Legend
Legend (1985)
Writer: William Hjortsberg
Cast: Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert, Peter O'Farrell, Kiran Shah, Annabelle Lanyon, Robert Picardo, Tina Martin
Synopsis:
In this modern fairy tale, the Lord of Darkness (Curry) plans to bring about eternal night upon the world by killing the last two unicorns. To this end, he sends a group of minions, led by the goblin Blixx (Playten) to set a trap for the creatures, who are only attracted by that which is pure and innocent. Blixx and company find young Princess Lily (Sara) who has come to the enchanted forest to visit her beloved, Jack (Cruise). Unaware of the danger lurking in the shadows, Jack takes Lily to see the unicorns which is when Blixx takes to opportunity to strike wounding one unicorn in the process and cutting off its horn. Blixx also manages to capture Lily, as well as the other unicorn, in the ensuing chaos. Lost and confused, Jack meets up with the elf Honeythorn Gump (Bennent) and his two companions Brown Tom (Hubbert), Screwball (Barty) and Oona (Lanyan) who are outraged that Jack would bring someone to see the unicorns, which is highly forbidden. Jack, Gump and company must travel to the Darkness' castle to retrieve the unicorn's horn, save Lily and rescue the remaining unicorn before the land is shrouded in eternal darkness.
First Impressions:
I was 10 years old when this film hit theaters and while it's very much something I would have enjoyed at the time, I wasn't really aware of its existence. I'm not sure the film was really marketed all that heavily back in the day. It doesn't matter anyway, because it was released during the height of the Satanic Panic and there's no way my mom would've let me watch it. So, it wasn't until my teens when I finally caught it on TV one afternoon. At that point, my interest in movies and cinema was starting to bloom and I really appreciated the visuals and the fairy story aesthetic of the film. It was one of those films that, if I saw it on TV, I would try to catch at least a bit it in between commercial breaks or something. In the early aughts, I found the 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD at my local Future Shop and decided to grab it. It's one of those movies that has always held a special place in my heart but it's not one I go back to that often (gee I say that a lot, I wonder if its because I own too many movies), but I'm excited to see how it holds up. Let's jump in.
Story/Direction:
"The dreams of youth are the regrets of maturity."
As I mentioned in a previous section, Legend is very much a modern fairy tale and the story is told very much with that sensibility in mind. Fairy tales are often, especially nowadays, passed off as merely kids material but back in the day they served a purpose. Much like the Western films of old, fairy tales were often complex morality plays and generally weren't suitable for children at all due to their frequent morbid and often frightening content. In fact, after this most recent viewing, I was a bit perturbed by the seemingly uneven tone of the film, much like my complaint with Willow. With both films, it just didn't seem like the filmmakers knew what audience they were catering to. However, after some contemplation, I don't think that was the issue with Legend at all and, in fact, I think that's exactly what Ridley Scott was going for. One of the key components of fairy tales is that they often seek to mislead their audience and I think that's what Scott was trying to do here. He mixed silly humor and often childish dialogue with very dark imagery (more on that later) to come up with a modern fairy tale that wouldn't be out of place among the very best of Grimm.
So, what was the over-arching theme of the film? There are a few sprinkled in there if you know where to look. Certainly, there's a bit of an environmental message in there and, of course, there's the good old light versus dark question (and by extension good versus evil) and whether one can exist without the other. However, the theme that resonated the most with me was one of growing up and coming of age. The story really revolves around Jack and Lily having to come to terms with the mistake they made and facing the consequences of their actions. In the case of Lily's story, it also combines well with the good versus evil theme and often how one wrong step can lead down dark path. Now that I think of it, Lily's story is not unlike that of Chris' from Platoon, in that she also has to decide which dog see's going to feed (if you're not sure what I'm talking about, go read the Platoon review...I'll wait). Meanwhile, Jack's story is a little more cut and dry, he's tasked with taking up arms to fix the problem he helped create, which again is a parallel with Platoon and other war movies because back in the day, many young men were thrust out of childhood by having to fight in war. This theme really hit home for me, and I'm not surprised I didn't catch in when I was younger. Now, as I'm fully enveloped in middle-age, I often think back to the halcyon days of my youth with equal measure of regret and nostalgia. This is one of the things that I love about writing this blog and about going back to these old movies, you sometime see things you didn't previously see and that's so cool.
Acting/Characters:
There are not a ton of speaking parts in Legend so I'm going to focus on the three primary roles, starting with that of Jack, played by Tom Cruise. While Cruise is a capable actor in certain roles, I think he was a it miscast as Jack. It's not as if he did a poor job in the role - it's just that cruise excels when he's playing affable, somewhat arrogant characters - and Jack is not that. He's better at increasing his range over the years but this early in his career, I don't think he quite knew what to do with the character. Plus, the fact that he's the only American in a cast that is entirely European kind of sticks out. Although, it was better he stuck with his natural accent, rather than try to attempt an accent he wasn't comfortable with.
Mia Sara, on the other hand, was well cast as Lily, I think. She starts off as this flighty rich girl, who's only focus is to enjoy them moment, without a care in the world. As the story progresses, she must confront the mistake she's made and fend off the advances of the Lord of Darkness to find her inner strength and you could view her as the real hero of the film. At any rate, while Lily's story takes a back seat to Jack's in the last two-thirds of the film, I find her journey to be a bit more interesting due to the internal struggle she must cope with.
Finally, let's talk about the man, Tim Curry as the film's protagonist who is simply referred to as Darkness. If you want to talk about good casting than this should be held up as a prime example. Curry's deep and sultry voice is juxtaposed nicely with his overall bestial appearance. It's fitting because he's basically playing the devil and while he's horrifying to look at, his voice is pleasant and inviting. It's such a good bit of casting and in the discussion of great all-time movie villains Curry often gets overlooked in this role.
Visuals/Action:
This is where the film really shines as it is an absolute feast for the eyes. The forest where the first act of the film takes place was built entirely on a sound stage but you wouldn't know it as there is pollen blowing in the wind (there's also wind) and bird flitting and chirping everywhere. It really is ripped right from the pages of a fairy tale. Ridley Scott has always been a very visual director and thing may be one of his best looking films.
I also have to give a shoutout to the out-of-this-world make-up effects for the film. In the days before CGI and Mo-Cap, make-up prosthetics was the only way to make a film like this and success or failure could often hinge on how well they looked. It was nominated for Best Make-up at that year's Academy Awards for good reason. The prosthetics work really made the world seem more real whether it was subtle, such as Gump's pointed ears or more noticeable like the swamp beast Meg Mucklebones. It really turns what otherwise would be a simple fairy tale into something both awe-inspiring and terrifying in equal measure.
Music:
This is a bit of a weird section in that Legend actually had two musical scores written for it. The European release (and director's cut) included a score written by the great Jerry Goldsmith, while the American Release had a score composed by the synth-pop group Tangerine Dream. The Tangerine Dream version is the one that I'm most familiar with as it's the one that was shown in Canada and on TV for years. However, for the purposes of this review, I watched the director's cut with the Goldsmith score. Oddly, while I'm a fan of Goldsmith's work, his score for the film didn't really stick out to me. It was fine and all that but it was just really unmemorable.
On the other hand, the Tangerine Dream score seemed to fit the action a bit more. Normally, I bristle when filmmakers try to tack on a modern (for the time) musical score to a story set in the past (see my review for Ladyhawke). However, one thing I've noticed about certain type of 80s music is that there is an ethereal quality to it that really fit with the visual sensibilities of certain films made during the era. I think this may be the case with Legend. Sure the synth score is a bit dated but it's certainly more memorable than the Goldsmith score and fits the surreal visuals of the film.
Final Verdict:
I've gained a new appreciation for this film. At face value, this is just a grimmer version of a kid's story, but if you peel back a few layers, there's more depth here than what you see on the surface. Give it a watch if you're in the mood for a fantasy flick or if you're a fan of Ridley Scott and want to check out one of his lesser-known early films.
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