Legion

Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson and Kate Walsh star as a group of strangers stranded at a truck stop in the middle of the southwestern desert in this pointless supernatural thriller about the end of days.  Paul Bettany plays the archangel Michael, who is sent to earth to destroy an unborn human child believed to be the next messiah.  In the wake of this biblical apocalypse, Michael goes rogue and decides not to carry out God's orders because he believes in the goodness of humankind and thinks they can still be saved.  Michael is humanity's last chance for surviving this methodical extermination of all of Earth's sinners.  The story is derivative at best, and most of the action involves the trapped group of strangers fighting off Gumby-like creatures (humans who have been possessed by God's army of angels) who stretch their mouths and limbs and crawl around like Japanese horror movie rejects.  We watch wave after wave of attackers come after this random pregnant woman - how or why she was chosen to carry this important baby is never explained - and each of the holed-up survivors drops like flies one by one.  The only decent acting is from Bettany - which pretty much goes without saying since he is usually great in everything he does - who imbues the noble, self-sacrificing Michael with an elegance and grace.  Bettany's acting is not enough to save the movie, though, and all you're left with is an uninteresting film with sub-par special effects and a lame message not worth telling.


1 out of 5 stars