Review of Legend (1985) by Juan C — 10 Jun 2011

Probably one of the most beautiful fantasy films produced during the 80's. One of Sir Ridley Scott's most underappreciated achievements and lesser known masterpieces. It has all of the Scott gravitas that make his films beautiful, flourishing with life and vibrantly colored living paintings. Scott's signature atmospheric lighting, highly detailed production design and striking visual style create a fantastical world of unicorns, goblins, damsels in distress and the Lord of Darkness, one of the most visually intimidating villains of cinema.

As is common with most of his films, the pace starts off fairly slow. Commonly known as the "Blade Crawler". Yet, the viewer is not discouraged from the films relatively slow pace to actually enjoy and immerse themselves to the magical world created by Scott. There are many wonderfully crafted set pieces and colorful characters to entertain the viewers and satisfy their sense of wonder and intrigue. Yet, the most elegant characters are not the elves, fairies, or even the antagonist, but the powerful and awe inspiring unicorns. It is from the first appearance on screen by these majestic creatures that the audience is fully thrust into the fantasy world crafted by the director and crew.

At first glance the narrative seems all too familiar; a megalomaniacal villain of pure evil, obsessed with plunging the world into total despair, all while kidnapping and lusting after the fair princess. There are still some Scott elements thrown into the mix to make it stand on its own merit though. The fair princess, for one, isn't as fair as she seems. Although there are some strong allusions to the fall of man in the film, it is Princess Lily's sin that plunges the world into eternal winter and darkness. But, this isn't enough to condemn the character as a definition of women's stereotypical personification of the fall of man. Lily, after all, isn't quite the archetypical princess that sits ideally in the villain's dungeons while awaiting rescue from her knight in shinny armor. For most of the film, Lily alone resist temptation from the Lord of Darkness and only when she repents for her sins that she alone achieves redemption. She achieves redemption within and through herself alone at the risk of her own life, with not so much of help from the protagonist. Although Jack is the one to defeat and foil the antagonist's plot, it was Lily who confronted him without sword or shield, just with her own strong will. A strong female character, another one of Ridley Scott's gravitas.

Being a fantasy film of the fairy tale subtext, it is no surprise that the film has a moral motif. One of the main themes the film touches upon is the corruption of purity by an external force. Needless to say, it is also symbolic for the loss of innocence. The beauty of it is that such a moral play is presented subtlety. The unicorns pure nature is corrupted by Lily's touch, Lily is stripped of her innocence when she is submerged within the realm of the Lord of Darkness. But it is also a film about seeking redemption within oneself, dashing heroics and large than life villains(in the case of the Lord of Darkness this is literal).

To summarize, the film is elegantly displayed despite all the problems during production (like the fire on set). Vibrant, lively colors cover every highly detailed set piece, its fantastical characters and creatures are masterfully brought to life by talented make-up, special effects artist. The film is a hidden gem of Ridley Scott's filmography. It is evidence of a time when creating a fantasy world meant more than just elaborate CGI effects, but true artistic vision.