Review Detail

Had only seen one version of this film before, the 94-minute UK/European/International Cut, and that was on TV a few years ago. Didn't particularly enjoy it then, felt somewhat fragmented with a few bits feeling "off", but learning of this revisit sparked my interest me think to give it another chance.

This time I was drawn into the world Ridley Scott brought to life, and it feels worthy of standing alongside other fantasy films of the era that I am fond of. The one tiny gripe I have is the opening crawl, bits of information in which are clearly spoken minutes later by the Lord of Darkness, but this is quickly forgotten and not worthy of deducting points for enjoyment. The technical presentation was great and led me to wonder if the poor quality of the TV broadcast I watched originally contributed to my lack of engagement with it, being how dependent the experience of this story is on the visuals.

Looking forward to seeing the other versions now, will be particularly interested to see how much the extra five minutes in the Director's Cut stand out, thanks zrfarnsworth for prompting me to give this film another go!