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Every now and then we get a movie that makes little sense, but is still enjoyable to watch. There's plenty of silly and hokey material in Scott Stewart's directorial debut Legion yet the film chugs along at a brisk pace, has a handful of spry action sequences and features a performance or two that manages to elevate the material. It's dumb fun, but dumb just the same and is one of those pictures with parts better than its whole. You almost want to give it a pass because of how good the film could have been even though it fails in many, many aspects. Stewart cut his teeth as a senior member of the visual f/x house The Orphanage, working on such pics as Iron Man, the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, and my personal favorite, the Korean import The Host. He knows the ins and outs of special f/x and to show he can take the reins of a production, has written a decent genre picture with Peter Schink that's full of plenty of holes. Yet Stewart's visual style and ability to keep the story and heavy exposition fluid demonstrates that he may actually deserve to sit in that director's chair, even though what he's created is more than a bit silly.

The premise of Legion is simple: the apocalypse is here. An order has been given by God that mankind is to be exterminated. Why do you ask? Well in young waitress Adrienne Palecki's opening voiceover, her best guess is that “maybe God got tired of all the b.s.?” If God is all knowing, all powerful and aware of everything we've done and will do, I don't think he'll wipe us out in the same hateful fashion that Legion presents. If he is tired of any b.s. it's plots like the one presented in this movie. With an army of angels set to march on Earth, God's most prized soldier the archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) decides to defy his orders in a last ditch effort to save mankind. He decends from the heavens, cuts off his wings with a hunting knife and within five minutes manages to raid an L.A. armory, steal some poor schmuck's trenchcoat and ride East with a truckload of weapons. His destination: Arizona, where Palecki works at a roadside diner in the middle of the desert. She's not only expecting a baby, but has shacked up with a nice guy, whose not even the baby's daddy (Lucas Black) and his stubborn father who owns the establishment (Dennis Quaid). Before Bettany can reach the truck stop and warn its inhabitants which include one-handed cook Charles S. Dutton, a dysfunctional upper-class family (Kate Walsh, Jon Tenney and Willa Holland) and a mysterious drifter (Tyrese Gibson), trouble arrives in the form of a little old lady who swears like a sailor, has a mouth full of shark teeth and can climb the walls and ceiling like a squirrel. How can this sweet little old lady do this? Well apparently she's been touched by an angel. Well okay, not really touched, more like possessed.

Confused? Yeah me too. Apparently God's first wave of assault is to have his angels possess the weak willed to attack the strong. Rather than emanate a celestial glow, these victims look more like they've been demonically possessed and attack anyone with “great vengeance and furious anger.” They represent a God who is pissed and full of murderous rage. Huh? Yeah, I know, kinda hokey, but the point is they are depicted this way to represent lethal supernatural adversaries for our heroes. Bettany arrives on the scene with a trunk full of weapons and a warning that more like the old lady will come and they'd all better learn how to shoot assault rifles a.s.a.p. With television, radio and phone services knocked out, the apocalypse has already begun to spread across the Earth and its up to Bettany to help these eight humans defend the only decent roadside diner within fifty miles. Actually he's there to protect Palecki's baby, whose birth may be the key to saving mankind, but Quaid does cook up a great T-bone steak that looks worth fighting for.

Sitting through Legion one gets the feeling that Stewart and Schink cribbed more than a few ideas from films like Assault on Precinct 13, the zombie genre and plenty of end of the world stories. We've seen it all before and it's more than a bit familiar. What actually gives the film some substance is the fact that it moves at a brisk pace, never pokes fun at itself and has some interesting character development. This is one of those rare cases where a film filled with silly ideas works at times because it takes itself seriously. Just about every actor from relative unknown Palecki to veterans like Quaid and Dutton get an opportunity for their own character beats that don't feel forced or like written dialogue. Quaid doesn't want his son to end up as lost as the customers they get, Dutton wants to leave this world proud of the life he's led and Palecki actually admits that she never wanted the child she's carrying even though it may now be their salvation. The reflective moments of each character are probably the only convincing serious bits in the picture. Some have familiar “when I was a kid” stories, while others reveal regrets for past sins or wrong choices, but nine times out of ten those moments actually work. I'm not a fan of Tyrese, but even he isn't too bad, even though his character makes his share of dumb choices. Can't say the same for Black, who is usually good at playing a tough bumpkin but fails to convince even though his character has noble intentions and pines for a girl who may never love him. The only time some dramatic weight is added to his character is when Bettany reveals that Black's resolve is the reason he chose to disobey orders.

Bettany, who I never pictured as an action lead, manages to give a solid performance as a soldier with more than just the weight of angelic wings on his shoulders. He maintains the sense of immediacy the picture establishes early on, keeping the story moving with either his ability to take action or bark orders like “open that door and we all die.” He could have been protecting Quaid's barbecue sauce recipe for all I cared and it almost didn't matter what he was doing or why because his determination made me want to follow him just about anywhere. Bettany is not only convincing as a battle hardened soldier, but a servant of God ready to defy his master for the right reasons. When he faces off with fellow angel Gabriel (Kevin Durand) it's a surprisingly touching scene between two brothers who still care for one another even though they are now on opposite sides. Gabriel follows God's murderous orders with no questions while Michael wishes to serve their father by “giving him what he needs” not what he wants.

Legion fails in its inability to rise above the conventions of similar genre pictures and on more than one occasion comes across as absolutely stupid. More than one character makes a bone headed move that puts them all in danger and when our heroes in the diner are completely surrounded by the possessed the story loses steam despite the fact that there's at least a few thousand “zombies” outside. Stewart does demonstrate a knack for playing around with a clever idea and making a little fun out of it. I'm still having trouble figuring out why God would choose to wipe out mankind by having his angels possess people, scream profanity and go on a murderous rampage. He's God, if he can do anything, why would he choose that? Sounds more like a silly plan cooked up by aspiring screenwriters than the almighty. I hope Stewart has some brighter ideas for his upcoming vampire picture Priest which re-teams him with Bettany. He's a smart filmmaker even though his stories can be a tad dumb.
© Ron Henriques

For about 75 minutes, "Legion" is a solid, pulpy B-movie along the lines of 1986's "Maximum Overdrive" and 1990's "Tremors," a horror actioner wherein a group of disparate people are forced to hole up in a desolate setting and protect themselves from an outside threat closing in. Scott Stewart, a visual effects artist making his directorial debut, capably sets up his players at the onset and then tosses a seemingly indomitable conflict upon them that could very well spell the apocalypse. The screenplay by Stewart and editor-turned-cowriter Peter Schink is full of clichéd dialogue, but it tonally works with the piece. The actors do well, bringing more to their characters than the genre usually allows. The pace, despite alternating between scenes of soul-searching chit-chat and ghoulish, guns-blazing set-pieces, keeps relatively involving as the viewer patiently waits for the plot gaps to be filled in and the narrative to lead somewhere of note. Alas, they don't, and it doesn't. The film, signaling unmistakable post-production tinkering and amateurish editing, crashes and burns during an anticlimactic third act that answers none of the story's pertinent questions, solves none of its mysteries, and makes no sense.

On the edge of the Mojave desert, in a place called Paradise Falls—a sort of cafe, filling station and auto shop in one—a ragtag clan of employees and passersby are besieged by a lurking evil from outside. Soon after the phones, televisions and radios stop working and a demonic, wall-crawling elderly lady (Jeanette Miller) attacks, they are paid a visit from Michael (Paul Bettany), an angel who has decided to go against God's wishes and save humanity from the end-of-days invasion He has begun. The key to the earth's survival lies with the unborn child of waitress Charlie (Adrianne Palicki), whom all the other angels want dead. If they succeed, it will cement the fall of mankind. Why is this? Who knows? Also figuring into the fight are father and son Bob (Dennis Quaid) and Jeep Hanson (Lucas Black), the latter with a love and desire to protect Charlie; cook Percy Walker (Charles S. Dutton); lost traveler Kyle Williams (Tyrese Gibson), and a family with car trouble, parents Howard (Jon Tenney) and Sandra Anderson (Kate Walsh) and teen daughter Audrey (Willa Holland).

What has happened to the outside world at large? Why is Charlie's baby so important? How come God can't make up His mind if He wants to destroy the world and murder the human race or save it? And, say—why is Sandra inexplicably tied to a chair during the second half? One doesn't see her get tied up, mind you; she just suddenly is like that. Another major character is abruptly knocked off off-screen, her fate treated as a passing dialogue afterthought. "Legion" is an example of a motion picture that has obviously seen extensive reshoots and gone through multiple iterations via extensive cutting and re-editing. Certainly director Scott Stewart couldn't have originally intended for his film to end as it does, in a disastrous hodgepodge of vague, unfocused plot developments and unanswered questions. Indeed, the whole point of the movie fails to be explained. The viewer never learns why Charlie's baby is so important, why she is chosen out of all pregnant women, and why it is so vital that the child survive when, after all is said and done, presumably plenty of people are still alive across the land. If the intention was to suggest that the entire population has been wiped out, then that should have been established. Not surprisingly, it isn't.

Before incoherence and implausibility set in, "Legion" shows a lot of promise. The characters, archetypes all of them, are nonetheless likable and given enough back-story to individualize themselves. The setup, building dread little by little, is absorbing and well-constructed. The sequence involving the kindly old lady who transforms into an obscenity-spewing monster is auspicious and creepy. Another scene centering around a possessed, shape-shifting ice cream man (Doug Jones), the playful, childlike tune over the truck's loudspeaker announcing his ominous presence, is also pleasingly twisted. For once, the survivors aren't decided upon based on who gets top billing. Of the talented performers, Adrianne Palicki (TV's brilliant "Friday Night Lights") is the highlight as heroine Charlie, authentic and dazzling in her portrayal of a confused young woman who finds the will to take responsibility and fight for a baby she wasn't sure she even wanted to keep originally. Headliner Paul Bettany, by comparison, never quite grasps how to play angel Michael. He comes off as stiff and disconnected from the rest of the film, and turns in a significantly more accomplished turn in 2010's "Creation."

It is sorely disappointing that "Legion" gets so messy and goes so wrong in the home stretch. It had what it takes to stand as an enjoyable thriller, but instead has become a frustrating experience with half-formed ideas, sloppy bookending narration, and editing that must have been done with jagged scissors. Whoever is responsible for the final cut must get the brunt of the blame; their ruinous handprints taint a film that is perfectly efficient most of the time and disastrously inept for the remainder. Sadly, a far better, more cohesive picture probably exists somewhere on the cutting room floor.
Dustin Putman