DVD--Legion

or: First vampires...now angels?

One word to sum it up: Mediocre

B-grade horror+tacky cinematography+angels and religious themes+ridiculous effects+terrible shlock galore=Legion. The movie is almost all kinds of bad, which is a shame since the more than capable cast who had to ride it out in a diner for the length of this film tried so hard to elevate it from the crap that it was. It should be said that apocalyptic themes are running a little dry now. Next the gods in movieland will be wanting cats to take over our world.

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, mainly a pregnant waitress named Charlie (Adrianne Palicki), who are trapped in a desert diner with the Archangel Michael (Paul Bettany).

When one watches the trailer to this movie, they may feel they could look to this film as being a totally-worth-it horror which has that kind of 28 Days Later... feel to it. Maybe it could have been a great horror which has some humanism too, aided by some supernatural creatures who only want to help (along with being the bad guys). It's not. Legion lacks humanism, and also suffers from a jumpy plot which has you thinking one way and then another way the next. These characters, as different as they are, are difficult to care for, and their fight for survival just leaves you wanting to kill them (especially the Anderson's).

Another thing that makes Legion bad is the way it is shot. While it should be going for thrills, it reaches mediocrity and sometimes even unintentional laughs. It's trying so hard to be a modern B-grade horror, but takes no interest in the eccentricity needed to do that and comes across like an average made-for-TV thriller. Anyway, the film does have a strong cast who make the most of what little material they have, and make the excessive dialogue worth sitting through. While this movie strives to be an enjoyable (mostly) religious apocalyptic horror, the viewer becomes quite weary and suddenly loses interest in what could have been a fantastic and intelligent modern horror.

THE VERDICT: Devoid of thrills, apart from the ones seen in the trailer, Legion, unfortunately, fails to be a great apocalyptic horror and succumbs to mediocrity, much to the dismay of the viewer.

4/10