Review of Legend: Ultimate Edition

Introduction

There are many among us that believe the new trend, set by Mr Lucas, for tampering with classic movies by adding new CGI effects or cutting and adding sequences is tantamount to throwing a tin of Dulux on a Rembrant. With Lucas this could be the case, as he churns out another Star Wars movie, entitled "Attack of the Clones," we also hear rumors of yet more alterations waiting or in production on the original Star Wars trilogy. This is all well and good but unless you have a very old copy of all three Star Wars movies on VHS you can`t view it as it was when originally released. This is where Lucas fails, with his slow take-up of the DVD format, we have yet to see the trilogy surface and I for one hope that he will include the original as well as the re-jigged version when he does deem DVD worthy of his most sought after gems. (Just found out he apparently won`t).

But what`s all this got to do with Legend I here you cry. Simple, Legend is a DVD "legend" in its own right. Stalled from DVD release from the outset and now available nearly a year later than planned, It hasn`t had the same attention as Star Wars but does maintain a good cult following and in that following an eagerness to see the much anticipated Ridley Scott, Director`s Cut. This of course is where the likes of Scott come first place in the DVD director`s cut stakes. With Scott and Legend plus other recent releases such as Star Trek - The Motion Picture, we get to see the original theatrical version of the movie and the re-dux. This shows that they still believe in their original versions but as time progresses they too like to return to their masterpieces with the fresh paint of technology.

Legend has always been shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Tom Cruise, it`s main star, seems to refuse to talk about it. Those who do, don`t have many good things to say about its director and those who praise Scott for his vision talk about the man`s personal skills through gritted teeth.
He has though embraced DVD in this release, but where Lucas fails he triumphs, giving us both theatrical and reedited versions in one package. On the other hand where Lucas succeeds, Scott flounders, with a mixed bag of dullish extras.

This film is legendary to its followers. It was released in two two separate versions for U.S.A. and Europe. This was due to the films overseas rights being sold to an independent company. Subsequently Scott also made some changes after a bad test screening, cutting around 20 minutes of character setup that he though wasn`t connecting well with the audience. Also removed was Gerry Goldsmiths amazing score, which had already been released as a movie soundtrack tie-in. This was replaced by a funky eighties electronic score by Tangerine Dream, that wasn`t well received.

I grew up with the cut, European, Tangerine Dream version and loved it, like most people I know do. The new version hasn`t any major big scene additions but gives us more character depth and magic with some short extensions to many scenes and some cuts at the beginning that adds impact to the scenes later in the movie, where we see Tim Curry as Darkness for the first time.

Many failed to see Scott`s vision in this saccharin sweet piece of whimsy. It dates back to his turn in advertising and does have the look of a Timotei shampoo add in parts. What you get in the original release is a scaled down MTV video version. In the re-dux we have the full glory of a terrific fantasy tale that can`t be compared like for like with the newer Lord of the Rings but stands on its own as a triumph of style and magic.

Video

We do get both versions of the movie here, but it`s the director`s cut that stand out and gets the extra special treatment. The director`s cut is Scott`s intended vision and comes on it`s very own disc. There`s just an audio commentary on this disc and the full director`s cut, one look and listen to this disc shows why. The 114 minute cut is just outstanding and probably looks better than it did on its initial release. There is some grain, obviously, due to the age of this movie, but it is free from any artefacting, even in the darkest scenes. Framed, for the first time, in its original 2.35:1 ratio it is just amazing how well the black and white contrast holds up. There are some very dark interior shots that suffer from low contrast levels but the majority of the movie is impeccable.

On the other hand, the 90 minute U.S. theatrical cut is a disappointment. Placed on the second disc it suffers greatly from grain and some macro-blocking. Colours are much flatter and less vivid than its longer counterpart. Blacks on this version tend to be very grey and lack definition, while many of the white areas show bad haloing, colour bleed and flickery edge enhancement.

Audio

The director`s cut disc contains Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 tracks. The U.S. cut on disc two has only an English 2.0 surround track and the Tangerine Dream music as an isolated score.
Again the Director`s cut rules with an astonishingly crisp remix. The Dolby track is very warm and not too shrill and harsh like I`ve come to expect from these old matrixed transfers. Instead we get an aggressive and strong track with great ambient surrounds and clear strident vocals. The soundtage is still front heavy like the 2.0 track but is much softer and fills the room more.
The DTS track does have a slight edge on Dolby Digital with the usual higher transfer rate and less compression leading to a fuller and cleaner audio experience.

The use of surround effects is good but not great on both. We tend to get a few strong moments from the rears but the majority of the time they`re just there for ambient effects. The low frequency effect is very impressive, for such an old movie, and performs well on both the DD5.1 and DTS tracks.

Features

The disc is touted as the "Ultimate Edition" and has been in DVD limbo for some time with off and on release dates that were reportedly due to the discovery of more additional material. So does the disc live up to its moniker?

Now it seems that some of these Ultimate Editions of Legend have appeared in the standard Amray 2 Disc cases. I got mine early and it seems to be Canadian by origin and comes in a see through plastic gatefold case. The front cover has Darkness holding an apple with Tom and Mia`s faces on it. Fold this back and the apple becomes transparent and the faces are actually on the next level as part of a poster from the campaign. Folding this back reveals the gatefold two disc holder. It`s a nice case, looking a bit different and a tad special. It will be interesting to see how it holds up over time. Inside you also get a fold-out booklet with poster art and chapter stop info.

Now you could say the extended version itself is the biggest extra, and it is but you also get some top notch bits and bobs on both discs...

The audio commentary by Ridley Scott is just fabulous. He`s totally buzzed about getting this DVD out and it shows. We get some magnificent insights into the production and details about why scenes were cut and some great ideas that never made it past storyboard. I love audio commentaries and this one has to be one of the top ones on my list.

Making of a myth is a 51 minute documentary with interviews with principal cast and crew. This again, delves deep into the production highs and lows. Tom Cruise is absent and there is no mention why, very odd. But it never suffers because of this, as each character has their own tale to tell. My favorite is Robert Piccardo`s tales of playing Meg the swamp Witch and almost drowning, as the whole costume was like one giant foam latex sponge.

We also get some deleted scenes, some of which have been put back into the reedit. There`s some nice production stills and portraits. There`s also some lost scene footage that fans have been baying for for years. A 13 minute sequence show us the original "Four Goblin" opening scene that was thought to have been destroyed. There`s also a storyboarded sequence with audio of the "Faerie Dance". At 3 minutes it`s great to have on the disc but will probably be a one watch extra.

Next are three storyboard scenes of "Jack`s Challenge," "Lily and the Unicorns," and "Downfall of Darkness." To top it all off is a Bryan Ferry music video for "Is your love strong enough".

Put this disc in your computer DVD drive, As I can for the first time, and you get a nice interface and two versions of the script to read. I`d prefer to read the scripts on TV like the latest R2 version of Speed. To be perfectly honest I don`t like DVD ROM features full stop. They are aiming the DVDs at the wrong market and Universal have even set up a Total Axess feature on their DVDs that will give some superb features only to those who have broadband and DVD enabled computers. A word of warning, the upcoming Back to the Future R1 disc will have alot of extra features only accessible through this little gimmick!

Conclusion

This is a superb collection that contains the original and new cut of the movie, take the hint Mr Lucas! The transfer is exceptional with sound to match. It is a shame more effort couldn`t have been made on cleaning up the U.S. cut as many will prefer this edit as it`s the version they grew up with. The sound remix is a great example of what can be done with older titles but does seem a little front/centre heavy in parts. That said the disc offers some great extras that have been doing the rounds on pirate video for many years. It would have been nice to know where all this archive or lost stuff came from but most fans will be happy it`s here to keep and it`s official.