LEGION (2010)

Directed By: Scott Stewart 
Written By: Scott Stewart & Peter Schnick 
Cinematography By: John Lindley 
Editor: Steven Kemper 

 Cast: Paul Bettany, Charles S. Dutton, Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki, Jon Tenney, Kevin Durand, Willa Holland, Kate Walsh, Doug Jones

An out-of-the-way diner becomes the unlikely battleground for the survival of the human race. When God loses faith in humankind, he sends his legion of angels to bring on the Apocalypse. Humanity's only hope lies in a group of strangers trapped in a desert diner with the Archangel Michael (Bettany).

The film plays pretty generic though it sounds like interesting story. It boils down to a group of characters trapped in a location fighting off attacking hordes. In fact most of the films first hour is spent in one location. Then for the rest of the running time the character spend fleeing .

This is a film by a former special effects artist and the film seems like this is his promo reel more then a film, like his imagination and skills just are running amuck on screen. Which helps as the only interesting thing in the film are the effects of which there are aplenty.

The cast is filled with stock characters who are pretty one dimensional as character types instead of actual characters. Luckily the cast is recognizable.

The strange thing about this movie is that the film is only 86 minutes filled with special effects, yet most of the screen-time is devoted more to the characters arguing being brought together then revealing themselves telling they’re back stories to one another between attacks then getting killed off after they tell their own back-stories. That is your indictment to who will die next.

The film tries to shock the audience many times, but it comes off as a gimmick and cheap exploitation like a 3d film.

It’s like watching zombie movie even though when you find out what the monsters are it becomes that much more ridiculous. The effects are the only thing that save it. It’s a genre film that tries not to be generic, Which makes it all the more generic.

The name of the diner is "Paradise Falls", a reference to the changing nature of God's attitude to man and the nature of angels from protectors to destroyers. Also a nod to John Milton's Paradise Lost, where it describes the fall of Satan to earth and the war between angels and man.

This is an odd film. Advertised as both a horror ad a action film. It has elements of both, but does a lot of dialogue scenes in between hat could leave the audience bored, bit just when they ate on the verge of true separation with the audience. An action sequence sprouts up to keep our attention.

The film is nicely shot. A little far to see in some scenes.

I like Paul Bethany and I like seeing him in lead roles. He seemed to have disappeared after the I'm THE DAVINCI CODE. It is jarring that he started more as a dramatic actor and seems to have made the leap to action every year or so with effects laden movies. I hope he finds better roles and opportunities as his talent seems wasted in films like these. I like the cast of he film and as I watched I hoped most would survive as i really liked the actors but after a certain point it gets sad once some of them don't

After awhile everything just feels simple though they try to shock you. It just doesn't cause any sort of reaction from the audience. I guess we have grown used to it at a certain point.

Spoiler

I do have to say the best scene is the explosion of a character as their stomach acid ends up killing another. If there had been more scenes like that. This movie could have been something, but half the shocks are ruined by the trailers of the film. Which show most o the shockers that I could have been impressed by If I had seen the movie blind.

I know they wanted to use the best scenes in the trailer or at least the most vivid to get the audience to see the film. Entice them but it can also be said that of all your best scenes are in the trailer your film is not that good. The tattoos on Michael (and later Jeep) are Enochian, a language supposedly of the angels as recorded by John Dee and his seer Edward Kelley in the late 16th century, which they claimed was revealed to them by angels.

I can see why the writers and studio thought his would be good and different, but it somehow feels like an assembly line films made to have certain efficiency, yet no personality.

It's a film that of you think about It is ridiculous. Why would angels use machine guns? Plus why possessing people? Why do the angels more look like demon with their contortions? Do they just possess or kill them also?

The ending leaves you with just as many questions as the film. Yet it seems to think itself profound.

The characters in any other film would have been the lone survivors, but here they are all victims, Though most have a reason to live as a set up.

The film a lot of times thinks itself stylish, hit after awhile seems excessive.

It’s something you can wait for on television. Even at 86 minutes it still feels endless

GRADE: D