Légion : L'Armée des anges

God has lost faith in man and he sends his legion of angels to bring on the Apocalypse. Archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) comes down to Earth to stop it. Jeep Hanson (Lucas Black) and his father Bob (Dennis Quaid) are taking care of pregnant Charlie (Adrianne Palicki). They work at Paradise Falls diner in the middle of nowhere with Percy Walker (Charles S. Dutton). Kyle Williams (Tyrese Gibson) has come to buy some drugs. Sandra (Kate Walsh) and Howard Anderson (Jon Tenney) are waiting for their car with sexual daughter Audrey (Willa Holland). Communication is cut off from the outside world. The group of strangers must battle all of heaven to save the world.

This movie has lots of interesting ideas and visual takes on this world. It's a shoot-em-up horror crossed with a graphic novel. The problem is that it's extremely underwritten. There is nothing to the story and the dialog is unimaginative. Otherwise it has good action and a few good actors. It's a bit of B-action.

Legion is actually a pretty good movie. I had low expectations when I got this film on DVD. The trailers also looked somewhat lame. I only saw this because two of my best friends recommended it to me. Well, I'm glad they did. I actually thought this was going to be a straight up horror movie but it isn't. I'm not a big fan of horror movies. This is more like a action/fantasy movie.

Basically this is another movie about the Apocalypse. God is not happy with the way humans are behaving so he sends an army of angels to wipe out human civilization. But there is one rebellious angel who declares his protection of a mother who is carrying a child who is deemed to be the savior of all mankind.

I am a big fan of Paul Bettany. I have seen almost all his movies and I pretty much liked all of them. My favorite scene from this movie is the grandma scene. I thought that was hilarious.

Overall, this is a great movie. By the way, I'm a religious person and I don't believe this film at all. Some commenters say this is propaganda. This is just a movie that will entertain. I rate this film 9/10.

Legion is about the apocalypse and one fallen angel who tries to save the last hope for humanity. With such a high concept, it's weird how it's actually taking place in a rather constrained space : a truck diner lost in an American desert. My first impression was that the special effects looked cheap (witness the first human transformation and the way "it" talks while barely moving its mouth). It's an impression that stayed with me throughout until perhaps the final antagonist. My second impression was that the acting wasn't that bad. I didn't recognize the actor playing the main angel character (Paul Bettany) until the day after while reading the credits. He's not one we usually see as an action hero in this kind of flick but he gave a decent performance as the strong stoic type. I also remembered Lucas Black (playing Jeep : what a lousy character's name) from the time he was a talented child actor. He still is. We also have the ever reliable Dennis Quaid in a supernatural thriller yet again.

My third impression was that the little old lady (seen in previews) reminded me of the crazy old gypsy woman from "Drag me to Hell". It's no wonder she's shown in previews, it's one of the best moments. However it spoils the surprise. My fourth impression was that following the granny, the "possessed" people were rather slow, stupid and not particularly menacing, very much like zombies even though they were not. My fifth impression was that at least the filmmakers were trying to achieve character moments instead of tiring us out with incessant action. My sixth impression ,after the film, was that considering the origin of the possessed humans and the objective desired, it was really ridiculous and unbelievable to proceed that way especially considering the supposedly superior intelligence at work. My last impression is that although it's certainly watchable as a distraction, it's not really effective or a particularly good film in the genre despite the "angels", seldom seen in features these days. Don't watch "Legion" expecting a big-budget epic fantasy, it's more like an intimate, closed space, last stand b-movie thriller without that many thrills.

Rating: 5 out of 10 for mediocre

P.S. Don't watch it expecting a "legion" of "angels" either. You would be disappointed.

I saw the film last night. It started out like a typical "Survival Horror" film. A group of different people. A mysterious stranger rolls into town. All Hell (excuse me...HEAVEN) breaks loose. Then just as soon as the film got going, someone stabbed a pitchfork in it and turned it over. It totally changed gears.

Once the film first set-piece ended it turned into a slower version of Night of the Living Dead. This is largely due to a plot point that set this rule into action: God put a restraining order on all ZombAngels. They were not allowed to get too close to the main protagonist. So without giving anything away; you can now imagine the pacing of the film up to the climax. Slow and uneventful.

The acting was a caliber above most Horror films. Quaid, Black, and Bettany were all fine. However none were memorable. Even the two main Godsends, Gabriel and Michael, managed to have conflict that was forgotten seconds after the next scene started.

So I would say it's a "Catch on Cable" viewing. Unless you're a huge Bettany fan. Then I would say avoid this like the plague.

The Angel Michael (Paul Bettany) plunges from heaven to Earth, after which he cuts off his wings and gets busy with gathering up an arsenal of weapons. In the meantime in an god-forsaken diner in the middle of New Mexico several lost travellers and the diner's employees surprisingly become a central point to the apocalypse. All because of the unborn baby of the diner's hapless waitress. Soon people possessed by angels appear and only Michael's arrival helps stave off the impending doom...

Even with the above basic premise it is easy to figure out where this movie is going. It that sense it is basically a homage to the brilliant Prophecy series (brilliant more in content than acting or direction). Now I must say that I am extremely surprised by the low grades the movie has on IMDb, given that so many worse movies have ratings in their 6s or 7s...

There are definitely things not right in this movie with the whole middle sequence surprisingly poor and borderline terrible in its lack of logic - possessed suddenly stop attacking and let the one thing they are preventing from happening happen... That said the acting was at least good and characters are well presented. Add to that a very good fight sequence with the angel Gabriel and I found this movie a good if uninspiring watch.