Above: Poster for 'The Legion' (C) 2020 Saban Films used for promotional purposes only, not monetized.
Greetings
valued Dan's Movie Report and Action-Flix.com readers. With the
quarantine running on two months now, I am always on the lookout for
new films to watch, thanks to Bai Ling, I heard about a new film
called 'The Legion'
Supposedly
inspired by true events, the synopsis: “Nero's reign. The invasion
of Parthia has been a fiasco. Two Roman legions have been brought to
a stand still in the snowy mountains of Armenia, and the men are
dying slowly in the cold. The rest of the Roman army is in Syria,
only two weeks march away but the mountains swarm with Parthian
patrols. Noreno, a half-Roman, is entrusted the mission of crossing
the mountains to ask for help. However, he might not be the best
option, he's an expert runner, but he despises Rome. “
The
cast of 'The Legion' includes Vladimir Kulich as Marcus, Mickey
Rourke as Corbulo, and Bai Ling as Amirah. An eclectic mixture of
talent, yet the film feels a bit smaller in scope than it needs to
be. For a sword and sandals type of film, though there is action and
peril, it seems the characters move through the film at a very
relaxed pace. The music is quite good, setting the tone, but seems
like the entire film needed more action and less dialogue, During the
talking scenes characters have time to stand around and have a
dialogue all the while being supposedly chased. The tension level is
high when a character scales a cliff, and the cinematography is quite
amazing, almost impossible to believe.
The
scene drags on a bit too long though, and then it is followed by a
more relaxed pace, and a monologue.
Director/Producer
Jose Magan, who also served as one of the film's writers, seems to
enjoy the genre, and I will say that the visuals on 'The Legion' are
quite strong, opting for outside shots rather than green screen for
some of the film. Obviously there are budget constraints, but the
quest, a short cut two week march to found support for their army.
The countryside in Spain, where The Legion was filmed serves as a
nice backdrop for the quest.
As far
as the acting, just seems like the characters are kind of reading
their lines, not really pushing as hard as they can for tilm. Marta
Castellvl has a great first scene, actually I kind of wish she was in
the film more. I like her character as she shows a bit more quiet
intensity and emotional range. Less is more and often dialogue is not
needed to convey emotion. She assists the weary traveler, remaining
silent and stoic.
The
quest to find help is the focus on the film, I just wantd to see more
plot deveopments and complications, save for the random enemy and
challenging terrain. Is the movie bad, no it is just far to relaxed
and laid back to be an enjoyable action film. Yes there is some
battles, just too much down time.
I
really like Mickey Rourke, in The Legion he literally is performing
dialogue, which is a bit detached from the film, basically a
monologue, and it seems it could have been inserted into any film of
this period, only by changing the names. He has has a scene in the
end, which he drops an F bomb, quite sure F bombs are not used in
67AD and probably not much English either in Rome and Syria, where
the movie takes place.
Bai
Ling has a cool scene in the end, she plays some sort of Mistress yet
an empress, gotta love Ms Ling, she is sultry and always delivers
some crazy lines. Again Bai Ling is a minor character that needed
more screen time.
Overall
'The Legion' is average film, I cannot say I recommend buying this,
but as a lazy streaming afternoon, well, it may be OK. 'The Legion'
rates a slightly disappointing 5 out of 10. To rent or buy, go to
Amazon:
