Legend: Director's Cut vs Theatrical Release
I watched the director's cut of Legend last night, overall opinion - not as good as the theatrical release. The biggest noticeable change is the soundtrack; the eighties sounding Tangerine Dream did the theatrical while Jerry Goldsmith did the original soundtrack which ended up as the music for the European release and director's cut.
Tangerine Dream is a more eighties sounding soundtrack, with songs such as Loved by the Sun and Is Your Love Strong Enough (btw, I bought that soundtrack some years back, looking at the price of it now on Amazon... holy shit). It also includes some frickin' kickass music such as the grand dance scene with Lilly. The overall effect is more of a dated yet memorable and some might call cult following appeal.
Jerry Goldsmith by contrast, an enjoyable yet forgettable soundtrack. More typical of a fantasy film, especially of that time, yet doesn't stand out at all.
Many of the scenes that were restored were unnecessary as well. There is only one scene that I saw as an improvement from the theatrical - the extended scene with Meg Mucklebones. In the theatrical it's over so quick, there's a bit of confusion in how Jack (having no practice with weapons) is able to best the swamp troll. It actually makes sense once you see the complete scene. Everything else, either doesn't add anything or actually takes a bit away. Some parts of the film, with the shortened scenes, come across more dreamlike - and the ending was just damaged by too long a monologue which was once again, unnecessary.
I think of some movies where the Director's Cut was a disappointment. Y'know, some scenes need to be cut, some focuss needs to be given to a film where more is less. One such example is the movie Alien, you know the scene they added at the end with the captain? We don't need to account for all the missing crew members, the mystery ups the suspense. And a bigger issue I have with adding that scene is that you have this great frantic pace going and then all of sudden she's going to stop for a few minutes to kill the captain... when she's blowing up the ship??? Bad bad bad! Or the director's cut of the movie The Warriors. I hated the changes made. I even got lucky in meeting a bunch of the actors from that movie a few years ago at Chiller, I asked everyone of them whether they liked the Director's Cut or the Theatrical Release more - not a single one preferred the director's cut.
In fact... where is the Director's Cut an improvement? This is one big argument on why the re-re-re-release of Star Wars is such garbage, maybe editing your 'vision' produced something of higher quality than showing no restraint in one person making all the decisions on what should be included.
Tangerine Dream is a more eighties sounding soundtrack, with songs such as Loved by the Sun and Is Your Love Strong Enough (btw, I bought that soundtrack some years back, looking at the price of it now on Amazon... holy shit). It also includes some frickin' kickass music such as the grand dance scene with Lilly. The overall effect is more of a dated yet memorable and some might call cult following appeal.
Jerry Goldsmith by contrast, an enjoyable yet forgettable soundtrack. More typical of a fantasy film, especially of that time, yet doesn't stand out at all.
Many of the scenes that were restored were unnecessary as well. There is only one scene that I saw as an improvement from the theatrical - the extended scene with Meg Mucklebones. In the theatrical it's over so quick, there's a bit of confusion in how Jack (having no practice with weapons) is able to best the swamp troll. It actually makes sense once you see the complete scene. Everything else, either doesn't add anything or actually takes a bit away. Some parts of the film, with the shortened scenes, come across more dreamlike - and the ending was just damaged by too long a monologue which was once again, unnecessary.
I think of some movies where the Director's Cut was a disappointment. Y'know, some scenes need to be cut, some focuss needs to be given to a film where more is less. One such example is the movie Alien, you know the scene they added at the end with the captain? We don't need to account for all the missing crew members, the mystery ups the suspense. And a bigger issue I have with adding that scene is that you have this great frantic pace going and then all of sudden she's going to stop for a few minutes to kill the captain... when she's blowing up the ship??? Bad bad bad! Or the director's cut of the movie The Warriors. I hated the changes made. I even got lucky in meeting a bunch of the actors from that movie a few years ago at Chiller, I asked everyone of them whether they liked the Director's Cut or the Theatrical Release more - not a single one preferred the director's cut.
In fact... where is the Director's Cut an improvement? This is one big argument on why the re-re-re-release of Star Wars is such garbage, maybe editing your 'vision' produced something of higher quality than showing no restraint in one person making all the decisions on what should be included.