Monday, February 01, 2010

LEGION - Genre Done Right

I was going to say my brain is still on vacation - but the truth is, my brain is still on a layover in Charlotte with two kids. About all I'm capable of is pushing a stroller and handing out treats. We were in Florida this last week (FREEZING OUR BUMS OFF!) with my kids and my folks (husband is barely speaking to me) but we got out one night to see a movie and much to my amazement Adam agreed to go see Legion. Sci-fi is soooooo not his thing.

But halfway through he leaned over and whispered "this is so fun!"

And it was. It is. Legion is a great fun movie. Angels; good, bad and totally freaky, Tara from Friday Night Lights, Denise Quaid and Paul Bettenay looking fantastic - what is not to love? It was scary, funny, moving, thought-provoking and all around good fun. And I sat there with my sort of converted husband and thought - this is what good genre does. It does everything!

When genre - of any kind - is supported by great actors, great writing and a great twist on an old idea - it's the best kind of entertainment there is. It's also why fans of genre - of any kind - are so smart and at times hard to please - because they know what they want (and have incredibly fond memories of when they were totally satisfied by a storyteller) and should you fail in anyway, they turn on you.

This made me think of Dollhouse - which I really liked, but it fell down somewhere along the way and fans turned away from it. I think it's because Eliza what's her name, as the main character, wasn't enough to support the story/concept.

Anyway - go see Legion. And get in the stroller and eat the Spongebob Treat I just gave you and stop poking your sister!!!

14 comments:

Karen W said...

So would you classify Legion as horror or more SF/Fantasy? I wanted to go see it but was told it was horror, which I don't do.

Stephanie Doyle said...

I'm going to say the same about a movie I just watched. Star Trek. I know I'm probably late (I'm more an On Demand girl - then a go to the movies girl these days).

I thought it was a near perfect movie. Tight storyline. Excellent action. Great "homage" to the original cast. Interesting love twist.

The guy who played Bones said "Damnit man, I'm a doctor not a physicist" and it so worked! Not trite or silly at all.

Amazing amazing movie if you haven't seen it.

Molly O'Keefe said...

There are some scary parts - or freaky parts, but for the most part it's sf/fant. The pacing of it was great -

scary/thrilling/action bits creating tons of external life or death conflict and stakes. Followed by fabulous chunks of character building which created fabulous chunks of internal conflict and raised the stakes even further and then...more action...more character stuff.

I would recommend it - the weird parts you can close your eyes - it's short.

It's also a little bit a zombie movie - Sinead can get into that.

Molly O'Keefe said...

I agree Steph - I just saw it too. It hit all the right notes with flair!

Eileen said...

Ooh! I'm so glad it was good. The trailer totally cracked me up. The part where the granny goes psycho in the diner? Priceless!

Who here thinks angels are the Next Big Thing? Me! I do! Does that mean I can have a SpongeBob Treat?

Maureen McGowan said...

I'm looking fwd to Legion, but saw Paul Bettany in another of the THREE movies he has out right now.

Young Victoria. Not a fabulous film, but I really enjoyed it. Might blog about it if I get time.

Stephanie. Star Trek was perfect genre storytelling Perfect. Loved that movie.

I could use a sponge bob treat. I promise to stop poking Lucy.

Molly O'Keefe said...

Eileen! Legion makes angels sexy and violent and very very dangerous. Not at all like Debbie McNaught's Christmas Angels. I would love angels to be the next big thing - in fact, I think I have an angel story in my basement. I need to rough those angels up a bit...hmmmm....

Molly O'Keefe said...

The Sponge Bob treats are very fulfilling - I won't lie. Sometimes high fructose corn syrup is just what a writer/kid needs...

Eileen said...

Get that angel book out of your basic right this second. I think sexy angels are going to be where it's at and I don't have a clue how to write one.

Stephanie Doyle said...

No lie... I would love me some sexy angels. Oooh the contrast is so delicious. Heavenly bad boys!

Eileen said...

See! I told you!

Anonymous said...

oooohh.. I want to see Legion so badly, since the moment I saw the trailer and the creepy guy gets out of the ice cream truck and his limbs grow long..

And creepy old people, and demons, oh my..

MJFredrick said...

I was meh about Legion. Loved Paul Bettany and I LOVE Adrienne Palicki but the movie felt like it was missing something. I had high hopes, too, since the storyline seemed to follow the same path as this season of Supernatural. Maybe my high hopes were the reason for my disappointment.

Bev Katz Rosenbaum said...

Ooh, sounds good--will check out!

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