Review: Legion (2010)

People in the Movie:  Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black

Director:  Scott Charles Stewart

Pigeonhole:  Action / Apocalyptic

The Basics: God has decided to end the human race, and dispatches a legion of angels to carry this out.  The Archangel Michael (Bettany) forsakes heaven and decides to aid a small group of humans holed up in a diner on the edge of the Mojave Desert, against the impending onslaught.  Amongst this group is a pregnant female carrying next savior of humankind, provided that they can survive. 

Recommendation: If you can ignore the gaping plot holes, you could give it a once over.  There are a few decent action sequences, but with the star power in the cast it was disappointing.  ‘R’ rating is for violence and language.

My Take: Established actors Quaid, Charles Dutton, as well as Bettany having several good roles (recently, no less) brought me to this film.  However, other than having those actors in the film, some gunfire, and few explosions, not much more went right.  The movie appears to have the ingredients, but the final product was not that good. 

**spoiler alert** So what’s wrong with this movie?  First, I have an issue with how the angels sent by God to destroy the humans were portrayed.  The angels have to possess “weak minded” humans to fight against other humans.  There is no explanation for this element – having to possess a human body versus why they would not just swoop down and attack.  And if the human the angel is occupying is shot/killed, that human vessel is no longer viable, which again does not make sense much to me (plus there is no explanation as to what happens to the occupying angel).  The humans that are occupied by angels and attacking other humans seem more like demons.  Their actions, mannerisms, and language are just evil, in a word.  This is not what I would expect from angels from heaven; I would have expected almost more of a merciful type behavior, and killing.  The audience does not see what these angels look like outside of their human “hosts”.  Michael, and later Gabriel did not have to occupy humans, and I took it for granted (because it was not explained) this is because they were Archangels.

Second, the pregnant waitress Charlie (Andrianne Palicki), the future savior’s mom, was about useless as a character.  The exercise of even carrying the baby was held with disdain; she is seen smoking and it is spoken her plan (prior to this day) is to give the baby up.  There is no development of Charlie even after Michael reveals the importance of the child.  We do not know much about her, we do not know anything about the circumstances of the pregnancy, nor do we see a shift in her attitude after the reveal.  She seemed to plod along half-heartedly throughout.

Third, why waste talent like Quaid and Dutton?  Quaid plays a diner owner named Bob Hanson.  He is beaten down by his dead end life, and the only thing left for him, it appears, is to dispense advice to his son Jeep (Black).  Dutton plays Percy, a short order cook in the diner, who is missing his arm, an element not explained.  He did not stick around long enough to learn anything about him, or why and how he got to this location.  I can only suspect their names lending validity to the film, or that more scenes of theirs hit the cutting room floor.

Finally, the climax: Gabriel comes down from heaven and kills Michael, and then is about to kill Charlie.  Michael then returns from heaven having been “reinstated” as an angel, and kills Gabriel.  What?  So let’s sort this out… God wanted all humans exterminated, but left the door open for a human savior?  Gabriel kills Michael basically on orders from God, then Michael returns to kill Gabriel?  Sorry, this does not make sense even with their dialogue.

The movie ends with Jeep and Charlie going to human settlement where the survivors there have fought off the angel attack.  No further explanation is offered for that.  The last shot of the film shows Jeep, Charlie, and the new baby riding in an SUV loaded with guns.  So is the battle still going on?  I suppose the door may have been left open for a sequel, but this movie left much to be desired.    

     

Final Thought/Extras/For Fun: The tattoos on Michael are in a language called Enochian, supposedly recorded language of angels from the 16^th century… Kate Walsh from Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice has a small role in the film…