Blu Monday: Legion Blu Ray Review

At the aptly named “Paradise Falls Diner” all Heaven is about to break loose after God, fed up with the antics of his creation, decides to send His hordes of angels to Earth to wipe it out. After Michael (Paul Bettany) rebels against angry God, he heads to the diner to help defend the unborn child of Charlie (Adrianne Palicki) a young, single mother who is a bit on the naive side. As an eclectic group gathers by chance at this desolate location, things quickly turn strange with the arrival of a little old lady with a passion for rare meat.

I like horror films with religious overtones. The Prophecy starring Christopher Walken and Demon Knight are a couple that get watched in my house quite often. The thing is, the religious priciples have to have some sort of logic to them. That sums up the issues I had with Legion. The first two thirds of the movie were fine, quite entertaining actually, with gore and explosions and some fun special effects including a little old lady playing spider on the roof and an evil looking kid stalking Charlie in the dark. It was at the end, when I expected a twist reveal that seemed a sure thing only to find out that there was no twist and no real explination to the movie that I really disliked the film. You get a generic wrapup with huge holes in the plot that really make no sense. As I said, I like these sorts of movies but I have a pretty strong knowledge of Theology and the story as it was presented made no sense, especially with Jeep’s character. I understand the need to have angels attacking instead of demons, otherwise we have Demon Knight mixed with End of Days but I fully expected some sort of logic such as in Servants of Twilight where you find out the reason the one baby is actually significant in any way.

Legion boasts a very solid cast that for the most part do a good job with the script they are given. Dennis Quaid has no problem playing Bob Hanson, the likeable diner owner who regrets past choices and wants to harbor his son from making the same mistakes. Charles Dutton is excellent as Percy the cook, who is Bob’s one true friend. Lucas Black, who has been excellent in the past in Slingblade and in the television series American Gothic, is a little wooden in his performance and doesn’t quite give off that likeable vibe that would cause audiences to root for Jeep (seriously, Jeep?!) Bob’s son. When Kate Walsh popped on the screen, I instinctively grabbed for the remote, assuming one of my wife’s shows like Grey’s Anatomy or (shudder!) Private Practice had somehow come on but was suprised to see her in a role outside the norm. She was good as the mom who turns to irrational behavior as her world crashes down. My favorite performance, however, was that of Tyrese Gibson, the armed man travelling to a custody hearing over his son. He was quite likeable in the role and brought the movie up a notch in his scenes.

Now on to the technical side. Legion is presented in the original aspect ratio of 2.40:1 in 1080P high definition. Whatever shortcomings this release may have, video and audio presentation are not on the list. Colors are natural and slightly warm as one would expect of a desert setting. Fleshtones are natural and blacks run very deep and inky for some nice looking night battles. Detail is extremely sharp, with textures and facial hair rendered perfectly. There is the slightest layer of grain that fits the film. There were no instances of banding or crush that I could find. Overall, this is a very nice visual presentation.

Every good visual presentation needs a solid audio track to bring things together and Legion does not disappoint. The audio is provided in the form of a lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. Dialogue is crisp and clearly rendered. As one would expect when much of the movie centers around a handful of survivors in a diner surrounded by the possessed, there is a lot of fantastic ambiance coming at you from all channels. Whether it’s the plague of flies descending or the ever closer demented wail of an approaching ice cream truck driven by an avenging angel, this track does a fantastic job at immersing the viewer into the movie. Excellent work, Sony!

There are some interesting special features included on the disc, including one of my favorite Blu Ray extras, MovieIQ. MovieIQ puts the web at your fingertips including letting you look up the actors on IMDB without stopping the movie and unlocking additional extras. Unfortunately BD Live has not been enabled as of yet but I will definitely be checking this out once it is. Next up is Creating the Apocalypse, which takes a look at the creation of all of the special effects in the movie. I liked the piece they did on the Ice Cream Man, which was played by veteran actor Doug Jones, aka Abe Sapien from Hellboy. the combination of practical and cgi effects used was interesting to see broken down. Bringing The Angels to Earth is a picture in a picture commentary track that gives trivia and interviews with key actors and crew while viewing the movie. It is another nice Blu Ray touch but a lot of the information I noticed was repeated in other featurettes. Humanity’s Last Line of Defense is an introduction to the cast and their onscreen counterparts that lasts about 11 minutes. From Pixels to Pictures is a second special effects featurette, focusing on the CGI side of things. This was another interesting piece. Finally we get a digital copy of the film as well as BD Live content which will go live when the Blu Ray is officially released.

Legion is not a film for everyone but I did find some things I liked about it. Unfortunately the negatives outweighed the positives however and I cannot recommend a purchase. I went into Legion with really high expectations but finished the movie feeling confused and let down. For the diehards who watch everything, give it a rental and let me know what you think. I would love to discuss elements a bit more in depth with those who have already seen it as I hate the whole spoiler thing.

Special Features:

•movieIQ™+sync and BD-Live connect you to real-time information on the cast, music, trivia and more while watching the movie!
•BD Exclusive: Bringing Angels To Earth: Picture-in-Picture
•Creating the Apocalypse – Behind the Physical Effects
•Humanity’s Last Line of Defense – The Cast and Characters
•From Pixels to Picture – A Look at the Visual Effects
•Digital Copy of the Movie

Legion is available on DVD and Blu Ray beginning on May 11th, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.