Review: LEGION

Now we have it folks, another vision of the end of mankind. Another tale of God turning his back on his children, smiting us in one fell swoop… throwing in the towel so to speak and starting over. Well, at least that’s the intention.

LEGION is Scott Stewart’s big cinematic break and personally, I found the film to be mostly a big cinematic disappointment. No, it’s not a terrible movie. In many ways, it’s a perfectly adequate addition to the average stock of genre fare, but what it lacks is any truly original or groundbreaking elements.

The film begins by introducing the cast of human characters whom all coalesce at a dumpy all-in-one diner, filling station and repair shop. As God sends his legion of meat puppets possessed by angels to wipe out mankind the small ragtag group of humans are led in an unlikely battle royal by the angel Michael (Paul Bettany) who has “severed” his allegiance to God in a bid to save humanity.

Now we’ve laid out the overall plot of LEGION, and no… I haven’t given everything away, but honestly there’s not much to give away. I really don’t mean to be so hard on the film. It had its moments. For example, the costume design and approach of portraying the angels Michael and Gabriel (Kevin Durand) was pretty cool and Gabriel had some nifty fighting moves and a badass techno-mace as a weapon. However, the film lacked any really intriguing or fascinating draw. I found myself at a loss for even a single moment of awe. Nothing in the film truly grabbed my attention and demanded that I sit up and pay attention.

LEGION admittedly takes a difficult subject matter, but one with which it could have done some really cool things with, and fails to perform outside the box. What is lacking from the film that could have made it much more compelling was if it had taken some risks, perhaps a bit of controversy or stepped out on a limb. LEGION needed more edginess; more flare and fire. Overall, it falls flat.

The human characters — portrayed by Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki, Charles S. Dutton, Kate Walsh, Jon Tenney and Willa Holland – are little more than part cannon fodder and part story crutch. There is a little character development for Charlie (Palicki) who is indirectly significant to the plot and Jeep (Black) ends up being under developed given his ultimate role in the story.

LEGION is at least fairly consistent, despite some stereotypical characters and a plethora of clichés, but the infamous “granny” scene that popped up in all the trailers actually feels terribly out of place in the film. This scene seethes early Sam Raimi a la EVIL DEAD, but none of the remainder of the film leads up to or maintains this feel at all. To be quite frank, the film would have been far more entertaining if it had begun and stuck with this Raimi-esque feel throughout.

Overall, the film ranks somewhere between a high-end direct-to-DVD and a moderately cool theatrical release during a matinee show. LEGION has its moments, but nothing really stands out. It’s great to see Charles S. Dutton back on the big screen and I hope Scott Stewart has acquired some valuable experience so that PRIEST, his next scheduled flick, proves me wrong and blows me away.