Friday, January 22, 2010

Movie Review: Legion

The end of the world as we know it movies seem to be running rampant. From Zombieland to 2012, The Book of Eli, Day Breakers, Twilight (well, maybe not Twilight, but by watching Bella, you would think it was the end of the world) and now Legion. Don't know why the preoccupation with the end of the world. These movies were put into production before we had the big melt down in 2009 so why so many "downer" movie? But they are coming out and we get to observe all sorts of why that the world will end between diseases, vampires, man made disasters, cosmic alignment and now it appears that god himself is mad with man and wants to destroy him using his angels.


Opening scene, in LA the sky opens up and with a bit of a flash a man appears out of nowhere. Hmmmm...kinda reminiscent of the start of Terminator. In shadow against a stone wall we see wings and then a knife, pain, blood. Hmmmm....didn't I see that in X-Men 2? Archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) has come to Earth to help save it. God is mad at man and wants to wipe him off the face of the planet. Gee, the story of Noah's ark and the flood comes to mind. So in 2006 Bettany plays an albino trying to save the Catholic Church from people. Now he's trying to save the people from god. Oh, and the date is December 23.

In a corner of the Mohave desert is a po dunk diner where a rag tag group of people are together when there are problems with radio and tv reception. The diner is owned by Bob (Dennis Quaid) with his son Jeep (Lucas Black), a pregnant woman who goes by the name of Charlie (Adrianne Palicki), cook Percy (Charlie Dutton) and a family dad Howard (Jon Tenney), Mom Sandra (Kate Walsh) and wayward daughter Audrey (Willa Holland). They are joined by lost father trying to get to LA Kyle (Tyrese Gibson). They realize somethings wrong when old lady with walker comes in and tells Charlie that her baby is going to burn in hell in a weird voice and then starts to crawl along the ceiling. One skillet throw and a couple shots later ceiling walking grandma now with lots of small pointy sharp teeth is laying on the ground in a pool of blood.

Later that day Michael arrives dum da dum to save the day! He could care less about the rest of the people, only the baby within eight month pregnant Charlie. The baby is going to be able to save humanity he tells them along with all hell is about to break loose, but it isn't hell, it's the angels from heaven that are causing the problems by using the shells of people who have weak minds to try to get to Charlie's unborn baby. People inside the diner, aptly called Paradise Falls are trying to make it to the next day as the angels attack. Miraculously, on Christmas Day Charlie gives birth during the blowing of the trumpets signaling Gabriel's (Kevin Durand) coming. Funny, Durand played Keamy on LOST who killed Ben's daughter and here he is playing an angel trying to kill Charlie's baby where on LOST Charlie was trying to save Clarie's baby. Weird I know.

Michael and Gabriel battle it out. Lots of bodies get wasted along the way. Questions of anger, wrath, love and faith get put out there. Some get answered, some don't. Does the baby make it to be able to save the world ala John Connor in Terminator or does god's wrath and the angels instructions to smite man by killing Charlie's baby win out?

As a christian, the were SOOOOO much wrong with this movie it isn't even funny. If you believe anything in the Bible you know that God did wipe out mankind because they were so wicked with only Noah and his family being saved with a 40 plus day open ocean cruise. The first part of the trip was ruined by rain, but afterward the sun shone bright. Once the flood waters disappeared He created the rainbow to seal a covenant that He would never destroy man again. Scott Stewart as co-writer and director, not sure what he was going for here. It was such a hodge podge going back and forth between fate, free will, hopelessness and faith. If God already saved mankind one time with his own Son, why would it need to be saved a second time? There are just too many questions that aren't answered to make the story somewhat believable with it's own weird logic. Wouldn't it just have been easier to flood the world again and not tell anyone to build an ark? I guess if they did that it would have looked too much like 2012.

While Stewart is credited with visual effects on some other movies, he wasn't credited on this one. He is credited with a company The Orphanage which did work on this movie. Some of the visuals were pretty good. The looks of Michael and Gabriel were something that was believable if you take to the notion that angels are part of God's army. They accomplished the overall look of doom and gloom and pestilence needed for an end of the world movie.

Was it a great movie...no way. It was meh for overall entertainment unless you like end of the world stuff and then it was OK. The movie runs one hour and 40 minutes and is rated R for foul language and lots of blood. If you stay to the end of the credits there is a slight easter egg but nothing huge if you decided not to stay.

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