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DVD Legion
 Run time: 100 min Rating: 5.1 Genres: Action | Fantasy | Horror Director: Scott Stewart Writers: Peter Schink, Scott Stewart Stars: Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Charles S. Dutton |
| Storyline 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 trapped in a desert diner with the Archangel Michael (Bettany). Written by Anonymous |
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| Plot Keywords: diner, angel, human race, faith, apocalypse | |
| Details: Country: USA Release Date: 5 March 2010 (UK) |
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| Box Office Budget: $26,000,000 (estimated) Opening Weekend: £212,328 (UK) (5 March 2010) Gross: $40,168,080 (USA) (19 March 2010) |
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4 comments
I wanted to like this film, the only problem is it has very large shoes to fill. The two films that come to mind, obviously, are "Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight" with Billy Zane (rated a 6.6/10 here) which tackled the whole "end of the world/standoff in diner/lone hero fighting alongside the little guys against a legion of bad guys" thing 10 times better and "The Prophecy" with Christopher Walken (also rated a 6.6/10 here) which tackled the whole "good angel versus bad angel/showdown on earth" thing 10 times better. Both came out in 1995 and while they didn't have the special effects that this one had, they had a cohesive story, GREAT acting and believable characters.
The internet is going to crucify this film, so I'm just going to break it down simply: The first hour or so is pretty good, and if it had stopped at the 70 minute mark, it could come close to the 6.x rating it's getting now. The last 30 minutes is a rushed, hatchet job that will make you regret seeing this film.
Also, SHAME on the editors of the film trailer for spoiling the two best scenes of the film (the old lady "reveal" and the ice cream man "reveal".) I hate when you do this. You stole all of the impact those scenes had and lowered my rating by a point.
Don't pay to see this film, rent "The Prophecy" and "Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight" instead.
The overall premise of the film is a little silly yes, but it's incredibly original and it had so much potential.
The film suffers from a handful of serious flaws that ruin just about everything good that the film has going for it. The pacing is horrendous. The action scenes are few, far between and horribly rushed and the down time in between them slows to a crawl. This time is used for each of the uninteresting, two-dimensional characters to melodramatically shed out stories of their troubled pasts. We just don't care about ANY of them due to minuscule character development and a horrible script.
The whole film is terribly written with some questionable scenes that seemed to have been written only for the convenience of the characters. The plot is pretty simple but mostly unexplained and full of holes. SO much is left in the dark and the main point of the film isn't even explained so it's hard to care at all during the supposed dramatic moments.
Too much talking and not enough action for it to be a wicked B-movie and the overabundance of melodrama and terrible writing keep it from being a serious, dramatic epic.
There are slivers of a good film and some great ideas that occasionally appear and the few, brief action scenes are fairly entertaining, but everything else is so terribly executed that it isn't worth any kind of recommendation.
Judging from the trailer this movie was supposed to be a whole lot of action while the talking takes a backseat, unfortunately the 30 second trailer contained all the action you are going to see over 100 minutes of the full movie.
The acting was entirely melodramatic while the script was TV level. Nothing was believable, far too often you found yourself watching these characters talk to each other, explaining their own background while you sit there realizing that you don't care at all. The character development was done so obviously that it made everything feel cheap.
Avoid this movie at all cost's, you'll have more fun reading a Bible than you would watching Legion.
This movie just fails on every level.
I have seen some reviews/posts that claim people are 'missing the point' and that this is supposed to be a "B" movie in the vein of Evil Dead. Well, I love those type of movies and Legion does not compare to them, or appear that it attempted to be part of that genre in any way.
From an action movie standpoint, it basically lacks action. It has a few scenes I would categorize as 'decent'. The previews completely mislead viewers in this regard.
From a drama standpoint, the script is absolutely horrible. Even with good actors reading it, some of the dramatic parts drag on unbelievably. And there are just way too many of these parts for such a horrible script.
The plot and characters are underdeveloped, the acting is horrible, and the movie just drags on and on. I am hard pressed to find anything good to say about it other than that there are a few decent action scenes.
I know it's not the most 'wordy' review but it's really tough to say much else about this movie. It was the first time I have actually been angry at spending money in a theatre. I have never wrote a review on here, but the reviews for this movie are so completely misleading it motivated me to.