Legend
    First, in Incubus, we learn that William Shatner is an innocent, pure soul.
    Then, in Legend, we learn that Tom Cruise is too.
    What gives? The world is going craaaazy!
    Let's get the ratings out of the way first, 'kay?

    Gore: 3
    Schmaltz: 7
    Character Development: 4
    Sturgeon Principle: Middle of the 90th percentile.

    Legend is one of those films that I've been meaning to see for years, but there was always something else to take up my time. Finally, the stars aligned properly in the sky and I finally managed to see the Legendary movie. And honestly, I found myself impressed by this Ridley Scott production.
    This is one of those Oddball films that turns out to be a gem in the rough, like Labyrinth. Lots and lots of really crap films come down the pipe each year, but only a few of them actually turn out to have something that could really be polished up nice. This is one of them.
    The plot to this film is that of a faerie tale, and a beautifully done one as well: Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson are locked in a life or death struggle against one another as Jack questions Tom's ability to handle the 'Truth'... wait, no. Tom (or Jack) is a young innocent soul who's deathly in love with a lady named Lilli, and one day he tries to impress the sweet dear by showing her a unicorn. In a move that makes sense if you're committed to Bellvue, Lilli ignores all of her love's warnings and gives the unicorn biiiiiig snugglies.. but as the unicorn is the rarest of all the Pokemon, it sickens at the touch of the mortal. Must be those damned unsanitary conditions of the middle ages, hm? Meanwhile, a troupe of attack goblins steal the unicorn's horn (or alicorn) and scurry off to deliver it to their master, the Evil Tim Curry. The ETC captures Lili and only Jack and his band of rag-tag fae can retrieve the Maiden and the Horn!
    *Pause*
    Hunh. That kind of sounds like a Playboy movie. And they're supposed to be pure souls? Ooooookay....
    Right! Focusing! Focus... focus...got it. I was going to go into a rant about how choppy and poorly edited this film was. I've since read a FAQ on Legend and discovered how little of this was Ridly Scott's fault (read it here if you want to know more). So... what makes this film good?
    Music. Imagry. Vision. Let me focus on the last one before I leave this film.
    If you look at fantasy films in this day and age, upon what chassis are they all built? Either they're the AD&D type ( Conan, Swords and Sorcery, etc) or else they're New Age funky self-empowerment films. All right, that's a gross over-generalization, but I'm writing on three hours sleep and I'm incredibly cranky. Legend is an honest-to-Grud faerie tale. No one ever casts a magic missile at the darkness. Riddles fly about, unknowable faerie magic pervades the film, and darn it, it feels magical. Mysterious. Wonderful.     Like a Legend.
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