Legion

By Lisa Anderson

If you’ve gone to the movies in the past few months, you’re probably at least peripherally aware of Legion. It’s the movie advertised by the cardboard cutout of the winged, shirtless man with weapons in both hands. If you’ve seen the trailer, you know that its premise is that God gets fed up with humanity and sends angels to exterminate us, but that there’s a baby who can turn everything around if only it survives, and one lone angel who wants to help. Even with all of that, though, I went in not really knowing what to expect.

The most unexpected thing was that the movie happens in one place: an isolated diner in the middle of the desert. The diner is staffed by owner Bob Hanson (Dennis Quaid); his cook Percy (Charles S. Dutton); Charlie, a pregnant waitress; and Bob’s son, who has the unfortunate name of Jeep. Their patrons are Kyle Williams (Tyrese Gibson), a man travelling to visit his estranged son; and the Andersons, a troubled couple and their teenage daughter. There is tension right from the beginning, because the Andersons are stranded due to an out-of-commission BMW, and Bob is displeased that Jeep is pining futilely after Charlie.

The setting is probably the most affecting part of the movie. Communication with the outside world is lost early on. We see the archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) break ranks with Heaven at the start of the film, but he doesn’t show up at the diner until the people there have already figured out that something strange is happening. He informs them that the world is coming to an end, at the hands of angel-possessed humans, and that Charlie’s baby (of course) is the only hope. The diner takes on the quality of a fortress as wave after wave of peril breaks over it.

The sound effects in the movie are worth at least a brief mention. There is one noise—an emergency broadcast tone—that would have driven me out of the theater if it had gone on much longer. Later on comes a scene that will change your perception of ice cream trucks forever. At the climax of the film there is a very interesting sound that I think was supposed to be Gabriel’s trumpet, but sadly, it’s never confirmed whether that’s what it was.

There are some serious flaws in the premise. First, the very idea that God would lose faith in people is going to be offensive to many. Second, if Charlie’s baby is going to “lead humanity out of darkness” and restore God’s faith in it. . . then why would He not just let that happen? Why wouldn’t He want to be un-disappointed? Finally, the angel-possessed people come across as. . . twisted. Profane. Why would the messengers of all that’s good and right affect people like that? Why would they bother possessing people anyway, since as we learn later, their wings are apparently bulletproof?

This disturbing quality of the possessed poses an interesting question: specifically, what is the difference between an angel and a demon? Is it defined by a being’s allegiance to God, or do we humans define it by how well that being likes us? I doubt that the makers of Legion intended to dig that deep, however, and they certainly don’t hit pay dirt.

Bettany’s Michael suffers from some of the flaws in the script. One minute he is making it clear that he’s not there to save the Andersons, and the next minute, he’s telling Jeep how he loves people so much that he couldn’t stop, even when God told him to. For someone who feels that way, he seems unconcerned about all of the innocent human bodies getting broken in the fight, including the security guard watching the weapons he steals. At the same time, I couldn’t help but like him. Between Michael and his role in The DaVinci Code, Bettany seems to have a talent for noble but tormented characters with deep religious devotion.

I had a hard time connecting with any of the other characters. Out of all of them, I liked Kyle and Percy the best. No one else is nearly as compelling or believable. Jeep is kind of a dope, but apparently has prophetic dreams (which never get shown or explored), and is inexplicably given an important role toward the very end. Kevin Durand, as Gabriel, pulls out of an initial torpor and strikes a menacing figure; just try not to think about his fat-phobic turn in last summer’s awful Wolverine movie.

The plot itself holds few surprises. [SPOILER ALERT] As you might imagine, the world does not end, the baby survives, and Charlie seems to be on track for a Sarah Connor-like destiny. There’s also a bit of a deus ex machina twist, some celestial politicking that makes a lot of sense without being fully explained. The movie never quite pulls out all the stops with respect to action or gore, and frankly, I think it benefits from that.

While I do comment on the quality of movies, I’m more interested in identifying what the target audience is or what mood you’d have to be in to enjoy it. There are three types of people who may enjoy Legion: those who like their movies like they like their chocolate (a little dark); those who can enjoy a popcorn action movie; and those who can find fun, philosophical, and spiritual stuff to mull over in even the thinnest treatment of those topics. (Each of these groups, of course, includes folks with a specific interest in pretty angel-boys with guns.)

I belong at least occasionally to all three groups, so I consider Legion to be worth the time and money I invested in it. It’s not perfect, but I had a good time, and am likely to buy it on DVD.