Less-than-legendary "Fall"
Legends of the Fall
Cast: Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond
Director: Edward Zwick
Movie Help Web Popcorn Kernels: 
First, a confession: I saw this movie under duress.
Every time I visit my folks, we go out and rent a bunch of flicks from the local video store. Everyone gets to pick two, and on this occasion my brother happened to pick Legends of the Fall. Why, I'm not sure; he's not a Brad Pitt fan, and he usually goes for action or sci-fi pics (the cheesier, the better), not romantic dramas. Still, we all agreed — reluctantly, on my part — to give Pitt a shot.
Don't get me wrong — I don't hate Brad Pitt by any means. I liked him in Thelma and Louise, and I laughed at his stoned slacker in True Romance. But I've never seen him as an actor who could carry a movie, and he's asked to do that here, in not one but two storylines that don't seem to belong in the same film.
In one plot, he's the middle son of a family in Montana, living in isolation until the younger brother's fiancee, played by Julia Ormond, comes to stay with them. I've only seen Ormond in one other movie (First Knight, oddly enough another pick by my brother — hmm...), so I'm not in a position to judge her acting skills. I can only say that Legends doesn't give her very much to work with; all she has to do is stand around and look beautiful, and that's enough for three brothers to fall in love with her.
After the youngest son (a decent portrayal by Henry Thomas) dies in the war, Pitt and Adrian Quinn battle for Ormond's affection, sparking the conflict that threatens to destroy their family. The romantic rivalry seemed pretty cut-and-dried, good brother vs. bad brother to me; first Pitt kisses her, then Pitt leaves her, then Quinn marries her, etc.
This would have been melodrama enough for one movie. But Legends (through its Native American narrator) also tries to position Pitt as a heroic figure. He fights bears bare-handed, takes scalps on the battlefield, and suffers great pain and grief. The narrator neglects to mention that Pitt also was partially responsible for said pain and grief — which the other plot makes perfectly clear.
Now that I've written this, I actually feel sorry for Pitt. He was saddled with playing two roles at once — a larger-than-life tragic hero and a fallible human being. In other words, the movie was trying to be about "Legends" and "Fall" at the same time. The result is a gorgeous-looking but overwrought melodrama that gives both plots short shrift.
