“Legion,” the newest apocalyptic action thriller, which premiered in theaters Jan. 22, simply did not live up to all its hype.
The stage of “Legion” is set when God, once again, loses faith in mankind. He sends his angels to possess and take over human beings so they can kill a baby who will, according to some obscure prophecy, grow up to lead mankind away from darkness. The archangel Michael, who holds onto his faith in humanity, goes against God’s orders, falls from heaven and seeks to protect the unborn child.
This premise seemed very exciting. Who would’ve thought a movie could work where angels are the bad guys? If done properly, this was going to be a film celebrated for its inventive and original ideas.
The problem is, the most important part of the plot doesn’t make sense. God sends his angels to possesses humans and force them to attack the protagonists. Why couldn’t the angels, who are much stronger than humans, kill off everyone without even a struggle? Answer: Because then we wouldn’t have a movie. So basically the entire story structure is based on completely illogical battle orders from a supposedly infallible deity.
Plot inconsistencies aside, the movie isn’t a total loss. The special effects used to demonize the villains are very well done. When Gladys, a sweet little old lady, turned into a demonic villain the tension and fear in the audience was palpable. One of the scariest moments occurred when a child falls prey to possession. The filmmakers turned the cute and seemingly innocent into the creepiest monsters making the audience feel like nothing is safe.
Paul Bettany, who played the fallen angel Michael, gave the best performance. He pulled off the right attitude to make his character work and stood out among the mediocrity.
Adrianne Palicki who played pregnant girl Charlie, and Lucas Black, who played her intensely loyal companion Jeep, gave passable performances as well. However, the over-the-top intense dialogue was poorly written and, for the most part, poorly delivered by the cast.
The creepy ice cream man/mutant advertised wildly in the trailer was a huge letdown. Not to spoil the surprise, but this character dies half a second after being introduced.
The least they could do is give this character a bit of screen time. They made the audience think this chilling bit of CGI was an important story element when it didn’t even last long enough to advance the plot. This is largely unimportant but it brings into question the motives of these filmmakers and what they will do to get butts in the seats.
The intensity of the loud, boomy music was great and kept me on the edge of my seat until about halfway through the movie. It was like hearing your favorite song played on the radio 16,000 times until you never want to hear it again. We get it. The movie is dramatic, but if the composer uses the same exact theme for every fight scene and creepy moment the whole movie becomes repetitive and boring.
The movie ended but didn’t really finish. One would expect the climax of the film to be the biggest action sequence, probably featuring a giant angel-on-angel battle. Instead the whole ending was small bursts of action laced with cheesy overdramatic dialogue. I left the theater wondering, that’s it?
“Legion” is definitely not worth a $10 movie ticket. My advice see it when it arrives at the dollar theater.