess of, anyway? You don’t see anywhere else to live except the forest, and one house. ONE house, in the whole forest. Or anywhere.

Even though it was Lily who first touched the unicorn, Blix is a goblin sent by the Lord of Darkness (and the most evil and vile goblin, according to Darkness’s description) to kill the unicorn and take its horn. Blix will probably remind you of goblins from The Lord of the Rings, only smaller. In fact, I was dead sure at first that that the same person played Blix and one of the Mordor goblins in The Return of the King. But it seems that’s not actually the case. They just look a lot alike.

Jack, played by Tom Cruise (Mmm-hmmm), must play the hero, and he has never done such a thing before, given that he lived a quiet, peaceful and happy life in the forest. Luckily, he has a tiny fairy with him, like Tinkerbelle, or Navi in some of the Zelda games. She’s extremely useful because she says she can be anything Jack needs or wants... even ‘what [his] heart desires’. Yes. I think this fairy was trying to... pick up Jack, despite the fact that he is clearly in love with Lily, and wants to marry her. Lily might not be the only corrupt one in this movie...

Jack is aided by some other fairy-type folks, although 3 of them are more like dwarves. The last one, still a ‘little person’, but not a dwarf, is Gump. Yes, that is his name. Only this Gump ain’t a retarded Southerner with a heart of gold. He actually reminds me, in appearance, of Mr. Tumnus from Narnia... But whatever he is, he indicates that he’s near omniscient, and basically leads Jack on his quest to stop the Lord of Darkness. Even though he looks like a kid (because he was played by a kid), he’s basically Jack’s mentor as well as geographical guide, and seems to know what to do, most of the time. That’s good for Jack, who doesn’t have a clue, as he’s just so innocent.

They travel through the frozen forest, and into a swamp, which was not frozen, for some reason... Maybe because it was too evil already. Here they encounter a green, nasty, haggered witch, who is also apparently naked. Her face is actually quite creepy, and probably something that Guillermo del Toro would appreciate and-- oh my Lord, did I just see a green, old witch boob??? DISGUSTING. Let’s move away from the witch.

So the other dwarf people that travel with Jack don’t really do much except bumble around. They’re kind of comic relief, but otherwise don’t have much of a purpose in being there. Gump just brought them with him for some reason.

So the movie is basically about succumbing to desire, and evil, and the dichotomy of good and evil, light and darkness; shadow is always cast from light, etc. I don’t think it will be surprising to reveal that Jack does defeat the Lord of Darkness, and when Darkness is cast back into the mirror he came from (yeah, I...know...but you can figure out some kind of symbolism here), he says that he won’t truly be gone because he lives inside everyone, and is a part of everyone. It’s not hard to figure out what he means by this. You get it. Fair enough.

As for whether or not Jack gets to marry Lily or not, well... I guess the audience gets to decide that as well. Before the land freezes, she took her ring and threw it into a lake, and told Jack she would marry whoever found it. Well, naturally Jack wanted to find it. He lost it, though, but finds it after the land returns to normal and presents it to Lily. But it still isn’t clear if they get married or not. Lily just says she’ll come back tomorrow; she only remembers the previous events as a dream.

The movie has a lot of very pretty imagery. The forest Jack lives in is... quite gorgeous. You honestly have probably never seen a forest look this good in any movie before, and certainly not in real life. ‘This is such stuff as dreams are made of’ indeed. It does seem to have a problem with pollen, or petals or something, falling down on you all the time... but otherwise, it’s really beautiful. There are also a lot of really great uses of lighting, and shadow. I also really loved how the frozen-over house in the forest looked when Lily goes to hide in there. It was... pretty creepy. In fact, it really made me think, this really feels like a nightmare.



Scott has also noted that the movie would have been more convenient, in many ways, if it had been made in the days of CGI, and many of the things they did would have been CGI today, or even 10 years ago. But this movie really does so very well without such effects, and you can appreciate that, too. Yes, here’s another example of how people made movies using practical effects, and still look good.

I watched the director’s cut of the movie, which has the original score by Jerry Goldsmith, who worked with Scott on Alien. As always, his score is great and beautiful. The theatrical cut, however, has all original music by Tangerine Dream, for some reason. I’m not sure if this was Scott’s decision or not; he expresses that he loves Goldsmith’s score, and well, if the director’s cut is his preferred print, then I assume he wanted to keep Goldsmith’s music. Hmmm...

It’s a little hard for me to say how much I actually liked this movie. I did first see it many, many yonks ago, as a young’un, and I had forgotten almost everything, except what Curry looks like as the Lord of Darkness. As I said before, looking at it now, for the first time in many years, as an adult... it does feel differently than you would if you watched it as a kid. It seemed... very strange at first, when I first began to watch it, but then I ‘got used to it’, and it didn’t seem that odd anymore. The initial feeling of weirdness was gone as the movie progressed.

I still find it hard to believe this is a Ridley Scott movie... at least he tried something different, and I can understand some of the motivation and drive to make a movie like this. He wanted to make an operatic fairy tale, and I understand that, and why you might want to make one. However, it’s because of that very concept that a lot of people would probably really not like, and even hate, this movie; even if it is a Ridley Scott movie. It’s not a ‘bad’ movie, but it won’t be for everyone either; an acquired taste, maybe? Maybe you like it more if you watch it a few more times, but this isn’t really the kind of universal movie that a ton of people will want to watch several times.

A lot of people don’t care for Tom Cruise, especially now in his weird Scientology days. However, don’t watch this movie for Cruise. Watch it see something different; and to see Tim Curry in his other frightening, signature role. I probably wouldn’t have really little kids watch it, but it’s a decent enough family movie. I say check it out if you get the chance, and if this is a Ridley Scott movie you haven’t seen yet, well, take a look at something really different that he’s done in his career. You may hate it, you may love it. But it’s... something else, that’s for sure.