{"id":21859,"date":"2012-01-06T00:29:04","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T07:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=21859"},"modified":"2021-02-02T18:11:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T01:11:03","slug":"legend-1985","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=21859","title":{"rendered":"Legend (1985)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;As long as unicorns rule the earth, evil can never come to the pure of heart.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[<strong>Note:<\/strong> The following review is of a non-Peary title; click <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?page_id=4388\">here<\/a> to read more.]<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Poster-200x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-21864\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Poster-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Poster-85x128.png 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Poster-682x1024.png 682w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Poster.png 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA young forest dweller (Tom Cruise) shows the girl he loves (Mia Sara) where the world&#8217;s last unicorns are, accidentally unleashing a battle with the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Coming-of-Age<\/li>\n<li>Fantasy<\/li>\n<li>Ridley Scott Films<\/li>\n<li>Tom Cruise Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nI hesitated for quite a while before deciding to designate Ridley Scott&#8217;s <em>Legend<\/em> a Missing Title from Peary&#8217;s book. It isn&#8217;t all that compelling a movie, but its status as a cult favorite (probably not evident yet to Peary back in 1986) is now clear &#8212; and its truly impressive, other-worldly special effects finally convinced me that it&#8217;s earned a certain niche in cinematic history. The brief synopsis given above just about covers the gestalt of the extremely basic hero-myth storyline: Cruise loves Sara, who opens a Pandora&#8217;s Box of evils when she can&#8217;t resist wanting to touch a unicorn, thus allowing the minions of the Lord of Darkness access to said unicorns, and setting in motion a battle between good-and-evil, with Sara as the romantic pawn (Curry wants her for his evil bride). Will Cruise come to the rescue, with the help of his fairy\/elven friends? What do you think?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Love.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Love-1024x435.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"272\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-68168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Love-1024x435.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Love-300x127.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Love-128x54.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Love-768x326.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Love-1536x653.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Love-604x257.png 604w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Love.png 1819w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This film, however, is all about the magical universe it presents &#8212; and to that end, it&#8217;s hard not to be impressed. Twenty years before the emergence of Peter Jackson&#8217;s (clearly superior) <em>Lord of the Rings<\/em> trilogy, Scott and his team crafted a remarkably haunting mystical landscape which Richard Scheib of the <a href=\"http:\/\/moria.co.nz\/fantasy\/legend.htm\">Moria review site<\/a> refers to as &#8220;sumptuously textural&#8221; and &#8220;achingly beautiful&#8221;; filled with eerily &#8220;realistic&#8221; creatures, including elves and fairies and Tim Curry&#8217;s horrifically gruesome Lord of Darkness (those horns!). Scheib, a clear fan of the film, calls the movie (which was lambasted by most mainstream critics) an &#8220;extraordinary synthesis of production design, cinematography, editing and effects&#8221; &#8212; and it&#8217;s actually hard to disagree with this specific assessment, given that he doesn&#8217;t try to make any claims about the narrative. Regarding the performances, Cruise isn&#8217;t all that memorable, but Sara is lovely and fine in her screen debut (she&#8217;s perhaps best known for playing <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5645\">Ferris Bueller&#8217;s girlfriend<\/a> the following year), and Curry&#8217;s performance is a stand-out. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> In 2002, <em>Legend<\/em> was released on DVD in two different versions: the original, shorter, American theatrical release (with a synthesized score by Tangerine Dream), and the longer director&#8217;s cut (with a score by Jerry Goldsmith). I watched the original &#8212; trying to remain faithful to the version Peary might\/would have seen around the time he was writing <em>GFTFF<\/em> &#8212; and loved the score, but took a brief look at the other version and liked Goldsmith&#8217;s score just as well, in a different way. In my opinion, the &#8220;score&#8221; (ha) is ultimately even between the two. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tim Curry as the Lord of Darkness<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Curry.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Curry.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"838\" height=\"368\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-68164\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Curry.png 838w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Curry-300x132.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Curry-128x56.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Curry-768x337.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Curry-604x265.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 838px) 100vw, 838px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Mia Sara as Lili<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Sara.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Sara.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"836\" height=\"361\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-68159\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Sara.png 836w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Sara-300x130.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Sara-128x55.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Sara-768x332.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Sara-604x261.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 836px) 100vw, 836px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Rob Bottin&#8217;s astonishingly effective make-up design<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Makeup2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Makeup2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"841\" height=\"359\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-68166\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Makeup2.png 841w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Makeup2-300x128.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Makeup2-128x55.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Makeup2-768x328.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Makeup2-604x258.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 841px) 100vw, 841px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ethereal cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"837\" height=\"356\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-68161\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography.png 837w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography-300x128.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography-128x54.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography-768x327.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography-604x257.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 837px) 100vw, 837px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"834\" height=\"356\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-68162\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography2.png 834w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography2-300x128.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography2-128x55.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography2-768x328.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Cinematography2-604x258.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 834px) 100vw, 834px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Magical special effects<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Unicorns.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Unicorns.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"835\" height=\"365\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-68160\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Unicorns.png 835w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Unicorns-300x131.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Unicorns-128x56.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Unicorns-768x336.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Legend-Unicorns-604x264.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 835px) 100vw, 835px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a cult movie with truly impressive make-up and effects. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0089469\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1986\/04\/18\/movies\/the-screen-ridley-scott-s-legend.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/legend-1986\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.qnetwork.com\/index.php?page=review&#038;id=926\">Q Network Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/moria.co.nz\/fantasy\/legend.htm\">SF, Fantasy, and Horror Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/reviews\/80266\/legend.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;As long as unicorns rule the earth, evil can never come to the pure of heart.&#8221; [Note: The following review is of a non-Peary title; click here to read more.] Synopsis: A young forest dweller (Tom Cruise) shows the girl he loves (Mia Sara) where the world&#8217;s last unicorns are, accidentally unleashing a battle with the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Coming-of-Age Fantasy Ridley Scott Films Tom Cruise Films Review: I hesitated for quite a&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=21859\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-missing-title-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21859"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68169,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21859\/revisions\/68169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}