Legacy

This movie has a problem that many movies have: it's a story that could be told in less than an hour but the film makers felt they had to expand it to fit feature length. It's well made, and the acting is great, but it gets tiring very fast. The suspense sags and the ending just isn't justified by all the waiting. To compare it to Hitchcock is absurd.

Malcolm is a psychologically wounded soldier back from a clandestine operation. He's holed up in a shabby hotel room fighting his demons. He was a member of a covert operation that went bad, he wound up killing the family of a terrorist, and then, to make things worse, was captured and tortured by the very terrorist whose family he had killed. We come to understand that he was betrayed, but who betrayed him? And was the betrayal necessary to protect the operation or was it just to cover someone's behind?

Now he's escaped from an army medical facility and is mentally disintegrating by himself in that shabby room. Some elements of the film are hardly believable and what is real and what is imagined is never really clear.

That war can have devastating psychological effects on soldiers is well known. But we also want to know the mechanics of the operation that went wrong, and the decisions that were made. The operation was set up in order to stop a dangerous terrorist who was in possession of a large quantity of sarin gas, and is intent on wiping out a major American city, at least the infidels who live in it. These details are in the background and are leaked out as the movie progresses, at least to the extent we can believe Malcolm, who is clearly delusional and drunk most of the time. Even in his right mind Malcolm may not know what happened at the highest levels. Meanwhile we have to watch Malcolm going crazy and telling his story in a rambling, confused videotape. The craziness, though skillfully performed, obscures our understanding the the story, so we're left wondering what really went down.

We can sympathize with his pain. Brave soldiers can be scarred for life, but having to wait for plot elements to emerge while watching Malcolm disintegrate in his paranoia and guilt is excruciating. In fact, the only real suspense is wondering what Malcolm is finally going to do to resolve his dilemma. When the ending comes it's an anti-climax. There are no bad guys here (except the terrorists) and really no sense of justice because it's difficult to know for sure who was involved or what decisions were made. Moral clarity is something you need for a successful thriller, but here the moral lines are blurred.

"Legacy" stars Idris Elba as Malcolm Gray, a Special Forces operative. It's really fun to watch. It's the first feature from the writer/director, Thomas Ikimi...and a good one at that.

Story & Plot: The story was personal and touching. As a plot, it developed plausibly and in a compelling manner. It took a lot of twists and turns that I did not expect. Suspense, romance, action, buddy scenes...they were all there and they were all done well.

Acting: Great performances from the cast. Really like seeing Clarke Peters (The Wire). However, the weakest link was Idris Elba. His Malcolm Gray role was meant to be vulnerable, but Elba doesn't always achieve that. That difficulty makes sense since he's on top of the world: women drool over him, men respect him. Plus he's minted. Not exactly a guy in a vulnerable position. Still, he gave a solid performance in a role in which I'd never expect him.

Characters: The characters were three-dimensional and fun to watch. Malcolm Gray's military buddies (including Clarke Peters) were very fun to watch. They all had some great scenes.

Dialogue: Mostly natural. However, there were a few lines that came out of Malcolm Gray's mouth that didn't seem consistent with his character or with the actor playing him.

Cinematography/Editing: Great cinematography and editing. Helped to keep things tense and interesting.

Legacy is the second film from up and coming director/writer Thomas Ikimi and serves as further evidence that this young man is sure to be a source of great films in the near future.

This time he is armed with a stellar cast (Idris Elba is excellent and gives a most harrowing and unique performance), a dedicated crew and far less of the creative restrictions he experienced while making his micro budget first film, Limbo.

This is a dark and tense psychological thriller with a strong focus on the psychology so that the viewer must constantly question themselves throughout the complex plot. We are left often doubting our own conclusions just as quickly as we became certain of them.

I had a few gripes with the casting and thought that Clarke Peters was slightly out of place portraying a covert and deadly Black ops soldier. Also Monique Gabriela Curnen (who nevertheless gives a good performance) didn't quite feel the right choice for her role as Idris' past love interest. It's not all bad though as Eamonn Walker, Joe Holt and Lara Pulver were all excellently cast resulting in some particularly gripping scenes whenever they shared the screen with Idris Elba.

All in all this is a thinking person's film, don't let Idris Elba's all action persona falsely paint your expectations of what this film is about. If you like The Jacket, Jacob's Ladder or Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos) then you should appreciate and enjoy this film. This Legacy will leave you with questions, but are you sharp enough to decipher the answers?

I didn't know anything about this film when I finally got to see it. Kermode never reviewed it, Metacritic doesn't list it and several other sites I read didn't either. The reason I was looking for it was that I am a fan of Idris Elba – not a fan of all his films necessarily but a fan of what he can do since I am familiar with him from his quite brilliant turn as The Wire's Stringer Bell. The news that the film also had some other HBO actors I know (Walker from Oz, Peters from The Wire, Pulver from True Blood) only made me want to see it more – Eamonn Walker in particular was more than enough. But essentially the reason I came to the film was Elba and other than that I didn't know what the plot was or what to expect. I'll be honest and say I had some worries for several reasons: firstly it is a joint production with a Nigerian company and the few Nollywood films I have seen have been poor; secondly it was called "Legacy Black Ops" when I heard of it and I worried that it was trying to cash in on the Black Ops name since this is a rather large video game at the moment.

Anyway, despite my worries I actually quite enjoyed the film and found the 90 minutes to be mostly surprisingly gripping. Starting with a black ops mission that is going wrong we cut quickly to a cheap room in Brooklyn where one of the unit has holed up to complete "his mission". He talks to his video camera alone in his room; he is careful when he opens the door and he rarely answers the telephone. His ex (who married his brother while he was presumed dead) visits him in his room and he watches his brother (a presidential hopeful) being interviewed on TV. The structure of the film means we are mostly in the room that Malcolm has rented but we also have flashbacks to the mission he was on at the start of the film so that, while he follow his story now, we also see what has happened. What is happening now is that Malcolm appears to be trying to make up for his "sins" by exposing his brother's involvement in these black operations and in particular the fraud of a large sarin gas recovery on the East Coast by leaking details to a journalist. Throughout the film, in the time-honoured tradition, the pressure and the isolation appear to be taking their toll on Malcolm and his grip on sanity appears to be slipping.

In this regard the film does tread a rather worn path but I still found it engaging. I have seen others on IMDb say it was too long but for me it only started to get obvious that reality was maybe blurring around the halfway mark and it was only 90 minutes long so it did interest me. Splitting the two timelines along the movie means that it does hold the interest in both regards but unfortunately as the film starts to come together it doesn't gel as I had hoped. The ending is far too sudden and the film has not quite done enough with Malcolm's guilt to make it accessible to the viewer to the point that we really understand him – more dialogue between Macolm and his brother would have been one way to overcome this and I was hoping that the scene with them both in his room would produce more spark and more emotion. It still works but the material really needed to be stronger for the second half and I did feel it fell short.

One massive reason it still works though is Elba, and you can see why he took this low-budget movie made in Dumfries (Scotland) because the stage is his. Although the material doesn't give him everything he needs, he gets his delivery just right – gradually going from stable to unstable and with plenty of emotions to deliver. I enjoyed his performance a lot and I wish more films gave him the chance to show what he can do because he is a great actor. I know he is also in Thor at the moment and I hope that he can continue to get a good mix of small roles in large films and large roles in smaller films. The support cast are no slouches although they have less to do. Lie to Me's Curnen works well with Elba although she does inhabit this odd world that feels a little less real than it should in the early stages of the film. Peters is a solid presence – not sure what attracted him but he is a good find here. Walker disappointed me in terms of what he had to do – he is a good presence but the material lets him down as he is capable of more emotional range than he has here; like I said, his scene with Elba should have been so much more than it was – not just for the film's benefit but also for theirs as actors.

Overall Legacy is engaging film even if you know roughly the road it is going down. The material lets it down by not all pulling together as it should in the final third but it is still engaging thanks in the main part to a great performance from Elba, who really nails his character and convinces in every scene, whether it be torture, action or breakdown.

I like to believe I am a man who prefers the different type of story and something that's a bit engaging and new. Legacy definitely offers that.

It takes place in a hotel room where Malcolm Gray (Idris Elba) uncovers a scandal linked with his brother who is a senator. All the while having flashbacks of his time on the force with his comrades and what he went through.

It's intense, gripping and you are never bored. Elba is truly fantastic and shows his range beyond Stringer Bell. The whole cast is amazing and I keep wishing Eamonn Walker had more scenes!!!! The acting throughout was truly amazing and the writing was clever as well as the direction that really drew you in to this puzzle of a film.

I do think there are a few things that could have made it more claustrophobic and emphasized the lonesome nature of this story but nothing in the world can ever be perfect. The film does enough to make it a must-watch.