Legend

Starring: Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Kiran Shah
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Rating: PG
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
1986

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A young forest dweller (Tom Cruise) must fight against the forces of darkness to save his world.

Review:

Tim: I have to say, I really wasn't a big fan of Legend. The movie certainly has some talent behind it, but it just didn't work for me. The film was short, but I struggled to stay focused on the events nearly from the beginning. I didn't find the characters compelling at all and I was a bit confused on the whole point of it all. Why should I care about these characters or what happened to their homeland? Truly, this movie was ineffective.

I know this movie is a product of its time, but even by the mid-80s standard, the film felt weak to me. The plot was pretty generic- a boy tries to save a princess from a demon/monster. There's some magic involved, a couple of unicorns, some goblins. It's certainly a "dark" fairy tale, but a boring one. It felt like far too many scenes went on for an excruciating period of time. Like, we see two unicorns frolicking through the forest. I get it, move on. The pacing felt totally off to me. I continually wanted more of a sense of movement. Even though the film is short, not a whole lot happens. Scenes take way too long to end. That is perhaps the biggest complaint I had. It makes the movie dull and I spent most of the film being bored.

Tom Cruise is fun to watch in an early career role, but his performance isn't very memorable. He was obviously still feeling out his craft. Mia Sara was okay, but had a number of scenes where her acting felt suspect. We spend a lot of time with these two and they weren't the best on screen.

Now, I do want to spend some time talking about the best part of this movie. That would undoubtedly be Tim Curry's Darkness. He is unrecognizable in the role, but is truly outstanding. His performance is incredible- it's chilling and unforgettable. He is helped by some stunning makeup to transform him into this evil devil. I was blown away by the visuals here. Truly, they were terrifying. It wasn't a surprise that this film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup. The movie might have been rotten, but Darkness looks absolutely stunning. It was far and away the highlight of the film. I wish he had more screen time. I know I'm going on about this, but I cannot describe appropriately how great this aspect of the film was.

I know this movie was a bit of a failure upon its initial release, but has since gained a cult following. I have to admit I'm pretty surprised by this. I think the original viewers were right- this movie really isn't worth our time or attention. The plot felt confusing and messy. The film might have lavish set designs, but the story and characters are just a mess. Darkness is stunning as a character, but he's confined to the very end of the film. This movie gets most of its strengths from Curry and the makeup- it's worth seeing for those reasons. Outside of that, there's very little to like about Legend.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Willow, Labyrinth