Legend is a 1985 fantasy film directed by Ridley Scott,
though the film wasn’t a notable success when it was first realised it later
won an award for best makeup and has a cult following. The story is set
"once, long ago" in a world of unicorns, fairies, goblins, and
demons. Hidden in a dark lair, the antagonist, the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry)
instructs his goblin servant, Blix, to locate the two unicorns that roam the
nearby forest and remove their horns. If the unicorns die and their horns are
removed, the Lord of Darkness can ensure that dawn never again breaks and
sunshine never returns.
“Tim Curry, from
"Rocky Horror Picture Show," makes an effective Darkness; I liked his
style. But, once again, the makeup people have done such a good job with his
blazing eyes and gigantic horns that, in a way, almost any actor could be
lurking inside there (only Curry's sensuous lips give him away).”(Ebert,
1986) The makeup in the film is very well done, one of the films strongest
points, Ridley Scott contacted Rob Bottin who has designed the special makeup
effects for “The Howling”, Bottin
read the script and saw the opportunity to create characters in a starring
roles. Each actor spent every morning
having makeup applied, each having 7-13 prosthetics pieces applied accept Tom
Cruise and Mia Sara.
“The cool costumes and
set designs almost make it worthwhile, so long as the sounds turned down and
you don't have to hear the witless dialogue.” (Thompson, 2003) even though
the poor sound effects which is mainly down to being filmed in a sound stage
and dialog was bad and unappealing, the scenery of the film is beautiful to
look at, making up for the sound effects.
“On the one hand,
Legend is essentially a movie for children. After all, it features a lot of
children with fairy wings stuck to their backs. (Often it feels as if one is
stuck in a primary school pantomime!) In addition, the plot is simplistic and
some of the dialogue and characters quite juvenile. On the other hand, Legend
is so heavy-handed in its approach that it isn’t a whole lot of fun at all. Its
depiction of evil is so intense and scary, that the little ones would probably
be begging their parents to please switch off the TV!” (O’Ehley, 2007)
Whether the film was intended for children or adults is unsure, the fairy,
unicorns and other mythical creatures suggest its aimed at children but looking
at Darkness and his evil companions would give children nightmares due to the
makeup being so well done. Maybe it’s aimed at family by having such fairytale
story with such dark characters within the story.
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