Movie Review - Legion

Webster's Dictionary defines legion as "a great number of persons or things." However, it should read, "Don't see this movie, it is pure crap!"
Stop me if you heard this one before: "The last time God lost faith in man, he sent a flood, this time, He sent Angels."

Basically, the world is in peril and most of humanity gets destroyed. "Legion" is the feature directorial debut of Scott Stewart who is no stranger to special effects. He has worked on numerous big-budget, edge-of-your-seat thrillers such as "Jurassic Park," "Superman Returns" and "Pirates of the Caribbean," to name a few.

"Legion" is visually dark, beautiful and saturated with talent. But all that is wasted on a script that leaves the audience scratching their heads and the movie quickly just goes to hell. Dennis Quaid may very well be the most underrated actor of this generation. He has been in so many films, but it seems he never really springs to mind when you think of great thespians.

(Personally, I think Meg Ryan and her people have something to do with this, and I want to tell her, "Sure, it was a bitter horrible divorce played out in the tabloids, but the guy has suffered enough, give him back his career.")

Taking place in the desert, which serves as a psychological image to the desolation that God feels toward humanity, angels are sent to bring about the Apocalypse via possessing "weak-minded people" and utilizing them to exterminate the rest of the population.

Fallen angel Michael, portrayed by British actor, Paul Bettany, who is the singular seraphic force standing between the Creator and the abomination of the planet's only hope of redemption.

He drops to earth, trades his metal wings for machine guns and vows to alter destiny. His charge is to protect a waitress played by Kate Walsh, who is pregnant with the Messiah.

The movie is far less interesting than my experience getting into it, so I will digress from the review for a minute.

For press, when a movie premiers, you walk into the theater, address the PR rep and someone escorts you into a designated area devoted for the purposes of reviewing the film.

As this was my very first film review, I was overly excited and dressed the part with my corduroy fitted jacket, beret and horn-rimmed glasses (that are for aesthetic purposes only).

I approached the smartly dressed woman and stated my name and my purpose. To which, she forthrightly declared that press was not welcome and they had decided not to allow any reviews of the film at that time.

After seeing the film, I completely understand why she did not want me going into the screening with a steno pad.

Now, back to the review.

Although the talents of Charles S. Dutton and Quaid were wasted entirely on too many cheesy lines and an insipid script, I doubt that it will affect their careers because I don't anticipate a "legion" of people will see this movie.