In a nutshell, God has lost faith in humanity and sends legions of angels from heaven to destroy all mankind. Huh? I thought angels were nice. Anyway, these forces were supposed to be led by Michael the Archangel (Paul Bettany, The Da Vinci Code), but he still has faith in man and he essentially defects from heaven. It seems that this odd plan to wipe out man gets a kink in the works at a beat-up old diner in the middle of nowhere; well actually, Paradise Falls - oh the irony. The diner is owned by stodgy Bob Hanson (Dennis Quaid) and his son, Jeep (Lucas Black). Charlie (Adrienne Palicki), Jeep's main crush, is a single waitress pregnant with another man's child (who is apparently also the key to mankind's salvation, although they never really say why). The diner is also run by Bob's best friend, Percy Walker (Charles S. Dutton), who acts as cook. Stuck at the diner due to a broken down car are the Anderson family, Howard (Jon Tenney), Sandra (Kate Walsh, Private Practice) and rebellious teen daughter Audrey (Willa Holland). Plus, Kyle Williams (Tyrese Gibson, Transformers) is also at the diner because he is lost and needs directions so he can get to his custody hearing and win back his child. When the phones and cable go down and things start to weird out, this motley crew will have to pull together if they are going to survive. Fortunately, Michael rolls into town toting a large arsenal of guns to prepare them for the onslaught.
To accomplish their grisly task, the angels possess the weak-minded, and so by the droves, angel-possessed people start arriving with murder on their minds, much like the zombies surrounding the mall in Dawn of the Dead. To add to the "that's so disturbing" factor, each possessed angel-person has little bitty baby shark teeth, razor sharp and hella creepy. To seal the deal, the angel Gabriel (Kevin Durand, Lost) is sent to finish the job Michael abandoned and boy will he be a tough foe for the group.
Legion felt more like a zombie movie than anything else, so that earned it extra points from me. My favorite scene in the movie was one where Doug Jones (the Silver Surfer from Fantastic Four and Abe Sapien from the Hellboy movies) pulls up in an ice cream truck and transforms into a hideously gangly creature set to attack. What made it all the more cool was learning that the filmmakers used mostly practicals and very little CG and Doug was actually running around on these wacky elongated legs. Now that's skill! In fact, I actually really enjoyed watching the special features (which often bore me) because they went to great lengths to make everything seem realistic even in this fantastical situation and they avoided CG as much as possible.
Overall, Legion is a decent horror flick. It's certainly not the best I've seen and it's also not the worst; it's about mid-range. The special features are worth watching and the movie looks and sounds crystal clear on Blu-ray, plus you also get a digital copy for watching on the go. While it's not one you'll view over and over and therefore might not be worth a purchase, it'll make a decent rental, especially if you like zombie-styled horror movies.
