Legion (2010)

Rating 15
Length 1h 44
Release 5.3.2010
Director Scott Stewart
About A group of strangers in a diner suddenly find themselves surrounded by demons. Their only hope lies in Michael, an archangel, who wishes to protect the unborn child of the restaurant’s waitress.

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The Good

• It was a well cast film. Paull Bettany is as awesome as he always is, Adrianne Palicki is charming and Lucas Black has that “Where do I know your face?” quality. Answer: He’s the kid right at the beginning of X Files: Fight the Future (1998).
• The premise, while derivative, is a good one. Terminator, Children of Men and even Harry Potter has the plot of saving an unborn child to secure a better future. They also have the bad guys there to try and stop that with all the blood and mayhem.
• Doug Jones. Who doesn’t love a bit of what Doug Jones can offer?! His cameo is short, but by no means sweet. You’ll be thinking about it for days. The beauty of it, for me at least, is that you actually get to see Doug Jones’ face. Before, of course, he does what he does best and creeps the fuck out of me.

The Bad

• The action sequences were so much like game play that it left me feeling a little sick in the end. At one point all the actors looked like CGI renderings of themselves.
• The plot, or lack thereof, is pinned around set pieces rather than the characters. Its a shame, because what they show of the people, it could have been a much better movie had it refocused the narrative on them and went the way of The Prophecy (1995). I mean, anyone who has seen the Walken as Angel Gabriel will be comparing the two any way.
• It takes itself way too seriously for a film that doesn’t endear you to any of the characters and promotes the grotesque. This film would have worked better with a nod and wink to the audience.

The Ugly

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• The gore is too much for me. It wasn’t that it seemed overly real, but the exact opposite. It had this strange ability to knock believability right out the park and also make me turn away.
• The film was way too dark in places. I’m sure it worked really well in the cinema, but I lost so much of the action because I can’t get the room I was watching it in pitch black.

Final Thoughts

If you want a film about a loner trying to save a pregnant lady, watch Children of Men. If you want a film about angels not being such the ‘Angels’ we expect them to be, watch Dogma. You want a movie about a waring heaven and angels on Earth, watch The Prophecy. Want Paul Bettany at his best, watch Gangster No 1.
Point is, there’s nothing this film can offer you that a better film out there can.