Lesson number one: If you're an angel, don't cut your wings off. You might need them later.
Legion
starring Paul Bettany, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki, Charles S. Dutton, Kevin Durand, Kate Walsh, Dennis Quaid
directed by Scott Stewart
The subject of angels and demons has become less and less of a taboo in our pop culture. Movies, TV shows, and comic books all talk about realities where Revelations is interpreted a multitude of different ways. And why not? Whether you believe in a god or not, you have to accept that the story of the Bible is just as good as any mythology set out there. A movie with this setting and this premise, and with these actors involved, can go one of two ways; either it can be genuinely superb, or an out right piece of convoluted garbage. Its all in how well the film makers handle the interpretation, and whether or not they can pull it off.
Legion is set in a small diner out in the middle of the desert owned and operated by Bob Hanson (Quaid) and his son, Jeep (Black). Jeep is in love with the waitress, Charlie (Palicki) but she doesn’t seem interested; not to mention she is seven months pregnant with another man’s child. Percy (Dutton) runs the kitchen. On this day, the Anderson family is passing through for lunch, and Kyle Williams (Gibson) is on his way to see his son. But after a strange man in a trench coat shows up in a Los Angeles police car, none of that will really matter. His name is Michael. His body is covered with strange tattoos and he has a trunk full of big, automatic guns. Michael claims to be an angel, a general in the army of the Lord, that has turned his back on God because God has turned his back on man. He has arrived to protect Charlie and her unborn son from an oncoming horde of angel-possessed people. Their sole purpose is to kill the child, because he could end up being the savior that forsaken mankind so desperately needs.
I’ll just go ahead and get this out of the way: I hated this movie. Through and through.
The acting was horrendous. Dennis Quaid has true talent, but you couldn’t tell watching him stumble through dialogue in this film. Lucas Black never really had talent, and you can tell it plainly here. None of the cast had any sort of chemistry with each other. Each line fell flat and dead. Only two actors earn any kind of merit at all; Paul Bettany does the best he can among the fodder. For the life of me, I can’t imagine why he signed up to do this movie. He gives a rather good speech about faith, and it is wholly believable, but it falls dead on the ears it is spoken to. The other is little known Kevin Durand. He plays the archangel Gabriel whom the Lord sends to personally deal with Michael. His passion on screen is real, and you can feel the conflict within him about striking down the brother that he loves. But these two roles are but glimmers in the dark in this incredible match up of acting blunders.
The other huge problem? The plot. Or, rather, the lack there of. It is almost as if Scott Stewart came up with this end of days scenario and rushed to film it without stopping to think of all the ‘whys.’ The audience is taken from one action packed battle to the next with not so much as a mission statement or background information. Michael’s amputation of his wings is never explained. The tattoos, which are significant, are never explained. The angel-possession is never fully explained. Now, I hear some of you; sometimes the why is left up to the viewer to fill in the blank. And yes, I agree, there is a creative way to do that right, but this film did not do it that way. To care about what happens to characters or to even care about a story, you need a cause and effect. This film was nothing but effect. You never know any of the cause, because it obviously wasn’t important to the film makers. And it damaged this film, badly.
I blame it all on Scott Stewart. He is one of the writers, and he is the director. A look in his background might explain some of this folly; Legion is his first feature length film directing job. Previously, he was in special effects for several visual effects monsters: The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Sin City, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Superman Returns, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Night at the Museum, Live Free or Die Hard, and Iron Man. And let’s give the man credit where credit is due; Legion is visually stunning. The colors of the film set the tone well, and the visuals for the possessed and the angel battles are superb. However, he failed to cross over into the director’s chair successfully. It takes a lot more than pretty pictures to make a film.
Reader: just skip this movie. Its seriously a waste of money and time. And for those of you who are wondering: Yes, this is the lowest rating I’ve ever given a film on Pop Culture Is Life.
One Angel VS A Legion
Lesson number one: If you're an angel, don't cut your wings off. You might need them later.
Legion
starring Paul Bettany, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki, Charles S. Dutton, Kevin Durand, Kate Walsh, Dennis Quaid
directed by Scott Stewart
The subject of angels and demons has become less and less of a taboo in our pop culture. Movies, TV shows, and comic books all talk about realities where Revelations is interpreted a multitude of different ways. And why not? Whether you believe in a god or not, you have to accept that the story of the Bible is just as good as any mythology set out there. A movie with this setting and this premise, and with these actors involved, can go one of two ways; either it can be genuinely superb, or an out right piece of convoluted garbage. Its all in how well the film makers handle the interpretation, and whether or not they can pull it off.
Legion is set in a small diner out in the middle of the desert owned and operated by Bob Hanson (Quaid) and his son, Jeep (Black). Jeep is in love with the waitress, Charlie (Palicki) but she doesn’t seem interested; not to mention she is seven months pregnant with another man’s child. Percy (Dutton) runs the kitchen. On this day, the Anderson family is passing through for lunch, and Kyle Williams (Gibson) is on his way to see his son. But after a strange man in a trench coat shows up in a Los Angeles police car, none of that will really matter. His name is Michael. His body is covered with strange tattoos and he has a trunk full of big, automatic guns. Michael claims to be an angel, a general in the army of the Lord, that has turned his back on God because God has turned his back on man. He has arrived to protect Charlie and her unborn son from an oncoming horde of angel-possessed people. Their sole purpose is to kill the child, because he could end up being the savior that forsaken mankind so desperately needs.
I’ll just go ahead and get this out of the way: I hated this movie. Through and through.
The acting was horrendous. Dennis Quaid has true talent, but you couldn’t tell watching him stumble through dialogue in this film. Lucas Black never really had talent, and you can tell it plainly here. None of the cast had any sort of chemistry with each other. Each line fell flat and dead. Only two actors earn any kind of merit at all; Paul Bettany does the best he can among the fodder. For the life of me, I can’t imagine why he signed up to do this movie. He gives a rather good speech about faith, and it is wholly believable, but it falls dead on the ears it is spoken to. The other is little known Kevin Durand. He plays the archangel Gabriel whom the Lord sends to personally deal with Michael. His passion on screen is real, and you can feel the conflict within him about striking down the brother that he loves. But these two roles are but glimmers in the dark in this incredible match up of acting blunders.
The other huge problem? The plot. Or, rather, the lack there of. It is almost as if Scott Stewart came up with this end of days scenario and rushed to film it without stopping to think of all the ‘whys.’ The audience is taken from one action packed battle to the next with not so much as a mission statement or background information. Michael’s amputation of his wings is never explained. The tattoos, which are significant, are never explained. The angel-possession is never fully explained. Now, I hear some of you; sometimes the why is left up to the viewer to fill in the blank. And yes, I agree, there is a creative way to do that right, but this film did not do it that way. To care about what happens to characters or to even care about a story, you need a cause and effect. This film was nothing but effect. You never know any of the cause, because it obviously wasn’t important to the film makers. And it damaged this film, badly.
I blame it all on Scott Stewart. He is one of the writers, and he is the director. A look in his background might explain some of this folly; Legion is his first feature length film directing job. Previously, he was in special effects for several visual effects monsters: The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Sin City, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Superman Returns, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Night at the Museum, Live Free or Die Hard, and Iron Man. And let’s give the man credit where credit is due; Legion is visually stunning. The colors of the film set the tone well, and the visuals for the possessed and the angel battles are superb. However, he failed to cross over into the director’s chair successfully. It takes a lot more than pretty pictures to make a film.
Reader: just skip this movie. Its seriously a waste of money and time. And for those of you who are wondering: Yes, this is the lowest rating I’ve ever given a film on Pop Culture Is Life.