Fresh off the heels of the Monster Squad, I watched the next movie on the PVR list. In this case it was Legion.
Legion (2010)
Starring Paul Bettany, and Lucas Black, Dennis Quaid and Kevin Durand, the plot is a simple straight-forward apocalypse type film where God has basically decided to admit his mistake with humanity and start anew. But...BUT there is a child that could save all of mankind being born to basically some white-trash girl in a desert diner. Monsters and angels try to obliterate the place but through the perseverance of non-faith, and a cache of automatic weaponry, the eclectic mix of people hold the fort until.....
...well I guess you will have to watch and see.
I watched this movie wanting to hate it. I admit I was intrigued by the creepy ice-cream guy in the promos way back when, and I had a glimmer of interest that my cynicism tried to beat out of me and for the most part it won. Delegated to being a freebie on the movie channel, I thought, "Okay, I will give this an honest go." And I expected to be disappointed.... well more than I was.
Okay if I misled you, I apologize, the film isn't good. It isn't great. I am a fan of the actors Paul Bettany, Lucas Black (who I have enjoyed since his American Gothic days), Dennis Quaid (arguably phoning in a performance here, he was much MUCH better in Pandorum) and Kevin Durand (a local actor who despite being in mainstream films is still just on the fringes of being an "IT" actor). The film does try though, and while it is obvious not all the actors are trying in the film, it is a decent B movie horror/religion flick that isn't campy tongue-in-cheek and yet still is a little fun.
Is it ridiculous? Oh hell yeah. Note to the director: Don't show a scene of a LEGION of angels that are in the multitudes of millions, and then have the entire flick be about kinda possessed people who are easily killed, and then only ONE angel to finish the job. Just saying.
The good? Well not much. Without the religious angel aspect it could have been right up there with halfway decent zombie/demon apocalypse flicks but then it gets weirdly biblical and one can't help but lose a little interest. Don't get me wrong, it's not the religion per se, it's just the "rules" that suddenly the apocalypse is bound by. Never does it fully articulate how quite possibly the rest of the world is destroyed and yet a handful of people in a diner can fend off the apocalypse for any length of time. Some of the imagery is neat like the dude exploding in acidic boils, or the creepy people (before they just became punks and headbangers).
The bad? Pretty much the rest. It was enjoyable but I could not help but wonder about the movie "The Prophecy" which had a young Viggo Mortensen, and a fantastic Christopher Walken. I will need to re-watch it, but if you want bad-ass angels, watch that flick instead. Sorry Paul Bettany, but I hope your upcoming Priest flick fares better.
Final Verdict: If nothing else is on, and you want some mindless escapism, but make sure you turn your brain off before viewing.
Add to the vault? Definitely not, but I may have to re-watch the Prophecy which if I recall correctly could be a worthy addition.
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