Hops and Box Office Flops: ‘LEGEND’

Glitter and Bubbles

Legend is a bizarre fantasy fever dream—one rife with an excess of pollen, bubbles, and glitter. These things are literally everywhere, folks. They flood the beautiful scenery and are unrelenting.

Also unrelenting is the film’s glaring lack of plot. If you kill the unicorns, the world will be cloaked in darkness. That’s the movie. Jack o’ the Green, Tom Cruise, must atone for his mistake of introducing his crush Lili, Mia Sara, to the wonderous creatures by killing the Lord of Darkness, Tim Curry, and taking back the severed alicorn.

Tom Cruise as Jack o' Green Flattering Meg Mucklebones in Legend

It’s pretty to look at, wildly dumb, and almost entirely remembered for Curry’s dazzling turn as the Lord of Darkness. His performance, as well as the make up, are perfection.

Directed by Ridley Scott—who’d just rocked the cinematic world with Blade Runner and Alien—Legend just never lives up to its potential. In 1985, critics and audiences agreed. It boasts a paltry 38% on Rotten Tomatoes with 40 reviews; and it grossed just $23.5 million on a budget of $24.5 million.

Technically—and again, solely because of Curry—it is sort of a cult classic, though.

So sit back, stab a hole in a Narwhal Imperial Stout from Sierra Nevada with an alicorn, and don’t give in to Darkness’ temptations! I, the Thunderous Wizard (@WriterTLK), Chumpzilla, Capt. Cash, Mayor McCheese, and a special guest are besting all of Gump’s riddles!

This Week’s Segments:

Introduction/Plot Breakdown – Is the power of nostalgia enough to sustain the pretty, but often hollow Legend? (00:00)
Lingering Questions – After a word from our beer bros at Hop Nation USA, we discuss the greatness of Tim Curry. (1:09:22)
The “Is Your Love Strong Enough?” Trivia Challenge – The Double Turn Podcast hits a hot tag, and then Capt. Cash challenges the field to a series of questions about the movie. (1:27:44)
Recommendations – We offer our picks for the week and next up: We finish off “Hops and Fantasy Flops” with the absurd, but incredible F9. (1:40:00)

And, as always, hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to check out all the interesting factoids—the Director’s Cut differences and more—from this week’s episode!

You can find this episode of Hops and Box Office Flops on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Acast, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Vurbl, and Amazon Music!