Rating: 
Summary: I'll just say it again ...
Review: Amazing cinematography and art design. Some interesting and bizarre characters (but all within a somewhat unifying vision). But often dragging and incoherently assembled.
Rating: 
Summary: The Directors cut...how it should've been in the first place
Review: As stated in other reviews, this movie has been highly under-rated. Just seeing the American release, though, it's easy to see why. While the Tangerine Dreams score was all well and good, it didn't take the movie seriously. The score made an otherwise dark and gritty fantasy movie into a light hearted fairy tale. The dialogue was choppy and often cliche. Characters were one sided and often boring.Now here comes the Directors cut. The score makes this dark and gritty movie truely epic. The dialogue has been restored so you know what the characters are talking about, and characterization has been fleshed out. This is how the movie should have been released in the first place. Having both versions of the movie in one set for such a low price is really a treat (there are still some things in the American version that make it worth the watch). Being the type to always look to see what extras are included, I must say I'm really satisfied with what's included here (see edition details above). With the recent release of the Lord of the Rings movies, I believe that America is finally catching on to the dark side of fantasy. Not every fantasy movie is a nice fairy tale with a pink little bow on top. This movie exemplifies the dark, epic fantasy adventure. Definitely worth the price!
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible DVD regarding image and sound quality
Review: It has been a very long time since I've seen a DVD that was worse than this one (actually: these two) regarding image and sound quality. The transfer must have been taken off a composite video source. Extremely poor resolution, colored halos along edges of high contrast and dissatisfying shadow delineation are a clear giveaway. There is not one sharp image on DVD one (director's cut) and DVD two (theatrical release) is not much better! To make matters worse for people with progressive displays, the progressive flags from DVD-1 are either missing or have been set wrongly which results in noticeable jaggies during fast movement and dissolves throughout many scenes. The sound of both DVDs is a great disappointment as well. The dts track of DVD-1 lacks dynamic range and has no low-end to speak of. In fact, for most of the time it sounds more like a poor upmix from a monaural source, complete with (occasional) hiss and an over-emphasized high-midrange. Dialogues are audible from the center speaker only, with no soundstage and body at all. When there are multiple actors speaking at the same time, it gets awfully crowded in the center channel. The few scenes with nice surround ambience sound artificial and reverberated. DVD-2 sounds a little more natural and features the excellent musical score by "Tangerine Dream", which I find much preferable to the uninspired Jerry Goldsmith score of the director's cut. Tangerine Dream manage to inject an emotional quality with their music that is otherwise missing from the film. Unfortunately, the fidelic performance is somewhat crippled through the fact that DVD-2 features only a Dolby Surround 2.0 sound track with all its well-known limitations. All things combined, this DVD set is one of the worst of all time and the fact that it is advertized as "the ultimate edition" is simply criminal! It's a slap in the face of all customers. I recommend that anyone who owns a TV larger than 20 inches should stay well clear of this awful product. The quality offered here is simply abysmal.
Rating:
Summary: Tangerine Dreams' score is a keeper!
Review: I love Jerry Goldsmiths' music in this film and the nice thing about DVD is that you can just flip the TV off and just enjoy the music. Unfortunately, Jerry's score simply doesn't cut it for what this film was meant to be marketed for (teenage boys and girls). When I saw this as a teenager in the local cineplex I fell in love with it and the music of Tangerine Dream was something of a marvel since a mythical movie had never really been made with an 80's mosaic sound. If Jerry's musical score had been kept it would have just bored me to tears being a crazy teenager having just seen Tom Cruise in "Risky Business." After years and years of embattlement, the movie studio has finally allowed Jerry's score to be released with a Directors Cut of the film. Yet even after all these years I still long for the Tangerine Dream score! The Directors Cut of the film is a much different film, loaded with dramatic and character developments which go right along with the more sophisticated Goldsmith score, while the Tangerine Dream version is a far more "summer-like movie" with faster edits and get-to-the-point scene changes. Considering the Directors cut is 20 minutes longer, I opt for the shorter version simply because it moves quicker and has a more appealing edge and gets the job done far more efficiently. Having Tangerine Dreams' classic score to listen to over and over is quite a treat as well!
Rating:
Summary: Finally!
Review: I have been waiting to see THIS version of this film for 16 years! The original US release was a travesty. With the Goldsmith score removed and plot development excised, one was left with a beautiful failure. This "Director's Cut" version enables the viewer to relax into the story and see real characters develop and explore their history. This movie was made long vefore Tom Cruise developed his smile or scowl style of acting (?) and this longer edit shows that the guy used to be able to be natural on-screen. I now have this movie on two laser discs (US full screen and Japanese edit full screen) and it's been quite a long wait - but worth it. This is a definite must!
Rating: 
Summary: Give it another chance
Review: I loved this movie as a kid, but when I tried to watch it as an adult, their was one nagging aspect I couldn't get into: that god-awful Tangerine Dream soundtrack. I know, there are some of you out there that liked the old score, but I didn't. I thought it was out of place and dated the movie more than it deserved to be. Fortunately, Ridley Scott thought the same thing. Legend, the Ultimate Edition, includes a re-scored, re-edited directors cut with commentary track of the movie, and for those old purists who can listen to the TD score without burning their own eyes out, the set includes the original theater edition. All this for a lot less than your average new release. The story is simple enough. Your average Grimm Fairie Tale: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy fights cool looking demon to save girl. There's probably a lot more Jungian subtext going on beneath the surface than your average viewer is willing to explore, but when a movie looks this good, there isn't much need to go too far beneath the surface. I'm still amazed at how incredible this movie still looks after all these years. Tim Curry's Prince of Darkness is still one of the most incredible looking villains to date. The sets are flawless and vibrant and there's enough eye-candy to compete with any modern CG spectacle.
The remastered sound including the original, classical score is very impressive. Instead of my ears bleeding from banal, synthesized 80's cheese, they were treated to a kind DTS experience. Darkness' voice is the booming, elemental force that it should be. Unfortunately, most people still won't like this movie. It's always been a bit of a cult classic, and I think it will need more than a restored score to appeal to a broader audience. Most people will never be able to get past the faerie tale surreality that makes this movie interesting for those of us who can. If you've never seen the movie before, or watched it in the past and thought it was dated, I encourage you to try the Director's cut. Unlike Scott's cut of Blade Runner, this is a temendous improvement over the original.
Rating:
Summary: A Great DVD of a Good Movie
Review: This is what DVD is all about, or at least what it can do at it's best. This DVD offers two cuts of the same film, each restored to a luster they haven't enjoyed since they were seen in theaters. Film-lovers can be very grateful that such ravishing visions have been allowed to re-surface. As most people must know by now, Legend is a film by Ridley Scott that was very stupidly handled by the studio for American release. It was re-cut to fit alleged audience expectations, and, probably even more damaging to the effect of the film, Jerry Goldsmith's sumptuous score was replaced with one by Tangerine Dream. This DVD includes both versions of the film, the original version and the cut version that American audiences had to put up with. The restored version is far superior to the cut version. There is no question about it. Tim Curry's performance as Darkness is a marvel. Buried under what looks like 10 tons of makeup, he manages to deliver shadings of meaning and character that many other actors can't deliver with their bare faces. The art direction is splendid, the cinematography likewise. There are some touches that I can't say I like. The bubbles that appear with the Gump, and some of comic relief dialogue come dangerously close to appearing cutesy, in marked contrast with the best parts of the film. Tom Cruise never really seems comfortable as a fairy tale creature. Fantasy isn't really his style, and it shows. But these are quibbles. All in all, a DVD that is worth every penny. Snap it up before the studios realize what a deal it is, and take it off the market.
Rating: 
Summary: *Shock! Gasp! Apathy?!??!?*
Review: Ahh, what is there to be said. After watching both as soon as I got the DVD from Amazon, I find that I am completely dumbfounded at Scott's choices of cuts in the director's edition. The first half was magic as only true fantasy storytelling could be in every aspect except the music (which I'll get to later). However, after the setting moves to Darkness' keep, it becomes apparent why Scott made the cuts he made in the first place when Legend was first theatrically released. The standoff between Darkness and Lili loses its edge and tension with the director's cut and becomes something akin to dinner conversation with a new date. This is symptomatic of the entire second half, as the director's cut loses the cohesiveness and pacing of the original release with alot of unnecessary and out of place scenes and dialogue. Yes I understand that such scenes were meant to add to each character's development, but I think Scott failed in that regard here. In the first half he was successful, revealing for the first time Jack's ability to speak with animals and such, but in the dramatic second half it just gets in the way and interrupts the drama and action. And Darkness' father has a really annoying voice now too. As for the music, I really was disappointed with Goldsmith's work, which has been superb in other movies. It was not nearly as emotive as the TD score nor as unique and supportive of the scenes. Specifically, the TD score was far superior in the black dress dancing scene a waltzy dance number with a hint of discord and evil whereas the Goldsmith score was a dance, rather light and breezy which of course did not fit at all. And he botched the ending! The original ending was nearly perfect, and he completely deviates from it. But oh well, I have to go to work, hope this helps.
Rating:
Summary: My review of the DVD
Review: Ok I have already proclaimed this as one of the best films of the 1980's in earlier reviews so instead of repeating that I will review the DVD and it's features. First off the directors cut is simply marvelous. The extra 25 minutes makes this film so much clearer and those who scoffed it the first time I think would enjoy this film much more. Extra dialogue between the characters clears some of the continuity gaps Ridley Scott and his team could not avoid when forced to edit it to 1.5 hours. I have to say I enjoyed the Goldsmith score more with this cut than I did when I saw the original European version. Perhaps because this film is a much better edit whereas the Euro version had some very bad edits. The US version which, while shorter and had a different score, was still smoother than the Euro. I still prefer the Tangerine Dream score as a whole but I appreciate JG's music better this time around. The extras on this DVD are a lot of fun. Especially the hour long documentary made in 2000, before the death of Billy Barty.
They talk to Ridley, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, Alice Playton,Rob Bottin, Robert Picardo(yes that's right the holographic doctor from Voyager was in Legend, but I won't tell you who, watch the documentary!)the writer of Legend and just about everyone else except, not surpirisingly at all, Tom Cruise. I wasn't at all upset about that as I prefer all the other folks in this movie over him anyway. There are a lot of great photos and trailers. They also have the deleted alternate begining sequence, the sound isn't great on this but it is still fun to watch. They have the original audio track of the Fairy Dance sequence with photo stills and storyboard artwork which is interesting and unfortunate that this scene is lost. All in all this was well worth the wait and I am very happy that one of my all time favorites is finally here and in a much improved version! "There can be no light without darkness."
Rating:
Summary: feast upon the darkness
Review: This Ultimate Edition DVD is amazing. I remember seeing this film when I was a kid, and Tim Curry as Darkness gave me nightmares for weeks. So when I heard that it was out on DVD, I just had to buy it. I remember the film fondly (despite being petrified by the rather satanic looking Darkness), but now I can't imagine why. Set more as a fairy tale than a fantasy epic like Lord of the Rings, the U.S. Theatrical Version is one of the most flawed fantasy films I have ever seen. Poorly paced, little character development, and exceptionally bad editing in some transitions. So imagine my surprise when I popped the new Director's Cut into the old DVD machine. Although the extra length means that the film (which already lacks much action) might seem a little slow, as a fantasy film, it is breath-taking. Not only do the extra minutes help the pacing and character development, the new edit adds much to make transitions less jarring and scenes more coherent. In particular the interaction between Lily and Darkness (a new classic in my mental catalog), as well as the film's ending (no longer feels like an 80's music video), are vastly improved. I prefer the Goldsmith score - it's more subtle and classical (and hence fairy-tale-like) than the "hipper" 80's-synth Tangerine Dream. Of course, for those that prefer the U.S. Theatrical Version, you get that too with this set. However, the video and sound quality are not as good as in the Director's Cut - it's flat with poor color balance and noticeable scratches and compression artifacts. For me, the inclusion of the U.S. Theatrical Version is a nice bonus, but I don't see myself watching it again anytime soon. The Director's Cut, on the other hand, will see frequent play.
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