From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jun 19 14:21:59 2002 Path: news.island.liu.se!news.ida.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news.kth.se!uio.no!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news-out.nuthinbutnews.com!propagator-sterling!news-in.nuthinbutnews.com!feed.textport.net!sn-xit-04!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Jerry Saravia Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Legend (1985) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 18:48:57 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 32071 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 728595 X-RT-TitleID: 1012164 X-RT-SourceID: 875 X-RT-AuthorID: 1314 X-RT-RatingText: 2/4 Summary: r.a.m.r. #32071 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 58 Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3894 rec.arts.sf.reviews:294 LEGEND (1985) Reviewed by Jerry Saravia RATING: Two stars June 16th, 2002 Like most Ridley Scott films, "Legend" is far and away one of the most beautifully crafted films in eons, but in terms of story, it is extremely hollow and that can spell danger for a fairy tale of this kind. Feeling like a compendium of fairy tales and magical tales like "The Lord of the Rings" and Grimm's stories, it offers much to be excited by but little to be moved or inspired by. "Legend" begins with Lil (Mia Sara), a young woman who represents innocence and who is deeply in love with Jack (Tom Cruise, in his first long-haired role), a forest dweller. They live in a land of innocence, and everything is in bright, beatific colors with the sun shining brightly everywhere. Lilies and flowers and tremendous trees fill the area. Unicorns run through the misty waters. Nothing could ever upset this idyllic view, but something inevitably does. There is the prince named the Lord of Darkness (Timn Curry) who wants to shut the sunlight from this land forever. He gets help from snickering, ugly creatures with big snot-noses to turn the cheery countryside into a land of gloom and doom. And the one code to live by in this world is to never kill a unicorn but the creatures successfully manage to do just that, causing storms and inclement weather to destroy the serenity. But this is not enough of a story to make a film of such beauty to work. We see fascinating creatures of every size and shape, we see the customary gnomes, fairies, elves, goblins, unicorns and so on, but little here stirs our imagination or involvement. The main human characters, Jack and Lil, are given little depth or any real emotions - they seem to be replicants from director Scott's own "Blade Runner." Whatever love story exists is lost since Cruise and Sara have no durable rapport. The special-effects and the dazzling cinematography take precedence over story and character development. It is a shame really because "Legend" has some bravura moments. I especially like how Lil approaches a unicorn in one scene, or the dance sequence where Lil is possessed into loving Darkness (a deleted scene from the European version). There is plenty to admire and Scott is effecient at creating a strange new world. Someday, he may put a little more effort into the people that inhabit such a world. Post any comments, thoughts or general complaints at http://moviething.com/members/movies/faust/forum.shtml or email me at Faust668@aol.com For more reviews, check out JERRY AT THE MOVIES at http://moviething.com/members/movies/faust/JATMindex.shtml ========== X-RAMR-ID: 32071 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 728595 X-RT-TitleID: 1012164 X-RT-SourceID: 875 X-RT-AuthorID: 1314 X-RT-RatingText: 2/4