This movie challenged me in how to appreciate it.
The Good: When Boorman gets his visions right, he gets them right. From the first five minutes I could understand why Ridley Scott chose Alex Thomson as the photographer for 'Legend'. Any other weaknesses aside, those are enough for me. I also thought the animalistic armor designs were apt given how much Rome/Greek inspired stuff we've seen in the last five years.
The Bad: Watching this right after 'Monty Python' will wreck your appreciation. In 'Python', the fights are intentionally cheesy. Here they are just awful. Thankfully, I wasn't paying attention to the acting--I don't believe it's important in film--so I couldn't tell you how good/bad it was. Production values here also get hurt in the realm of scope and environment. Natural settings are gorgeous, but the manmade ones reek of artificiality. Also, the hippie 70s-style titles contradict the tone of the film.
The Quirky: Because the violence is so fake, the sex seems more outlandish.
Also remember that sex is one of the most underdeveloped elements in the sword-sorcery/sandal genre...so almost any entry that tries to be frank with it will get some noticing. Refer to the recent 'King Arthur' to see what happens when all the focus is put on fighting instead--instantly forgettable. Since 'Gladiator' (and even 'Braveheart') it's been a constant attempt to one-up all the predecessors in bloodshed, but nowhere else.
There's the Holy Grail for the next brood of filmmakers.
The Good: When Boorman gets his visions right, he gets them right. From the first five minutes I could understand why Ridley Scott chose Alex Thomson as the photographer for 'Legend'. Any other weaknesses aside, those are enough for me. I also thought the animalistic armor designs were apt given how much Rome/Greek inspired stuff we've seen in the last five years.
The Bad: Watching this right after 'Monty Python' will wreck your appreciation. In 'Python', the fights are intentionally cheesy. Here they are just awful. Thankfully, I wasn't paying attention to the acting--I don't believe it's important in film--so I couldn't tell you how good/bad it was. Production values here also get hurt in the realm of scope and environment. Natural settings are gorgeous, but the manmade ones reek of artificiality. Also, the hippie 70s-style titles contradict the tone of the film.
The Quirky: Because the violence is so fake, the sex seems more outlandish.
Also remember that sex is one of the most underdeveloped elements in the sword-sorcery/sandal genre...so almost any entry that tries to be frank with it will get some noticing. Refer to the recent 'King Arthur' to see what happens when all the focus is put on fighting instead--instantly forgettable. Since 'Gladiator' (and even 'Braveheart') it's been a constant attempt to one-up all the predecessors in bloodshed, but nowhere else.
There's the Holy Grail for the next brood of filmmakers.