legend

a couple nights ago the guys and i, at rexs request, rented the movie 'legend'. its a ridley scott film starring tom cruise, tim curry, and that one girl from ferris beuller. i remember seeing small bits and pieces of the movie on cable in the past, but rex was adamant that we needed to watch it. i wasnt very excited for it, i figured it was going to be another clunker like ive been suckered into before.

jeffry lee and i went to go get it anyway and we watched it when rex arrived. and to be totally honest with you, i was quite impressed! its very fantasy-like, kind of along the lines of labyrinth, except with out the muppets. the premise is that there are two unicorns alive and they are the most magical beings in the world. if they die then the evil will defeat the good. tim curry as the bad guy with ridiculously large horns, intends to do just that. as he does that he also kidnaps the princess and forces her to marry him. cruise, the love interest, doesnt like that idea, so he goes off to save her and the unicorns. cheesy, i know, but the visuals are just amazing.

if you are even a little bit familiar with any of ridley scotts work, then you know that he has a penchant for having stuff falling in the air around his characters, often in slow motion. in gladiator it was sand and ash, black hawk down it was debris, kingdom of heaven it was sand and fire. well, it would seem that this is the movie where he was able to hown that skill. about 90% of the movie has stuff falling around in the air! he even gets creative- he uses snow, leaves, dandelion seed, flower pedals, and even bubbles! i wasnt even annoyed, i was impressed! though he has these signature flourishes, i must admit it looked amazing! the costumes and makeup looked perfectly believable.

the problem was the story. it flowed well, each step was a (kind of) logical one, but the editing and cutting were choppy and hard to follow. it was hard at times to understand what was going on. we watched 'the directors cut', but rex had seen another version and told us some of the stuff that was in it, and it sounded like some of the things this one would have benefited from. over all, a decent story thats lovely to look at.