''Legion'' is a 2010 American action horror film directed by Scott Stewart and co-written by Stewart and Peter Schink. The film stars Paul Bettany, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki, Kate Walsh, and Dennis Quaid. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group acquired most of the film's worldwide distribution rights, releasing the film theatrically in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

on January 22, 2010 through Screen Gems. A story of the

Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is the Christianity, Christian and Islam, Islamic belief that Jesus, Jesus Christ will return to Earth after his Ascension of Jesus, ascension to Heaven (Christianity), Heav ...

, ''Legion'' follows a group of people as they attempt to protect an infant savior from angels and the possessed in an apocalypse. ''Legion'' was released to negative critical reception, but was a success at the box office, earning over $67 million on a $26 million budget. A television series titled ''

Dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

'', set 25 years after the film, premiered on the American cable television network Syfy on June 19, 2014.

Plot

The Archangel

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

falls to Earth in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and cuts off his wings. After looting a weapons warehouse and stealing a police car from a possessed police officer, Michael travels to the Paradise Falls Diner, near the edge of the Mojave Desert. Meanwhile, Kyle, a single father driving to Los Angeles, stops at the diner. He meets the owner, Bob Hanson; Jeep, Bob's son; Percy, the short-order cook; Charlie, a pregnant waitress; Howard and Sandra Anderson, a married couple; and Audrey, their rebellious teenage daughter. As the diner's television, radio, and telephone fail, elderly Gladys enters the diner and becomes abnormally hostile, biting off a piece of Howard's neck before Kyle shoots her. A massive swarm of flies surrounds the diner and isolates its patrons from the outside world, thwarting their attempt to transport Howard to the hospital. Michael arrives and arms the patrons as the sky turns black. Hundreds of cars approach, filled with possessed people who begin to attack the diner. Michael leads the patrons in the fight, but Howard is dragged away. Later, Michael explains that

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

has lost faith in mankind and has sent His angels to destroy the human race. He also reveals that Charlie's baby must stay alive, as it is destined to be the savior of mankind; Michael disobeyed God's order to kill Charlie's baby, as he still has faith in humanity, and believes that in the end, God's mercy will outweigh His wrath. Charlie will eventually come to love her baby, but—quite unlike the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

's acceptance of the unborn

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

in her womb in the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

s—Charlie says she hates it. The next morning, Sandra discovers Howard crucified on an upside-down cross behind the restaurant, covered with huge boils. She tries to rescue him, but he explodes into acid. Percy dies shielding Sandra from the blast. Sandra goes insane and must be restrained. Meanwhile, the remaining survivors hear a radio transmission that reveals other pockets of resistance. One such refuge is nearby, but Michael advises them not to go, since they would be too vulnerable on the move. That night, a second wave of possessed people attacks. Kyle is lured into a trap and killed, while Charlie goes into labor. Audrey and Michael help deliver the baby as trumpets sound, signaling the approach of the Archangel

Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

. In a panic, Sandra breaks her restraints and tries to give the baby to the possessed, but Michael executes her. Moments later, Gabriel enters the diner and fatally wounds Bob. Michael urges the group to escape and tells Jeep to "find the prophets, learn to read the instructions". The hordes of possessed humans cannot approach Charlie's baby; Jeep, Audrey, Charlie, and the baby go to Michael's police car. Gabriel and Michael fight to a standstill before Gabriel stabs Michael through the chest with his morning star. Michael dies, and his body disappears. Dying, Bob uses his lighter to ignite the diner's gas main and blow up the diner, incinerating himself and the remaining possessed. Jeep, his body covered in the same mysterious drawings seen on Michael's body, concludes that the tattoos are his instructions. Gabriel appears and a scuffle ensues in which Audrey is killed. Gabriel corners them in the nearby mountains and is about to kill them when Michael descends from Heaven, healed and restored to the rank of Archangel. Michael tells Gabriel that Gabriel gave God what He asked for, but Michael gave Him what He needed, giving humanity another chance. Michael says that this was God's plan to test His angels, believing they had become blind in their loyalty and that as Gabriel continues to obey blindly, Gabriel has failed Him. Ashamed, Gabriel leaves. Michael explains to Jeep that he is the child's true protector. Jeep asks Michael whether they will ever see him again; Michael simply encourages him to "Have faith", and flies away. Charlie and Jeep reach the top of the mountain and see a small town in the valley below. Later, Charlie, Jeep, and the baby drive away in a vehicle full of weapons.

Cast

* Paul Bettany as

* Lucas Black as "Jeep" Hanson * Tyrese Gibson as Kyle Williams * Adrianne Palicki as Charlie * Charles S. Dutton as Percy Walker * Jon Tenney as Howard Anderson * Kevin Durand as

* Willa Holland as Audrey Anderson * Kate Walsh as Sandra Anderson * Dennis Quaid as Bob Hanson * Jeanette Miller as Gladys Foster * Cameron Harlow as Minivan Boy * Doug Jones as Ice Cream Man * Luke Stinehart as The Baby

Production

Principal photography took place in

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

in the spring of 2008. The director of photography was John Lindley.

Reception

Box office

''Legion'' was released on January 22, 2010, in 2,476 theaters and took in $6,686,233—$2,700 per theater its opening day. On its opening weekend, it grossed $17,501,625—$7,069 per theater and placed second behind '' Avatar''. It placed No. 6 on its second weekend, and grossed an estimated $6.8 million—$2,746 per theater, a 61.1% drop from the previous weekend. The film has come to gross $67,918,658 worldwide.

Critical response

Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

gives the film a score of 20% based on reviews from 104 critics, with an average rating of 3.78 out of 10. The site's consensus is: "Despite a solid cast and intermittent thrills, ''Legion'' suffers from a curiously languid pace, confused plot, and an excess of dialogue."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a weighted average score out of 0–100 reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 32% based on 14 reviews. Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "C-" on an A+ to F scale. Paul Nicholasi of Dread Central gave the film a one-and-a-half stars out of five, saying, "The finished product is shockingly bad. If countless angles of people firing guns with spent shells clinking to the ground are all your heart yearns for, then ''Legion'' may be your ideal Saturday night. Hoping for anything more is an exercise in futility. Spare yourself the agony." Brad Miska of Bloody Disgusting gave it 1 out of 5 stars, calling it "a prude film with some potential. It's boring, slow paced and it takes itself way too seriously." '' Variety'' film critic Joe Leydon gave the film a mixed analysis. Leydon claimed "Even when the blood-and-thunder hokiness of the over-the-top plot tilts perilously close to absurdity, the admirably straight-faced performances by well-cast lead players provide just enough counterbalance to sustain curiosity and sympathy." Frank Scheck of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' also gave the film a mixed review stating, "the goings-on in ''Legion'' are seriously silly (not to mention more than a little derivative of endless movies, especially the ''Terminator'' series), but director Scott Stewart has provided enough stylish finesse to make the proceedings a real hoot." Kim Newman compares the film to ''Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight'', ''The Terminator'', and ''The Prophecy'', stating, "In most religious-themed-end-of-the-world films—and there are more than you'd think—it's the righteous who stand against the dark. Here, it's gun-owners, which suggests how thoroughly screwed up Legion's values are." Collis Clark of ''Entertainment Weekly'' refers to this movie as dull: "The problem lies not with the cast, and Kate Walsh, in particular, deserves some sort of medal for the scene in which she narrowly escapes being dissolved by pus. Alas, the script is a rough beast that slouches toward utter ludicrousness. 'The future has been unwritten!' intones Paul Bettany's Michael at one point. But ''Legion'' barely seems to have been written at all." Mike Hale of ''The New York Times'' says, "Unfortunately, the script by Scott Stewart, who directed, and Peter Schink emphasizes stagebound melodramatics and banal television-style catharsis over action and humor... Amid a bull market for end-of-days tales, 'Legion' stands out for its explicitly biblical underpinnings and its claustrophobia." Peter Bradshaw in ''The Guardian'' says, "Not many horror movies have the decency to let elderly performers steal the show. But Jeanette Miller walks off with this one, in the robustly written role of a potty-mouthed satanic old lady who takes a fatal bite out of someone's neck. Paul Bettany plays the particularly badass angel who comes to earth in an attempt to stop God and his heavenly armies from wiping out humanity."

Home media

''Legion'' was released on DVD and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on May 11, 2010.

Television

In 2014, Syfy began airing the television series ''Dominion'', a sequel set 25 years after the end of the film. Scott Stewart, the writer/director of ''Legion'', served as executive producer. Stewart also directed ''Dominion''s pilot episode, which was written by Vaun Wilmott and aired on June 19, 2014.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Legion 2010 films 2010 horror films 2010s action horror films 2010s fantasy adventure films 2010s supernatural horror films American fantasy action films American fantasy adventure films American supernatural horror films American action horror films Adventure horror films Supernatural action films Apocalyptic films Films about angels Films about spirit possession Films adapted into television shows Films directed by Scott Stewart (director) Films set in Los Angeles Films set in restaurants Films shot in New Mexico Films scored by John Frizzell (composer) American pregnancy films Bold Films films Screen Gems films 2010 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language action horror films English-language fantasy adventure films