Legion

LEGION reminds me a lot of some of the horror novels I read in the Seventies and Eighties. A motley group of humans with assorted back-stories (think GRAND HOTEL or STAGECOACH) are trapped in a diner/gas station on the edge of the Mojave Desert and are forced into being humanity’s only defenders against a rapidly approaching apocalypse. Shades of Stephen King and Robert R. McCammon! (And why does the apocalypse always start in the desert southwest?) Oh, and there’s a pregnant woman whose child is the key to saving the world, so our heroes – some of whom will live and some of whom will die – have to protect her until the baby is born and then protect the child.


Yes, you’ve seen and/or read all of this before. One twist is that it’s God who’s going to destroy the world, and the horde of monsters attacking the diner are really humans possessed by angels. And it’s a renegade angel, Michael (played by the always good Paul Bettany) who shows up with a bunch of automatic weapons and a rocket launcher to pitch in on the human side.


Despite the fact that it’s pretty predictable, LEGION is also well-made and entertaining. Sure, you know the formula, but it manages to generate considerable suspense at times. The rest of the cast, which includes Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, and a number of familiar faces from TV, does a good job, and the special effects are creepily effective. If you liked all those horror novels with similar plots, you’ll probably enjoy LEGION. I did.