These were the only serious reviews I have in the collection. All my movie reviews were mainly published between the years 2001 and 2006.
Legend (Director's Cut): The Review
The movie "Legend" could very easily have been a Grimm's Fairy Tale but Ridley Scott made it something very special. He used only raw elements of fantasy and went from there. The making of Legend used a massive studio that was literally turned into a forest with animals and soft sunlight. A Medieval indoor zoo. The original story was longer and at the last minute was edited down due to the production company's demands to make it more marketable with a shorter theatrical version. Scott also had to scrap Jerry Goldsmith's soundtrack behind it and in a bind, got Tangerine Dream to put the music in. While Tangerine Dream's soundtrack was very enjoyable and not bad at all, still the Jerry Goldsmith production was sorely missing from the element that made the Director's Cut of Legend a masterpiece.
After viewing both the Director's Cut and the Theatrical Version, I must say that it's hard to really say which one is my favorite since both are very good. The longer version; the Director's Cut is in many ways better. Anything where the actors are singing in the movie is always a major plus. This film seemed more natural with the songs in telling of this type of fantasy. Characters singing to each other like that, and why Eowyn singing in The Two Towers, the hobbits singing in Fellowship of the Ring and Aragorn and Pippin singing in The Return of the King is an element here bringing new depths to the story, and one of the most enchanting. Ask any Xena fan what episodes are their favorites and The Bitter Suite will definitely be in the top five. The songs flow inside the very story. And Legend is no exception.
In Legend the beauty of Lily's songs is hard to be described as she sings to the unicorns. Whereas in the Theatrical Version, she merely goes up to meet them and there's nothing more than her quiet expressions. The scene builds the rest of the story and it flows in every way. The direction is flawless and the story actually seems more detailed because of this one scene when she sings. It entails the core of the myth and it carries it on.
"As far as I'm concerned, we had an amazing piece of work, and then we were told to make LEGEND much shorter. It lost something and the audience will never know what that was." -Terry Rawlings
"I think the real victim is the picture. The entire concept of the film has been totally changed." -Jerry Goldsmith
"It's not what was intended, but the final release seemed to take too much away from the original storyline." -William Hjortsberg
But the audience did know something was missing, now we know what it was.
The Two-Disc DVD of Legend is a Must Have for any fan of this movie or any fan of fantasy. I thoroughly recommend it.
For more info, check out this Link.
The Cast
Jack. . . . . . . .TOM CRUISE
Lily . . . . . . . MIA SARA
Darkness . . . . . TIM CURRY
Gump. . . . . . . .DAVID BENNENT
Blix. . . . . . . .ALICE PLAYTEN
Screwball . . . . BILLY BARTY
Brown Tom. . . . . CORK HUBBERT
Pox. . . . . . . . PETER O'FARRELL
Blunder. . . . . . KIRAN SHAH
Oona. . . . . . . .ANNABELLE LANYON
Meg Mucklebones. . ROBERT PICARDO
Nell . . . . . . . TINA MARTIN
Demon Cooks . . . .IAN LONGMUIR & MIKE CUNE
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Helen of Troy: The Review
I recommend this as a very good production and it did possess a very fine soundtrack that deepened the tone of the Greek tragedy and brought it so much mystic and feeling.
Although it never explains why Theseus kidnapped Helen, who was the King of Athens, some time before Paris kidnapped her, it stays on par with the legend of Helen.
It also doesn't mention that Helen was actually the Queen of Sparta. It just tells of a young girl unhappy with her situation. The script tries to explain the "vow" that all these kings and warriors took to avenge Helen (as her would-be suitors) and that was something that mystified me about this film because it doesn't explain why they made the vow other than a hell of a reason to go to war if Helen's chosen suitor was wronged, as goes the whole odyssey. Instead the telling here seems to suggest more of a marriage of convenience rather than the oppression that Homer alluded to.
But I found other parts of it very rushed, too. For example, in the last part when Clytemnestra kills her husband Agamemnon, he is still in Troy enjoying the spoils of war. Homer's tale of the account however, Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon when he returns to Greece with a kidnapped Cassandra and she kills them both. Cassandra's lot in this story never reveals of the connection with Apollo and the gods seem to be strangely absent which lessens the telling from the entire story. The only time the gods or goddesses appear is when Athena, Aphrodite and Hera appear to Paris with a request for him to choose who is fairest.
Cassandra's father is killed by Trojan soldiers but her sister Polyxena (Alexandra) is nowhere to be found, which was perplexing because there are accounts that had they come into the script, would have explained Cassandra's character and situation here better, but sadly that never materialized. Alas, it's the story of Helen and no doubt why all these other elements are gone missing. It was a well done production. The acting was good and directed and produced with loyalty to the Greek mythology.
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