Old school fairy tale, with princess, elves, fairies, dwarfs, unicorns, goblins and, of course, prince of darkness. I'm not one of those who think that fairy tales are for children only, moreover I like them very much. But this one is really just for kids. It's beautifully done, with, for its time, stunning visuals, nice soundtrack and good acting (as good as possible considering Tom Cruise in leading role), but, targeting mainly children, story is too linear and predictable and whole movie is too restrained for my taste. The strongest impression on me left makeup of fairy tale creatures, especially Tim Curry as Darkness. For these masks, this movie deserved the Oscar, not only the nomination.7/10

Most people who remember this movie remember it only as the sort of thing that they enjoyed as a child but might not want to revisit. I urge them to do so. I also urge fantasy fans who haven't seen this film to check it out. The director's cut is the superior version, containing as it does more character development and some smarter editing choices, but the theatrical version is not without its merits, containing a charming Tangerine Dream score that is fine on its own terms, but arguably dates the film.The visuals in this film are spectacular. Everything from the set design to the makeup effects vividly evoke a world quite unlike our own. The story involves a forest boy who falls in love with a princess, unicorns, and a villain who knows that good and evil are inextricably linked. Here and there, the pacing flags. Some parts of it are a bit dreary. Tom Cruise (as the forest boy) brings a youthful energy to his performance that his later work lacked, and Mia Sara (as the princess) is suitably naive, yet tough and clever at the same time. Tim Curry, as he often does, steals the show as Darkness, bringing a physicality and richness to a character that easily could have become one-note.Watch this film if you want to experience something challenging and unexpected. I didn't much like it when I watched (most of) it as a child, yet I revisited it as an adult and liked it a lot more. To me, this says that the film is far smarter than your average fairy tale. Not all of it works, but the stuff that does far outweighs what doesn't. Give it a shot. It's one of a kind.

There are two different versions of Legend, the theatrical cut most commonly seen on pay tv, and the director's cut which is exclusive to bluray and dvd. When Legend first came out in 1986, it was a box office dud just like Ridley Scott's previous flop, Blade Runner, yet both movies became cult classics. This was Mia Sara's first movie, released months before Ferris Bueller's Day Off put her on top. Tim Curry plays Darkness while Tom Cruise is the hero. The visual effects are pretty good for a 1980's fantasy film and the soundtrack by Tangerine Dream is so dreamy. For the director's cut, the score from Jerry Goldsmith is used. On the ultimate edition there's ton of extras.

After finishing Blade Runner, I guess Ridley Scott decided "What if I did an ultra-pretentious fantasy movie...and use that unicorn from Blade Runner that left people guessing!". So here it is, Legend, the movie that is in no way legendary and in no way as good as Blade Runner. In fact, it's pretty awful.Tom Cruise plays Jack, a forest dweller who takes his girlfriend, a princess, to see unicorns. She touches a unicorn, taints it, and suddenly the world is spiraling out of control at the Lord of Darkness (Tim Currey) attempts to kill the last unicorn and never have the sun rise again.All the Ridley Scott trademarks are here and, if I can commend the movie on anything, it's the cinematography. But it's otherwise a very lackluster movie as far as being pretentious goes. Seriously, people love this movie for being so mysterious but the bright white unicorns opposing the devils is pretty solid, easy to understand symbolism. The light and dark thing is also pretty simple. There's none of the origami or anything that made Blade Runner a thinking person's movie, it's just an example of a dumb fantasy movie (which the 80's produced quite a few of).On top of the failed attempt at pretentiousness is the unmemorable characters, the boring performances, and, to top it all off, the awful action sequences. Tom Cruise obviously does no stunt work here as the action scenes be sure to cut Jack's face from the frame.Legend is better than Scott's G.I Jane but it's not at all a good movie. Some like to say it's adult fantasy but I could see a child watching this and getting the gist of it. Save the forest, light and dark coexist, yin yang, all that.Legend sucks.