Well, here I am, part four of my journey into science fiction. In case you haven’t read this before then I will explain it a little more. I am just reviewing films that have all got a connection somehow. The reason I am reviewing Legend is that of Ridley Scott who directed my last review, Blade Runner. You can find out why on my main page where there is a link to the previous posts. I had no idea he directed Legend it I’m totally honest, it just doesn’t seem to fit in with his other work. Why I am still being honest; I will admit this is more fantasy than science fiction but when the chance presented itself to watch it, well I got a bit excited. Well, it’s time to see if the Legend still lives on.
Darkness Tim Curry seeks to create an eternal night by destroying the last of the Unicorns. Jack Tom Cruise and his friends do everything possible to save the World and Princess Mia Sara from the hands of Darkness. Enter a World of Unicorns, Magic Swamps, Dwarfs, and Rainbows. I did not enjoy this film. I don’t like saying that very often as I can see how much passion actually went into making it. I will go over a few things I did enjoy and some of the things I didn’t. One of the great strengths of this film is the production design, Assheton Gorton actually built the forest on a Pinewood Studios 007 soundstage. They actually used a mixture of real plants and birds to make it feel real. Okay, you could say this film may look a little dated today but in 1895 it must have been groundbreaking. Rob Bottin was in charge of makeup and again helped create something amazing. You only have to look at Darkness to appreciate this and it helped make this world almost believable. I think it’s the pacing I don’t like and apart from about 20 minutes in the middle of the film it all felt a bit confusing. I didn’t like the singing and it felt like a music video starring Enya for about an hour. I’m thinking light bulbs must have been at a rock-bottom price in 1985 as they must have used about 4 million of them, no wonder the soundstage burnt down. Oh yeah, about that! apparently, the soundstage caught fire due to the heat and some gas bottles, those real birds I mentioned earlier flew out of the building once the fire started and alerted the security guard.
I feel the story would have been better as a book than a film. I feel the film is trying to fill in every gap, but with a book, you can let your imagination fill in a lot of those parts. It’s all just too complicated in my personal opinion. I can definitely see how it could hold some special memories for someone who watched this film for the first time in 1985 though, there are many iconic images I remember and I hadn’t even watched it. It’s just not really something I enjoyed but that’s what this journey is about for me, to recognise things that I think work or not.
So where does this film take me next? There were three different options I had in mind. The first one was John Carpenters, The Thing because of Assheton Gorton who worked on that film as well. Next was Timecop which starred Mia Sara but her singing in Legend all but killed that review off. And the Winner is Star Trek First Contact and this is because Roberto Picardo starred in both Legend as Meg Mucklebones and Star Trek Voyager and First Contact as the Emergency Medical Hologram. On that note “Beam me up, Scotty“
Did you watch Legend in 1985 or later? Have I got my review of the film wrong in your opinion? Well leave me a comment or like below. Come back next time to find out what I thought about Star Trek First Contact and thanks for reading.
Who’s more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him? 