Legion (2010)

           Say your prayers, be nice to your fellow man, stop all the hatred and fighting, live in peace and harmony and most of all honor and praise Him.  There’s a lot more to it than that obviously, according the Good Book itself, but those are a couple of the basics.  Legion provides a look at a possible result of what can happen if we all don’t follow these rules.  Taking it just a smidgen past living by the Ten Commandments, this film shows us that the Lord is not always all merciful and his Army will do what is necessary to get His point across.

            Basic plot: God is pissed off and sends his Army of angels to take out an unborn child who is destined to lead humanity out of our period of darkness.  Whoever stands in the way of this mission will suffer a similar fate.  Basically, we’ve had our chance to live in His vision and have failed miserably.  Michael the Archangel (Paul Bettany) takes it upon himself to disobey his orders to kill the child and decides instead to try to protect it.  His faith in mankind hasn’t wavered and he alone stands in the way of humanity and complete extermination.

            Directed and co-written by Scott Charles Stewart, Legion serves up some pretty well done special effects and graphics.  The scenes completed by CGI were visually pleasing and entertaining.  Although some of the films’ products were a little far-fetched, the characters are experiencing the wrath of God after all.  The majority of the story takes place in and around a little mom & pop diner in the middle of nowhere near the Mojave Desert.  Adrianne Palicki plays Charlie, who is the mother of the unborn savior.  Other cast members include Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black and Tyrese Gibson who play a part in trying to protect her while attempting to understand just what is going on at the same time. 

            The action consists of a whole lot of gun play.  Apparently the Lord’s angels are extremely skilled in firearms because Bettany puts on a Neo like show with surgeon-like usage of his weaponry.  The fight scene included just about rounds out the action aspect of this movie.  Not the greatest scene put together, but I was still rather surprised at the effort that Stewart put into creating it.

            Of course, there are a number of references to the Bible and the end of the world within the dialogue and the personalities of the characters.  From the unborn child, the mother carrying it and talks of modern day prophets, Legion looks into a couple different ways that God and Christianity are seen in our society today.  The overall finished design may appeal to different genre fans.  Christians may disagree with some things, such as if God really wanted this child dead I’m sure it’s defense would have had a much more difficult time protecting it than with using guns, but then the movie would not have lasted very long.  Other than that, it was a good watch and a good message to ponder on.  I give Legion “3.5 rogue archangels out of 5”.

“When I was a little girl, my mother spoke of a prophecy of a time when all the world would be covered in darkness and the fate of mankind would be decided. One night, I finally got up the courage to ask my mother why God was so mad at His children. ‘I don't know,’ she said, tucking the covers around me. ‘I guess He just got tired of all the bullshit.’”