Watched Directors Cut of Legend Last Night Did I Miss Something? (1 Viewer)

[Kelley_B]

Me and my fiance watched the directors cut of Legend last night and boy were we both DISAPPOINTED. So many people here have hyped that Jerry Goldsmith score up and for me it was no where near as good as the Tangerine Dream score. Also the added scenes seemed to make the movie silly, with Lily singing, and the Dark Lord's speech at the beginning. I definetely felt the director's cut lost alot of the darkness that the US cut has in it. Oh well to each there own, I am glad I saw it though...its amazing how a different score and a few added scenes can change a movie. In the words of my fiance:

"thank god they included the original also"

 

[Jeff Rogers]

I find a little good and bad on both myself....

I like how the American cut shows The Dark Lord sooner....I don't like the wait on the DC.

A few scenes that were on the American cut, I felt shoud be on the DC also. Being....

1. Darkness' hands being chopped off when he flies in to (space?]


The unicorn horn being placed back on its head....

 

[Norm]

I just watched the DC, and I am going to watch the original cut tonight, but from memory I think I like the original cut better.

 

[Paul Case]

I can't understand why people have been so anxiously awaiting the release of this movie on DVD. I'm a huge Ridley Scott fan, but I had never seen Legend. I decided to wait for the DVD release to see it and I was pretty amped up about finally getting the darn thing after such a long wait.

Damn, was I ever disappointed. Quite frankly, I think Legend is a terrible, terrible movie. It is an empty exercise in art direction, nothing more. The plot is barely there, the narrative is weak, and the characters don't even have enough depth to be called paper thin! It's like Ridley Scott just wanted to do an experiment and see if he could get an audience to sit through 90 minutes or 2 hours (depending on the cut of the film you watch) of pretty images with no substance. There was absolutely nothing in this film that engaged me as a viewer. Nothing exciting happened, nothing interesting happened, just endless scenes of dressed up nothing.

WHY do people love this film so much? Am I missing something essential to the viewing experience? I really, really wanted to like this movie, but it just ended up wasting a few hours of my life that I'd really like to have back.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[Matt Pelham]

I agree. I was also VERY disappointed by Legend, in both it's forms. I'm so glad I waited and rented it rather than bought it as I had originally intended. There's only so much little monsters and goblins than someone can take without any solid plot to hold everything together.

 

[Jim_K]

I was never crazy about Legend even though I love some of Ridley Scott's other visual films (i.e. Blade Runner & Alien) & I was really into Lord of the Rings at the time this film was released. I really wanted to like the film but I was very disappointed in it (silly dialog, bland acting, paper thin plot, Disjointed pacing, etc. etc.). The film has a few merits though, I thought it was visually stunning, Tim Curry stole the show as The Lord of Darkness & I think Rob Bottins makeup creation for Darkness ranks right up there with the Jack Pierce masterpieces of Frankenstein/Mummy/Wolf-man.
I rented the DVD last night & watched the DC (In the hopes that this much flawed film would be improved) and all I can say is I'm glad I didn't buy it. This makes me fear for the upcoming DC of Blade Runner. :frowning:

Am I missing something essential to the viewing experience?

No so don't feel bad. In fact I think that this film was built up so much by the DVD delay that many people's expectations are going to be very disappointed.

 

[Sam Davatchi]

I definetely felt the director's cut lost alot of the darkness that the US cut has in it.

Great! I have never seen it and have the DVD and now don’t know to watch which version first! :frowning:

 

[Michael Reuben]

I think most of the hard-core fans of this film saw it at a young impressionable age.

I was in my 30s. Does that count as "young" and "impressionable"?
Like most cult films, Legend has many flaws, but it's still one of the most interesting attempts I have ever seen to create a fairy tale for the screen. Part of the reason for the anticipation is that it has never been available before (to my knowledge) in a widescreen format in any version. There are also some of us who originally saw the European version first and (speaking only for myself) have always found the American cut vastly inferior. This DVD is the first time in 17 years I have been able to see something that looks and sounds like the film that so intrigued me, with all its strengths and weaknesses, when I first saw it. (My comment to my wife at the time was: "This will never play in the U.S.". Little did I suspect how right I was!)
M.

 

[Jim_K]

I was in my 30s. Does that count as "young" and "impressionable"?

Which is why I stated "most" not "all" so you really don't have to take offense to my theory.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Legend is just like any other "nostalgic" movie: you have to grow up with it. I've known people my age who watch The Goonies for the first time recently and thought it was stupid.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Which is why I stated "most" not "all" so you really don't have to take offense to my theory.

I'm not offended by your theory. I just don't think it's sound.

M.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

It had been a long time since I had seen the movie so I thought I'd watch the theatrical cut first before watching the director's cut. I'm not finished watching it but I hope the director's cut has a much better transfer. The theatrical cut looks awful, right from the beginning. The red text and the credits must have been written in blood becuase they are bleeding so badly I can't even read it.

 

[Sam Hatch]

Oh boy, another chance to go off on the merits of the Tangerine Dream score!
I do agree that the Jerry Goldsmith score has been overhyped. The fact that it was the first score, combined with the fact that it is more orchestral in nature than its competition probably causes many people to write off the Tangerine Dream work immediately. Whether or not it is good music gets overshadowed by the fact that it's supposedly 'techno rock' (electronics being one thing Jerry has never used...*cough* Logan's Run *cough*), and accompanying an unpopular cut of the film doesn't help it at all.
Personally, I think Goldsmith was in a bit of a rut in the '80s, and his score for Legend is good but not his best work. The first time I heard it I was fairly distracted by all of its similarities to 'Poltergeist'. It has grown on me, but not that much. On the other hand, I think 'Legend' is the best work I've heard from Tangerine Dream. But sadly, sometimes I get the feeling that even if they were only in 'competition' with a monkey leading a classical orchestra - the monkey's work would be cited as the more important of the two.
I do however like the director's cut better than the US version. After reading a great article in Video Watchdog years ago and noticing the way it was chopped and spliced around (not to mention scenes run backward!) the American print has lost a bit of its allure for me. And I do like the extra character work and Lily's singing. If only they could have reshot those scenes again for the US version, I'd be intrigued to see what Tangerine Dream would have written for her to sing. That would be my real 'Ultimate Edition', the long cut with all TD's music.

 

[Kelley_B]

So I watched both versions back to back yesterday, heres what I would love to see:

1) Director's Cut minus all the Lily singing stuff
2) Tangerine Dream score put back in

That would be enough for me to love the DC cut of this film.

I think the thing that hurt the DC most in my eyes is the scoring during the dance scene with Lily and the Dark Lord lost all of its magic with the Jerry Goldsmith score.

BTW - I'm glad we are not the only ones who like the US cut better.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I find the TD score to no longer fit the film after hearing Goldsmith's. A movie like this NEEDS an orchestral score

As a long time Legend fan, I will never EVER watch the US cut again. There is so much missing, so much characterization, so much PLOT

 

[Steve Christou]

Oooh I'm soo happy!! Legend is here at last!!
Hey whoa there! I see a lot of Goldsmith-bashing on the HTF, not fair I say, the Tangerine Dream score had its moments, but compared to Goldsmith's score its elevator music, the same flutey music played over and over again IMO.
I'm a huge fan of Jerry Goldsmith, one of the greatest film composers alive today, above John Williams in my estimation, and his score for Legend one of his very best, it was a crime that his superb score was replaced with TD's tonalities for the US cut, but I fully understand that people who were only subjected to the US cut until now would find it difficult to accept the sudden change in background music.
I'm just really, really glad that Scott went with the Goldsmith score for his directors cut.
At least TD fans have the US theatrical cut on the dvd too, so everyones happy.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Still haven't watched the DC, but I have always liked the juxtaposition of the TD score to this highly visual film. From the excerpts of the DC in the extras, I have a feeling I'll feel like many others who prefer the TD score. Fortunately, we have access to both versions.

 

[Bryant Trew]

I'm another buyer who was expecting classic sci-fi. This show was lame! I want my money back.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Ummmmm

Didn't the cover clue you in that Legend is not a sci-fi movie?

 

[Feng]

Bryant Trew, maybe you confuse fantasy with sci-fi.