It’s a bad sign, if you are a movie actress, when the writers feel that they have to throw in some random character saying “who was that beautiful girl?”
After all, if it were true, would they really need to tell us?
In this case, they didn’t use those exact words, but they did try to get the idea across — and in a scene where Terry Farrell had been stuffed into a totally unflattering military uniform and looked extremely man-ish.
A very bad sign.
And her career did go downhill not long afterwards, leading to her (temporary) retirement in 2003. But then no one ever said that Hollywood was an easy place to make a living.
When you look at the reviews of films like Legion it’s hard to miss the rather strange range of reactions that critics have towards them. You will find some who delight in telling you just how abysmal they are, while others will give them solid three-stars-out-of-five ratings.
You could call it “the B factor”: the B-Movie exists for one reason: to entertain. It doesn’t need to tackle important issues, or have a complex plot, and the characters just have to be developed enough to hold the story together. In fact, while it might be nice to give that B-Movie a bit of depth and turn it into something more substantial, that might keep it from achieving its main mission.
You don’t have to look too hard at Legion to recognize it as a B-Movie: we’ve got the usual handful of minor washed out actors, including Fifties heart throb Troy Donahue, former Twenty-Five year old 1970s teen heart throb Parker Stevenson, former Eighties child star, Corey Feldman, Eighties rocker Rick Springfield, and, perhaps the biggest draw, Terry Farrell, fresh off her departure from Deep Space Nine.
Then we have some decidedly shiny late-Nineties TV grade digital effects, which are used sparingly (of course) and remind you more than a little of a Nineties vintage videogame.
And throw in one of those classic B-Movie plots, where a General sends a team of military convicts to take over an important enemy base.
Only, when they get there, they find the place empty — except for the huge pile of bodies hidden in one room, all of whom are wearing American — and not enemy — uniforms.
The base’s sensors show that they are the only living things there, although they soon begin to doubt this when something starts killing them off one by one…
Look, nobody involved with this thing had any illusion that this was anything more than Ninety minutes of Sci Fi Action monster movie fun. You could reel off a whole list of movies this film borrows from, but that misses the point. Legion takes this simple plot and its handful of largely stock characters and runs with it. It moves quickly, has a few surprises, and more or less makes sense (particularly if you just shrug, ignore any minor questions and grab more popcorn). There’s a bit of gore, a tiny bit of sex (but no nudity) and we only get to see the monster for a few minutes at the end (which isn’t exactly a bad idea).
But then, those are all things you expect in a B-Movie.
And I do have to give them credit for not exploring Parker Stevenson’s back story until late in the film. It leaves us with a lot of questions about his motives and actions. Why, we might almost start wondering whether he’s a good guy or not.
Almost.
I was in the mood for some dumb fun, so I enjoyed this one. It should work for you, too, if you’re looking for the same thing.
After all, why else would you watch a B-Movie?
So don’t ask too much of it. Just enjoy its cheesy goodness.
That’s why it’s there.
rivets on the poster 
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