Legion (film)
Encyclopedia
Legion is a 2009 American apocalyptic supernatural thriller film, directed by Scott Stewart, written by Peter Schink and Scott Stewart. The cast includes Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany is an English actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including A Knight's Tale, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code...

, Lucas Black
Lucas Black
Lucas York Black is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the CBS television series American Gothic as well as roles in films such as Sling Blade, Jarhead, Friday Night Lights, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Legion, Get Low, and All the Pretty Horses.-Personal...

, Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki
Adrianne Palicki
Adrianne Palicki is an American actress best known for her role as Tyra Collette on the NBC television series Friday Night Lights.-Early life:...

, Kate Walsh and Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...

. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. The company specializes in acquiring and producing films for a wide variety of distribution platforms, but the group's main focus is non-theatrical markets .SPWA was formerly a division of Sony Pictures Home...

 acquired most of this film's worldwide distribution rights and the group opened this film in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 theatrically on January 22, 2010 through Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....

. Eventually, this $26 million film grossed $40 million in North American theaters.

Plot

The Archangel
Archangel
An archangel is an angel of high rank. Archangels are found in a number of religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Michael and Gabriel are recognized as archangels in Judaism and by most Christians. Michael is the only archangel specifically named in the Protestant Bible...

 Michael
Michael (archangel)
Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...

 (Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany is an English actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including A Knight's Tale, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code...

) falls to Earth
Fallen angel
Fallen angel is a concept developed in Jewish mythology from interpretation of the Book of Enoch. The actual term fallen angel is not found in either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. Christians adopted the concept of fallen angels mainly based on their interpretations of the Book of...

 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. He cuts off his wings and steals a police car after a policeman is killed by another officer who is possessed. He then heads for the Paradise Falls diner, near the edge of the Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...

.

Meanwhile, Kyle (Tyrese Gibson), a single father driving to L.A.
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, stops at the diner. There he meets the owner, Bob Hanson (Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...

); his son Jeep (Lucas Black
Lucas Black
Lucas York Black is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the CBS television series American Gothic as well as roles in films such as Sling Blade, Jarhead, Friday Night Lights, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Legion, Get Low, and All the Pretty Horses.-Personal...

); the short-order cook Percy (Charles S. Dutton
Charles S. Dutton
Charles Stanley Dutton is an American stage, film, and television actor and director. He is perhaps best known for his roles as "Fortune" in the film Rudy and "Dillon" in Alien 3...

); a pregnant waitress, Charlie (Adrianne Palicki
Adrianne Palicki
Adrianne Palicki is an American actress best known for her role as Tyra Collette on the NBC television series Friday Night Lights.-Early life:...

); a married couple, Howard and Sandra Anderson (Jon Tenney and Kate Walsh), and their rebellious teenage daughter, Audrey (Willa Holland
Willa Holland
Willa Joanna Chance Holland is an American actress and fashion model. She is best known for her role as Kaitlin Cooper, Marissa Cooper's devious younger sister, on the television series The O.C.. She also appeared as Agnes Andrews on The CW series Gossip Girl...

).

An old woman enters the diner. She seems pleasant at first, but then begins taunting the diner's patrons. When Howard confronts her, she rips his throat
Throat
In vertebrate anatomy, the throat is the anterior part of the neck, in front of the vertebral column. It consists of the pharynx and larynx...

 open, screeches that they are all going to die and climbs up the ceiling like an insect. Kyle shoots her with a handgun after she attacks Bob. Percy, Jeep and the patrons try to get the injured Howard to the hospital in Kyle's SUV, but are forced to go back after passing through a swarm of horse flies.

Michael arrives and arms the patrons as the entire sky plunges into blackness. Hundreds of car lights are seen in the distance. The patrons get armed with guns and shoot at the cars as they approach the diner. As the surviving cars make it to the diner, the possessed people get out and start attacking the diner. Michael leads the patrons in fight with the possessed people, but Howard is dragged away. Later Michael explains that God has lost faith in mankind and has sent his angels to destroy the human race. He also reveals that Charlie's baby is deemed to be the savior of mankind, and that it must stay alive if humanity is to have any hope of surviving. Michael also reveals that his original mission was to kill Charlie's baby, but he disagreed with God's orders, as he still has faith in the goodness of humanity.

The next morning, Sandra discovers Howard crucified
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...

 behind the restaurant and covered with boils. She tries to rescue him, but he violently explodes. Percy shields Sandra from the blast and is killed, while Sandra is driven insane. Meanwhile, the patrons manage to catch a radio transmission revealing that there are other pockets of survivors holding out against the possessed, with one such refuge nearby. However, Michael advises not to go, since they would be too vulnerable on the move.

That night, a second wave of possessed attack, luring Kyle out by having a father and his son show up and having the father run over, motivating Kyle to attempt to save the child. The child turns out to be possessed, kills Kyle, and attacks Audrey, but Michael intervenes and guns down many possessed.

The attack pushes a panicked Charlie into labor. She delivers the baby as trumpets sound, signaling the approach of the Archangel Gabriel
Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an Archangel who typically serves as a messenger to humans from God.He first appears in the Book of Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel's visions. In the Gospel of Luke Gabriel foretells the births of both John the Baptist and of Jesus...

 (Kevin Durand
Kevin Durand
Kevin Serge Durand is a Canadian actor known for his roles as Joshua in Dark Angel, Martin Keamy in Lost, Fred J. Dukes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the Archangel Gabriel in Legion, and Little John in Robin Hood....

). In a panic, Sandra breaks her restraints and tries to give the baby to the possessed, so Michael kills her.

Moments later, Gabriel enters the diner seriously injuring Bob. Michael gives Jeep the keys to the police cruiser he arrived in, urging them to escape. The hordes of possessed humans are unable to approach Charlie's baby, so Jeep, Audrey, Charlie, and her baby make their way to the cruiser. Gabriel and Michael fight, ending with Gabriel stabbing Michael through the chest with his mace. Michael dies and his body disappears. The dying Bob lights a flame to the diner's gas main, blowing up the diner, destroying himself and the remaining hordes of possessed.

Jeep's body gets covered in the same mysterious drawings seen on Michael's body. Gabriel then shows up, having survived, and swoops down on the fleeing car. As he tries to reach Charlie, Audrey jumps on him and sacrifices herself by yelling at Jeep
to slam on the brakes, sending Gabriel through the front windshield as the car crashes. Charlie and Jeep survive with the baby, but Charlie indicates that Audrey did not survive the crash.

Gabriel finally corners Jeep and Charlie in the nearby mountains. He is about to kill them when Michael appears from Heaven, an angel once more, and stops Gabriel. Michael tells Gabriel that he (Michael) did what God needed, not what God wanted, thus giving humanity another chance. With his angelic powers back, Michael easily defeats Gabriel, but spares his life after which Gabriel leaves, defeated. Michael explains to Jeep that he is the child's true protector, then flies off. Charlie and Jeep make it to the top of the mountain and see a small town in the valley below.

Sometime later, Charlie, Jeep, and the baby are seen driving off into the distance with a car full of weapons, after which the credits roll.

Cast

  • Paul Bettany
    Paul Bettany
    Paul Bettany is an English actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including A Knight's Tale, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code...

     as Michael
    Michael (archangel)
    Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...

    , the fallen archangel and leader of the human fighters.
  • Tyrese Gibson as Kyle Williams
  • Charles S. Dutton
    Charles S. Dutton
    Charles Stanley Dutton is an American stage, film, and television actor and director. He is perhaps best known for his roles as "Fortune" in the film Rudy and "Dillon" in Alien 3...

     as Percy Walker, the religious one-handed cook and former soldier.
  • Dennis Quaid
    Dennis Quaid
    Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...

     as Bob Hanson, the diner's atheist owner.
  • Adrianne Palicki
    Adrianne Palicki
    Adrianne Palicki is an American actress best known for her role as Tyra Collette on the NBC television series Friday Night Lights.-Early life:...

     as Charlie, a downtrodden waitress who is pregnant with who is supposed to be the savior of humanity.
  • Lucas Black
    Lucas Black
    Lucas York Black is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the CBS television series American Gothic as well as roles in films such as Sling Blade, Jarhead, Friday Night Lights, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Legion, Get Low, and All the Pretty Horses.-Personal...

     as Jeep Hanson, Bob's son and protector of Charlie's baby.
  • Kate Walsh as Sandra Anderson
  • Kevin Durand
    Kevin Durand
    Kevin Serge Durand is a Canadian actor known for his roles as Joshua in Dark Angel, Martin Keamy in Lost, Fred J. Dukes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the Archangel Gabriel in Legion, and Little John in Robin Hood....

     as the archangel Gabriel
    Gabriel
    In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an Archangel who typically serves as a messenger to humans from God.He first appears in the Book of Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel's visions. In the Gospel of Luke Gabriel foretells the births of both John the Baptist and of Jesus...

    , leader of the angel army and the main antagonist.
  • Willa Holland
    Willa Holland
    Willa Joanna Chance Holland is an American actress and fashion model. She is best known for her role as Kaitlin Cooper, Marissa Cooper's devious younger sister, on the television series The O.C.. She also appeared as Agnes Andrews on The CW series Gossip Girl...

     as Audrey Anderson
  • Jon Tenney as Howard Anderson, Sandra's husband and Audrey's father.
  • Doug Jones
    Doug Jones (actor)
    Doug Jones is an American film and television actor best known to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fans for his various roles playing non-human characters, often in heavy makeup, in films and television series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth and Fantastic Four: Rise...

     as Ice Cream Man, a possessed ice cream man who attacks the diner.
  • Jeanette Miller as Gladys Foster, the possessed old woman in the diner.

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 No. 2, only behind Avatar. It placed No. 6 on its second weekend, and grossed an estimated $6,800,000—$2,746 per theater, a 61.1% drop from the previous weekend. The film has come to gross $67,918,658 worldwide.

Critical reaction

The film received very negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 reports that 18% of 96 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 3.6 out of 10. Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 18%, based on a sample of 11 reviews. The site's general consensus is that "Despite a solid cast and intermittent thrills, Legion suffers from a curiously languid pace, confused plot, and an excess of dialogue." Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

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

Nomad of Dread Central gave the film a one and a half out of five, saying, "The finished product is shockingly bad. If countless angles of people firing guns with spent shells clinking to the ground is 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
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is a website that covers horror movies with reviews, interviews and news. It is currently run by Brad Miska, and Tom Owen. According to one source, the site has 1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month. It is widely considered to be the "world's most...

.com
gave it 1 out of 5 skulls, calling it "a prude film with some potential. It's boring, slow paced and it takes itself way too seriously." Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

film critic Joe Leydon
Joe Leydon
Joseph Patrick Michael "Joe" Leydon is an American film critic and historian. A critic and correspondent for Variety and a contributing writer for MovieMaker Magazine, he is the author of Joe Leydon's Guide to Essential Movies You Must See and a contributing critic for Leonard Maltin's Movie...

 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
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...

also gave the film a mixed review stating "As the above description demonstrates, the goings-on in Legion are seriously silly (not to mention more than a little derivative of endless movies, especially the Terminator series
Terminator (franchise)
The Terminator series is a science fiction franchise encompassing a series of films and other media concerning battles between Skynet's artificially intelligent machine network, and John Connor's Resistance forces and the rest of the human race....

), but director Scott Stewart has provided enough stylish finesse to make the proceedings a real hoot."

Release

The film premiered on January 21, 2010 in Hollywood and was released on DVD & Blu-Ray on May 11, 2010.

Comic book

IDW Comics released a four-part, weekly comic book series titled Legion: Prophets that serves as a prequel to the film.
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