Someone does shout, "Get the men and arm the elephants!" Sadly, this alone doesn't make you think of Cecil B. DeMille as the press notes would like you to. "Hercules and the Captive Women" comes more to mind.

| Feb 9, 2014

It is overlong, overproduced, overscaled and crammed with too many plots, subplots and digressions.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 31, 2003

Without knowing what has been lost in the process, it would be hard to imagine the original film was any less repetitive or more dramatically engaging than what remains.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 24, 2003

Compelling enough that one wishes to be able to see the entire eight hours, with all the missing context filled back in. As it is, this short version seems even longer than eight hours.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 21, 2003

A delightful experience for Westerners to watch.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 27, 2003

Visually ravishing and full of double-crosses and nefarious plots worthy of Shakespeare.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jul 25, 2003

A film that is stunning to watch.

| Jul 21, 2003

Heavy on pageant and incident but light on character and motivation.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 19, 2003

Easy on the eyes and hard on the head, Suriyothai is absolutely unaffecting where it matters most, in the heart.

Full Review | Jul 11, 2003

Huge, sprawling, and utterly absorbing.

Full Review | Jul 11, 2003

Connoisseurs of Cecil B. DeMille-style spectacle will find much to like here, even if they're not sure who's who and what the heck is going on.

| Original Score: B- | Jul 11, 2003

The movie's luscious design and rich cinematography make it worth watching -- though you'd be well advised to study a synopsis carefully before trying to watch it.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 10, 2003

People who think they couldn't possibly become nerve racked over the fate of 16th-century Thailand are in for a surprise.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 3, 2003

The movie is both stunning on the level of visual pageantry and curiously inert as cinema.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 27, 2003

If only it all made a lick of sense. This 400-plus-year-old story is so ripe with double, triple and quadruple crosses and the hierarchal structure of ancient Thailand so complex that following it all takes a Masters Degree in East Asian ancient history.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 25, 2003

Once the poisonings and beheadings start tallying up, Legend is fun, fun, fun.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 23, 2003

Yukol has spread a huge canvas, gloriously costumed and photographed, but the staging and acting are often awkward and the saga is simply too dense for good drama.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 20, 2003

The drama fails to rise to the heights of the production design.

Full Review | Jun 20, 2003

It is visually sweeping, and the history is fascinating, but the drama is rarely stirring.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 20, 2003

An eye-popping if lumbering spectacle.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 20, 2003