DVD Reviews

Legion – Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce May 17, 2010, 21:56 GMT

At a remote desert truck stop, the fate of the world will be decided. Evil’s armies are amassing. Armed and united by the Archangel Michael, a group of strangers become unwitting soldiers on the frontlines of the Apocalypse. Their mission: protect a waitress and her sacred unborn child from the relentless, bloody siege of the demonic legion. ...more

With an apocalyptic plot, an angel packing machine guns, and the last stand for humanity taking place at a diner in the middle of nowhere, Legion has a lot going for it. It is too bad that most of those elements didn’t help the movie be better.

Instead, the audience is treated to 100 minutes of a story that would have been better suited for an episode of the television series Supernatural.

Given how much I like Supernatural and movies like 1999’s The Prophecy, I really wanted to love Legion – despite all the negative things I had heard about the film. I ended up kind of liking parts of it and being completely bored with other aspects of the film – such as the acting, limited action sequences, and the final showdown between two angels.

Directed by Scott Stewart (who also wrote the film with Peter Schink), Legion stars Paul Bettany, Lucas Black (in full "aww shucks" mode), Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki (who proves she can look hot even nine months pregnant), Kevin Durand, Jon Tenney, Willa Holland, Kate Walsh, Charles S. Dutton, and Dennis Quaid (who looked as lost as I was during certain points of this film).

The film opens with a bit of action as the angel Michael (known in heaven as the first angel to bow down to man when God created them) falls to Earth and quickly cuts his wings off, finds some clothes and a huge arsenal of weapons. The opening minutes of the film reminded me of the opening of 1984’s Terminator – which the film’s ending also brings to mind.

As Michael is exiting with all his weapons, he runs into some cops, but it appears one of them isn’t a real cop but an angel possessing the cop (sort of like how the demons do it in Supernatural). Michael makes short work of the possessed cop, and mutters something about it beginning.

The film then jumps to a diner in the middle of nowhere and introduces the audience to its cast of misfit characters – who will spend the rest of the film holding up in the small diner and fighting all the remaining humans now possessed by angels. The set-up reminds of Night of the Living Dead, Assault on Precinct 13, and even the Howard Hawks’ western film Rio Bravo.

The diner is owned by Bob Hanson (Quaid) who runs it with his friend Percy Walker (Dutton). Hanson's son Jeep (Black) runs the garage/gas station the diner is attached to, and is love with the very pregnant Charlie (Palicki) - who also works at Hanson's diner. Charlie has no intention of keeping her baby (they never really go into the father other than to say he is gone), but Jeep is hopeful he can get her and the baby to stay so they can be a family.

As the opening minutes of the film roll along, we are also introduced to stranded family Howard Anderson (Tenney), Sandra Anderson (Walsh), and their rebellious daughter Audrey (Holland). They are at the diner waiting on Jeep to fix their car, and are soon joined by Kyle Williams (Gibson) - who stops at the diner because he is lost and needs to use the phone. Williams is on his way to court to fight for custody of his child, but the plans get derailed when a crazy grandma starts climbing the walls and trying to kill Charlie's baby.

Quaid and Gibson gun grandma down as Michael pulls up to the diner to inform them that the world is coming to an end and that all of God's angels are coming to kill Charlie's baby. It seems Michael believes if they can hold off the apocalypse until Charlie gives birth then God will change his mind about destroying humanity. Of course that means they are going to have to kill a lot of possessed people, but that is why Michael brought all the machine guns.

The film’s pace picks up a bit with the arrival of Michael, but the plot also gets a bit muddy. The body count rises and we get a few minutes of character development, but they never really explain why Charlie’s baby is the one that will change God’s mind. I guess she was the only person in the world giving birth that day, or I might have missed a valuable plot point somewhere in the stiff acting.

Regardless, Legion isn’t the kind of film that you are supposed to dwell on the plot points. It is a film that is supposed to be filled with action, some cool angel violence, and good special effects. It delivers on some of that, but not enough to really save it.

Michael and company somehow manage to hold off tide after tide of the possessed (although a few of the good guys die in the process), and look like they might have a fighting chance when the baby is born. Everything looks like it might be starting to turn the heroes’ way, and then Gabriel’s horn blows and Michael is forced to have a showdown with his angel friend.

Thanks to a few quick flashbacks, the audience knows that back in heaven Gabriel tried to stop Michael from his plan, and begged him not to question God’s decision. It is also clear that Gabriel has no problem killing the humans in the diner – including the baby.

Michael and Gabriel (who looks more like Hawkman from DC Comics thanks to his huge mace) square off while Jeep (who Michael has given special tattoos and said has the power to protect Charlie and the baby) and the others escape. From there, the movie builds to an exciting if somewhat confusing ending – which is nicely held open for a sequel or possible television spin-off.

Legion is not as good as I hoped it would be, but it isn’t totally bad. To me, the film felt more like a pilot for a new television series on the CW Network or the SyFy Channel.

The ensemble cast of actors do the best they can with the material, but parts of the story just leave you questions that start to annoy towards the end of the film (such as why the angels wear dog collars around their necks, why Charlie’s baby is the only important one, and why Michael finds faith in mankind due to Jeep’s love of Charlie).

Although the plot is questionable, the film has some genuine fun moments thanks mostly to Bettany. I would have never thought of him as an action star, but he has the goods in this film. Bettany’s Michael kicks serious ass, and the actor gives the angel a deadly cold stare and no nonsense attitude.

The rest of the cast do decent jobs in the film, but all seem to be on auto-pilot. Quaid and Black give the type of performance you expect, but if you blink you might miss the whole father/son bonding relationship moment or the fact that Quaid’s character is some kind of drunk who hit bottom when his wife left him.

Walsh gives a somewhat comical performance towards the end of the film. Her character loses it a bit and she turns into a crazy woman they have to tie to a chair. It is meant to add to the tension of the film, but I found it rather funny.

Although the film is a tad lacking, visually it is a fun little ride with the angels providing a decent look, the possessed people taking on deformed features (an ice cream man’s jaw drops as he walks like a spider), and the few glimpses of heaven looking cold and pompous.

The Blu-ray gives the film a crystal clear presentation with a slight grain at times during some of the diner scenes (which fits given it is out in the desert). It also hurts some of the effects as the angel’s wings look a tad fake and some of the blood isn’t the most believable.

The Blu-ray includes some decent special features that take you into the making of the movie and how it progressed from story to the screen. This is an interesting look for fans of the film and did make me appreciate what the filmmakers were attempting to create on screen.

Legion is a film that might have worked better as a television series or mini-series. The film’s plot borrows several elements from past movies, but Bettany’s commitment to his character makes it worth watching.