Plot: What’s it about?
Colonel Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) decides to leave his military life behind, due to the unfair treatment of Native Americans and retire with his three sons to the mountains of Montana. Here he can teach his sons about life and such far from the masses, which is just the way he wants it to be right now. Ludlow schools his three sons in the traditions of battle, such as gun management and horse riding, both of which might come in handy in the region in which they reside. Soon the sons have all grown, which means sooner or later, at least one of them will leave the area. Samuel (Henry Thomas) returns home from an institute of higher learning and brings with him a guest, his fiance Susannah (Julia Ormond). She is very beautiful and as such, both of the other brothers take an instant shine to her, Tristan (Brad Pitt) even wants to make move on her at some point. Just when the tension becomes almost unbearable, the relief comes in the form of a war and of course, the well trained sons are called to fight for the cause. But what will become of Susannah and who will she choose to be with?
This title was first released by Columbia/Tristar a while back as a bare bones disc, but now they’ve come back to issue a features loaded special edition and man, was it worth the wait! In addition to the good movie, you now have a plethora of bonus materials to peruse, what more can you want? The movie looks fantastic, but falters somewhat in terms of writing and focus, it seems to tackle too much at once and that lowers the overall value a little. The film’s visuals are breathtaking and the Academy Award for Best Cinematography is a testament to that, though there is also beauty to be found in the costumes and locations as well as how they were shot. You’ll also find a gifted cast here, including Anthony Hopkins, Julia Ormond, Brad Pitt, and Aidan Quinn, but they struggle at times with this material. The actors and visuals give this writing a place to hide and that’s a shame, as a good script could have pushed this to be a tremendous movie in the end. But as it stands, this movie is average at best, which leaves me to recommend a rental, unless you’re a fan and then you’ll want this special edition disc, of course.
With a cast like this one, you’d expect some terrific turns, but the writing never lets these folks begin to show their skills in front of a camera. As always, Anthony Hopkins (The Silence Of The Lambs, Titus) gives a more than solid effort, but this material holds him back from his usual level of excellence. At times, he even comes off as a bad actor because of this, so you know this is substandard source material. Aside from a few struggles though, Hopkins handles himself well and gives much more justice to this material then it deserves. Also in poor form here is Brad Pitt, whose Fabio like hair is a joke and his line delivery is even worse. I prefer Pitt in the darker roles and he is far from that here, but he does have a certain edge. This is one of Pitt’s weakest performances, which is a shame because he can do good work when the material allows. Pitt can also be seen in such films as Kalifornia, Fight Club, and Seven. The cast here also includes Aidan Quinn (In Dreams, Practical Magic), Henry Thomas (Fire In The Sky, Suicide Kings), Tantoo Cardinal (Dances With Wolves, Smoke Signals), and Julia Ormond (First Knight, Sabrina).
Video: How does it look?
Legends of the Fall is presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. This transfer is not of reference quality, but it is very close and only a few small flaws keep it from a perfect score. The film’s lush visuals are well represented in this transfer, which replicates a high level of sharpness and with that, a deep texture of detail is present at all times. I found very little debris on the source print, but I did see a couple small compression problems. Nothing too serious, but it is worth a mention in this review. The colors have a natural glow to them and though they’re not as rich as in some films, this softer color scheme is the intended final look. I have no complaints with the contrast either, black levels are well balanced and no detail is ever lost in the shadows.
Audio: How does it sound?
This movie has a few sequences which fire up the surrounds, but on the whole this is a more conservative film in terms of audio. But while you might hear the surrounds often, the included Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track makes sure they always sound very good when you do. The battle scenes are the most active ones and that’s obvious, but James Horner’s musical score also makes good use of the surround channels. There is some minimal subtle use found at times, but not enough to warrant much discussion. This mix comes off as very natural, which is good because tracks with forced surround use usually sound terrible. The dialogue is sharp & always clear and I had no volume problems in the least. This disc also includes 2.0 surround tracks in French, Spanish, and Portuguese, as well as subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai.
Supplements: What are the extras?
If you were miffed about the original bare bones release, then you should be in supplement heaven with this new loaded special edition release of Legends of the Fall. First you can browse three deleted scenes, which are cool and you can also listen to optional commentary by director Ed Zwick. Zwick also recorded a full commentary track for this film, along with actor Brad Pitt. This track is the better of the two found on the disc, but failed to hold my attention throughout the overly long running time of the movie. I liked hearing the stories and memories, but too many pauses and gaps ruined this one for me. The second audio commentary features John Toll (cinematographer) and Lilly Kilvert (production designer) and these two offer a technical look into Legends of the Fall. I liked this one, but it was too dull and silent at times, which makes it a pain to listen to. I was pleased with the information they shared, but there simply wasn’t enough of it for my tastes. Two featurettes have also been packed onto the disc and totaling around eleven minutes, not much to see in the end. One focuses on production design and the other is a full service behind the scenes piece. Both are nice, but should have been more substantial. You’ll also find an isolated musical score, talent files, and the film’s theatrical & teaser trailers.
