Legion

Year: 2010
Director: Scott Stewart
Cast: Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Adrianne Palicki, Tyrese Gibson, Kate Walsh, Charles S. Dutton, Willa Holland


This film has one kick-ass trailer, and the concept was too hard to resist. For a guy who has a great interest in comicbook stories and otherworldly tales, I just couldn't pass this up, even though I had to admit, deep down I knew something about this film wasn't going to stick even before I watched it.

Legion talks about the end of the world, by the hand of God, who has grown tired of mankind spending their entire existence killing each other. So He sends angels down to finish the job.

Angels. Yeah. Hard to swallow at first, but this is how it is.

Michael, the general of God's army, still has faith in man however, and chooses to side for them. He comes down to earth, cuts off his wings and proceeds to a lonely diner out in the desert. This is where a young waitress named Charlie is pregnant with a child who will someday grow up to be a messiah. This is God's target, and this diner will be the final battleground.

Michael is a little late however, as God's angels, who come in many scary forms, have already come for Charlie. Thankfully, Charlie is among friends: her boss Bob, his son Jeep who harbours feelings for her, Bob's partner Percy, and a handful of customers made up of a dysfunctional family of three and Kyle Williams, an African American man on his way to divorce court. Michael now has to lead this motley crew to protect Charlie from his father's wrath.

Legion is director Scott Stewart's first film, and visually it does no wrong. If you liked Constantine, you'd love what you see here. There are lots of action, violence and gore being served, and the horror element was well done too. Stewart, working on a script he co-wrote, also makes time for character development, explaining how these characters came about, what drives them and what their flaws are, from the diner peeps to Michael himself.

The cast perform to expectations, particularly Paul Bettany, who as Michael, shows steadfast thinking and near emotionless actions to protect Charlie, much like the T-800 was in protecting John Connor in Terminator 2. Quaid, Dutton, Gibson and Walsh lend credible support as Bob, Percy, Kyle and Sandra, matriarch of the family, respectively.

Alas, the film has many flaws that are hard to ignore. For me, being a guy who has watched Supernatural on TV religiously, seeing some of the stuff that goes on in Legion doesn't make much sense. For example, why would God go through so much hassle to exterminate man? Why do these angels look more like demons? If you are a fan of Supernatural, you'll know what I mean. In one scene, one of the good guys ends up a victim and is tied to a cross upside down. If the angels are sent from God, why would they do something like that which is an obvious insult to Him? And to top it all off, some of the characters get killed off too easily.

I guess the trick here is to not try and make sense of Legion and just enjoy the ride. Forget about logic and watch God and his creations kill each other in the worst way possible.

My verdict: There's plenty of room for improvement. Compared to Constantine, this is way too messy. (3.5/5)