Rating:
2 out of 5
Short version: Legion is basically a schlocky B-movie – with a very ridiculous premise.
Screen Rant reviews Legion
I knew going in that Legion was going to be… odd. A movie where an angel comes to earth, is wearing some sort of electronic shock collar and uses machine guns was bound to be a bit, shall we say, unconventional.
Paul Bettany stars as the archangel Michael, who suddenly appears on Earth on December 23rd in Los Angeles. His shock collar (for lack of a better term, I don’t know what its function was) falls off his neck and he summarily cuts off his angelic wings (yes, it hurt).
Meanwhile in the California desert in a trailer park called Paradise Falls (paradise falls, get it?) we meet a young man called Jeep Hanson (Lucas Black) and a pregnant young lady named Charlie (played by Adrianne Palicki). The father is unknown, it’s not Jeep – who is the proverbial nice guy who wants to take care of her. Of course it’s the old “I like you as a friend” from her end.
Their first clue that something isn’t quite right is when a nice old lady comes into the diner and soon starts swearing like a Marine, spouts sharpened teeth, starts attacking the customers and starts literally climbing the walls. In the diner we have a semi-old yuppie couple and their slutty dressing late teenage daughter, Tyrese Gibson (who gives probably the best performance in the film) as a guy just passing through, Dennis Quaid as the owner of the place (he’s Jeep’s father) and Charles S. Dutton as the only religious guy in the place.
Eventually Michael shows up and arms them all and makes it clear he’s there to protect Charlie and the unborn child. It seems that God is fed up with the human race (again) and instead of a flood he’s sending hordes of what can only in this film be called angels to wipe out humanity. It seems that while God has lost faith in mankind, Michael hasn’t, and the baby that Charlie is carrying is the only chance at salvation for humanity. The problem is that the angels have been tasked with killing the child.
Kevin Durand as Gabriel in 'Legion'
We’re given some cool machine gun action and a couple of other scenes that are cool where our intrepid heroes try to keep the “angels” at bay. Also, when another angel comes on the scene, he looks pretty cool in all his winged glory and with medieval-looking clothing/armor and weapon, giving one the idea that Thor might actually work on screen.
Outside of that however, the quote that kept coming to mind for me was the line spoken at the end of Star Trek V by Bill Shatner as Captain Kirk: “What does God need with a starship?” What was up with some sort of electronic collar on angels? Why did they need machine guns? Why did one “angel” look like a demon straight out of hell, while others retained their bodies and others apparantly possessed human bodies? If they were truly angels, why could they be killed with gunfire?
Not enough questions for you? How about who exactly is this child? Born on Christmas, leads one to assume it’s the return of Christ – but then why would God want to KILL it (nevermind that he’s not supposed to return as an infant)? Why do the angels look demonic? Why would God do this when he knows all of history before it happens instead of allowing Revelation to happen?
And there are even more unanswered questions than those…
Really this is about one step removed from a zombie movie, dressed up to be something “deeper.” I’d say if you’re interested, wait for the DVD.
If you want to discuss the film in detail, including plot spoilers, head on over to our Legion Spoiler Discussion.
And if you’ve seen it, here’s your chance to rate the film:
What did you think of "Legion"?
- 0 stars (23%)
- 3 Stars (18%)
- 5 stars (17%)
- 4 stars (15%)
- 2 Stars (14%)
- 1 star (13%)
Total Votes: 464
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I really enjoyed this movie you should check it out.
60% of the movie was awesome then their was about 25min of useless and badly written dialog.
Action was top notch, acting at its worse was still OK this movie deserves at least 3/5 stars
your wrong dude
Constantine was f***in awesome
so (if) you see its all about creative people around an idea and how they can bring that idea to reality
Here's my take on the movie.Probably all are fallen angels except for Gabriel and Gabriel was just sent by GOD to stop Michael from intervening GODS plan? And the Electronic collar device are probably a locating device (GPS)?
nice GPS hahahaha…
I can see what you guys are saying about the inverted biblical mythology. There are all kinds of alternative/mystic/Gnostic takes on biblical mythology and its all just what someone believes, just like the actual bible. I really liked Prophesy and Constantine. It just has to be done well and it seems this one was not. As long as its consistent and well thought out then it can work and be awesome.
Dustin,
The New Testament was written within 20-30 years of Christ's death… The gnostic books were written a couple hundred years later – so those DO have legend/mythic aspects to them because they had time to form. The New Testament does not.
Like you know what “Angels” are capable of! I think people need to let go of their religious beliefs and wake up to the concept of, ITS JUST A FREAKING MOVIE! No matter what you people believe in, there is one truth, and only GOD knows what is to happen.
LOL, debating the reality of Angels…..
Does it answer the question of how many can dance on a match head?
That's something the scholastics wouldn't have bothered debating, even though they were convinced human reason could understand nearly everything.
Absolutely one of the most infuriatingly horrible movies I've ever seen. I shared this opinion ad nauseum with my friends at work because I love them and didn't want them to waste their time or money on this piece of crap. Not only did it piss me off as a fan of God (who I think is a good guy…not the fickle a-hole this movie makes him out to be), but just as an intelligent movie-goer. The writer and director of this pile obviously took us for a bunch of idiots.
This looks God awful. I'll pass.
what did they say at the end of the movies?
You all seem to forget that Lucifer and the Demons/Fallen Angels of “Hell” are supposedly former angels. If they can possess people why would the other angels be able to? Also, it seem you people have never heard of the concept of being consumed/possessed by the holy spirit?
You are also missing certain points the film makes about free will and that is the point of the collars in the movie the angels have no freewill. And as far as the starships go. Have you ever read the ancient sumerian text that is too similar to the biblical stories of Genisis to ignore. The only difference is that they came thousands of years before the bible, ,hey knew all the positions of the planets before even modern day science and the nephilhim/annunaki come from a starship that is hovering above the planet.
I think this is what the movie is trying to get at. It just goes over peoples heads that have not studied religion and myth on a universal scale. And probably are not too open minded.
Going to have to agree with you on this one, too many unanswered questions. Though I disagree that only Gibson put in a decent performance, for his limited screen time I thought Kevin Durand did a great job.
Going to have to agree with you on this one, too many unanswered questions. Though I disagree that only Gibson put in a decent performance, for his limited screen time I thought Kevin Durand did a great job.
Warning, Spoilers: I personally didn't think the monster things, with the sharp teeth were angels at all. Weren't they supposed to be demons? And all the people that were possessed were demons. Then Gabriel, who is acting under God's orders, comes down and battles Michael. And I don't think the theme was that Gabriel was “rebelling from god”. I think that the movie was inferring that Michael had a higher understanding than Gabriel did, and that he thought God all along wanted Michael to do what he did, coming down to save the baby. Most none of it made any sense, but if you really break it down this is what it meant. Demons were the first guys, I think Satan/Lucifer was the first sharp toothed human that was in the cop's body when Michael first came out with his 2 bags of weapons. The old lady was either a demon or Satan himself. The first attacks at night in the cars were demons as well. It may have been angels standing around at the end. My point about Michael, or any angel would be, they know that God knows all, and Michael must have known that by defying God and coming to save the kid, really he was just carrying out God's will. Only Gabriel was fooled, and possibly the other angels. I guess one could interpret the movie any way they wanted. It was just a slightly average angelic/demonic flick that probably doesn't deserve a debate to begin with. Peace.
watched about 20 minutes of this one, my mind just screamed “this is all wrong!” the whole time, decided to save myself the splitting headache and turned it off.
I’d rather watch.. well anything other than this.
Biblical Accuracy? No, not even close, but none of this genre of movie ever is.
Coherent Plot? Fell short, but could be followed in a twisted sort of way.
Acting? Very good.
Special Effects? Very good.
Action? Good.
Angel effects? Very good.
As an aficionado of this genre (a guilty pleasure), and a Pastor (well aware of the usual terrible theology), I think it is a must see for those who like this pseudo-bible themed type of movie.
Just an added note: I thought the coming together of various stereotypical characters in the context of a broken down old diner as a context for the movies was very kind of old “twilight zoneish” in character, which I though was kind of cool.
Honestly, I think way to many commenters are focusing on the depiction of the angels in this movie. Your conception of an angel may not be what they actually are. I don’t particularly believe in Angel’s, or God, for that matter but I do think that people need to step a little outside of themselves before criticizing this type of movie.
In regards to the shock-collar thing I always thought that it was a message to say that an Angel’s halo was imprisoning them. I thought it was an interesting take on an angel’s so called loyalty.
My take on the plot;
When God was pissed at us before, he sent floods… this time he charges his angels with the mission of possessing the weak and having them kill the rest of the population, including this baby, who I take to be the second coming… God doesnt want a second coming as he has totally lost faith in the world he has created and just wants it to be over, this is why the chold must die.
The angels appear demonic because they are directing all of God’s wrath at the humans… this would be super-scary…. hence the demon vibe!
Michael disgrees with God and casts off his wings in rebellion – he nips down to Earth to protect the child God wants destroyed in the hope that God recognises his mistake and sees that if just one angel would risk losing everything just to save humans, then maybe there is something worth saving here on Earth and letting the humans have another chance would be the Godly thing to do. I guess God is probe to his little ‘moods and tanrums’ and Michael has seen this all before….
Gabriel – he’s basically a kiss-ass who wouldnt DREAM of disobeying God, even if its in God’s best interest – hes the worst kind of “yes man”!
Michael sums it up when he tells Gabe that he always gives God what he WANTS, instead of what he NEEDS, as Muchael has done by protecting the child.