'Legion' is unmistakably a TV movie in every regard. It's underwritten, and underwhelming, and only just manages to be entertaining enough to keep us watching.
Before anything else, let's just admire the cast for a moment. Terry Farrell, best known as Jadzia Dax on 'Star Trek: Deep Space 9.' Corey Feldman, child actor all grown up. Trevor Goddard, best known as Kano in the underappreciated 1995 'Mortal Kombat' film. Tricia Peters, experienced stuntwoman. Rick Springfield, musician.
It's unfortunate that they're all given so little to do.
Set design and special effects are adequate, though curious, and mostly feel outdated even by the standards of 1998. Sometimes I'm reminded of cutscenes from mid-90s PC videogames; at other points it seems like effects are a throwback to the 1970s - I could swear that some explosions wouldn't look out of place in the infamous B-movie 'Phase IV.' Roger Neill's music is probably best described as simply perfunctory. Make-up and blood effects look good, at least.
Writing and direction is very forthright, maintaining a quick pace bereft of subtlety and leaving little room for the assembled cast to explore their roles. Characters are diverse in their personalities and backgrounds, yet that small sense of variation belies generally flat, one-dimensional parts that pigeon-hole the actors. This is most vividly true of Farrell as Major Doyle: She maintains the same force of personality we got to see in her much more dynamic role in 'Deep Space 9,' but Doyle is considerably more hard-boiled, and Farrell is bulldozed into chewing scenery as much as anything else. If this is less true of her co-stars, it's only because their roles are less prominent.
Much of 'Legion' thrums along with minimal meaningful narrative, and sparse significant story beats mostly serve as impetus for the characters to a) stalk through an empty industrial setting with their nerves on edge, and b) fight among each other. In the first two-thirds of the feature I counted exactly 3 instances of plot development. The screenplay opens up a bit in the run-up to the finale, allowing characters to show slightly more depth, but at all points the dialogue is irrepressibly ham-fisted, so blocky as to almost give the sense of "square peg, round hole."
It's gratifying, at least, that the climax is unquestionably the best part of 'Legion' - clearly the greatest energy was poured into the final minutes, in every regard. Yet by that point we've sat through so much middling pablum, barely holding our attention, that I'm unsure the conclusion is worth it.
It's difficult to recommend this even for particular fans of the cast, as they go to waste here more than not. 'Legion' isn't altogether bad, but there's so little to keep us truly engaged, and watching feels like checking off an item on a mundane to-do list. It's mildly interesting enough if you come across it and aren't notably discerning in your film preferences, but definitely don't go out of your way for it.
