In days of old, even children needed bedtime stories – and for one earnest youngster, time to wake up and face the fantastic in Niall Johnson‘s fantasy epic LEGEND HAS IT.
Daroush (Harry Gilby) is an impressionable child, working in a duller-than-dull village serving the people with his family whilst crushing a grape or two for the communal wine. As a child, his mother Meerin (Emilia Fox) would tell him and his sister of a mystical kingdom where two stones had the power to break a curse. One day, Meerin disappears after a mysterious voice lures her away from the village.
Twelve years later, Daroush is still grape-crushing when somebody returns with the corpse of a bear, claiming that the evil spirit has been quelled. The village celebrates, but then Daroush is lured by flying leaves and ends up in the clutches of ‘The Hidden Kingdom‘ which his mother had spoken of in her bedtime stories. Suddenly, he learns that he is apparently ‘The One’ with incredible powers and a date with destiny in the form of evil sorcerer Nisibi (Tamsin Greig), who has the power to turn people literally to stone (amongst other traits).
Along the way, he meets, teams up with the Seeker warriors and encounters all manner of renegades and rogues, shadows and soldiers, including ageing wizard Zahl (Rupert Everett) whilst trying to make sense of the seemingly new cursed adventure that has begat him…
In the grand tradition of DRAGONSLAYER, HAWK THE SLAYER, THE PRINCESS BRIDE, WILLOW and of course those Peter Jackson / Tolkien adaptations, LEGEND HAS IT (and indeed it does in abundance!) is a fabulous old-school escapist romp that takes us back to a time when kids would get down and dirty in school holidays rather than focus on likes on Instagram and Harryhausen / Dynamation was the wow amongst film fans.
A fantastic ensemble cast elevates this film, which glories in the genre conventions and mixes up a few of them, but it is Greig who shines brightly as the evil Nisibi, echoing the late, great Alan Rickman‘s gloriously flamboyant Sheriff of Nottingham in his BAFTA-winning role in ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES. You need a good evil villainess in a pantomime, which LEGEND HAS IT could also be defined as, with a great musical score and visual effects created on the right side of subtlety.
Overall, this is a fine indie fantasy with great wide appeal to audiences of all ages. Time to dream and imagine again.
LEGEND HAS IT is the Closing Night film at the 2025 London Independent Film Festival, which runs from 4th – 13th April, 2025.
Tickets at: https://www.genesiscinema.co.uk/whatson/events
Official Website: https://www.straightwireentgroup.com/