Sir Ridley Scott is a prolific director. He directed one of my favorite films Gladiator. But he also directed some iconic films such as Alien, Blade Runner and Thelma and Louise .
Now the great folks at Arrow Video are giving a deluxe Blu-ray release to an early Ridley Scott film that starred a future Hollywood heavyweight Tom Cruise. Yes we are talking about 1985's fantasy cult classic Legend.
The film takes place in a mythical forest inhabited by fairies, goblins, unicorns and mortals. But it is not all a happy existence as The Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry) is looking to bring about eternal night by eliminating the last of the unicorns. It is up to Jack (Tom Cruise) and his friends to save the world and Princess Lili (Mia Sara) from the hands of Darkness.
As only his fourth feature film this is quite a story to try and tell by Ridley Scott and yet it is a timeless tale and it never seems to grow old. Watching it again at over 35 years since it's original release, it still holds up! Those fairy tale like stories never seem to go out of date. And Legend is the same. It still holds up and probably will for another 35 years.
Arrow Video has transferred this film to Blu-ray in 1080p in High Definition with both the theatrical cut and the director's cut included. Both cuts of the film have options for DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo audio. Also a very cool option is the English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
When I compared this new Arrow Video release to the Classic Cinema Plus archived Blu0ray release. The picture quality is much sharper with a nice amount of the film grain. The audio is clear, this is just a much more superior release than the previous ones.
But as we said earlier this is a deluxe addition. So with deluxe you know you are going to get a whole lot of bonus material and Arrow Video doesn't disappoint with this one. Take a look at all the bonus content added for this 80s cult classic Blu-ray release.
DISC 1: US THEATRICAL CUT
* New 2K restoration of the US Theatrical Cut from original materials including a 4K scan of the original negative
* New commentary by Paul M. Sammon author of Ridley Scott: The Making of His Movies
* 2002 Reconstructed isolated score by Tangerine Dream
* Isolated music and effects track
* A Fairytale in Pinewood, new featurette interviewing grip David Cadwalladr, costume designer Charles Knode, co-star Annabelle Lanyon, camera operator Peter MacDonald, set decorator Ann Mollo and draftsman John Ralph
* Incarnations of a Legend, comparison featurette written and narrated by critic Travis Crawford
* The Directors: Ridley Scott, 2003 documentary where the director discusses his career, including Legend
* €œIs Your Love Strong Enough? a music video by Bryan Ferry
DISC 2: DIRECTOR'S CUT
* Commentary by Ridley Scott
* Creating A Myth: Memories of Legend, a 2002 documentary with interviews with Ridley Scott, William Hjortsberg, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, Rob Bottin and others
* Original promotional featurette
* Alternate 'Four Goblins' opening and 'The Fairie Dance' deleted scene
* Storyboard galleries for three deleted scenes
* Two drafts of William Hjortsberg's screenplay
* Alternate footage from the overseas release plus textless footage
* Trailers and TV spots
* Still galleries
In addition to all these on disc bonuses there is also some very cool physical bonuses in this Blu-ray package.
* Illustrated perfect-bound book with new writing by Nicholas Clement and Kat Ellinger and archive materials including production notes and a 2002 interview with Charles de Lauzirika about the restoration of the Director's Cut
* Large double-sided poster with newly commissioned artwork by Neil Davies and original theatrical artwork by John Alvin
* Glossy full-color portraits of the cast photographed by Annie Leibovitz
* Six double-sided postcard-sized lobby card reproductions
* Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Neil Davies and original theatrical artwork by John Alvin
I must say that Arrow Video really went above and beyond with this release and I am so glad they did. I always enjoyed this film and to see it get this kind of love does my heart good. physical media is not dead we are just changing and adapting to a new digital age.
So if you are a fan of Ridley Scott, Tim Cruise or fantasy adventures. I highly recommend this Arrow Video deluxe edition of Legend on Blu-ray. It blows ever other release out of the water. You can order your copy of this Blu-ray by heading over to Amazon.com today.
See the film trailer and our Blu-ray rating below.
ut of 4 Film Reels (4 Being the Best) Arrow Video's Blu-ray of Legend receives...
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