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The director’s cut of Ridley Scott’s (BLACK HAWK DOWN, BLADE RUNNER GLADIATOR) cult classic breathes new life into the film. The longer version benefits from a better narrative flow. The motivations of the characters are clearer and the entire story takes on a more mythic quality.

The story is a classic fairy tale where the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry, ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW) kills the last of the unicorns so that the world will fall into darkness forever. A young forest boy (Tom Cruise) has to save the princess (Mia Sara, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF) as well as the last unicorn.

Some director’s cuts make the film leaps and bounds better, but this one just clarifies the story. The studio monkeyed with the film a lot at the time of release — insisting that it be cut down and that a pop band do the soundtrack. Most of the added footage makes adds more life to the story. However, some of the scenes could have stayed the way they were — especially the first scene with the unicorn as well as the ending. If you watch the making of documentaries Scott feels the classical Jerry Goldsmith score creates a more epic feel for the production, however the new wave Tangerine Dream soundtrack sounded more fairy tale-like. In my opinion they could have kept the pop soundtrack (except for the last very cheesy song).

Watching both cuts is like watching two different films — both have great parts and both have flawed parts. The two cuts will have fans debating the pros and cons of either one. However, both films still work as great mythic love stories with amazing sets, character design and production design.