Legion: Misleading Title, Great Action

Though very much a challenge of humanity’s understanding of God, Legion is a good action film. Starring Paul Bettany (A Knight’s Tale) in a brilliant performance as the angel Michael. With Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, Charles Dutton and Lucas Black as mostly supporting cast members, Legion manages to both thrill and challenge while never really reaching its promise.

Paul Bettany is the Archangel Michael, instructed by God to destroy the unborn child destined to lead the world out of darkness, a darkness so profound that even God has lost faith. Michael refuses and takes up arms; his only purpose to find the child and defend him against the armies of heaven. Oddly, the armies of heaven consist of hordes of malformed demon-like angels, think George Romero only more attractive, and the angels are easily destroyed by heavy weaponry.

Michael finds the child at a small truck stop café in the middle of nowhere. Dennis Quaid, the owner, is Bob Hanson, a grizzled old atheist who, with his son Jeep (Lucas Black), ekes out a meager existence. Their rickety place, looking like it hasn’t changed for 50 years, is apparently the center of chaos and the place where the new savior is to be born. As unlikely as a manger, this greasy spoon becomes the target of a sweet little old lady who turns out to be a demonic bitch with nasty teeth and an even nastier vocabulary. The people in the little truck stop manage to kill the evil hag only to discover, from the Archangel, that she is only the first. There are “Legions” to come.

Legion flirts dangerously with becoming just another “b” horror movie: a group of people, who are stranded in an isolated building or ship and must contend with zombies/aliens/monsters only to find most (or all) of them never make it, but it manages to escape. The elements are all there: cowards, foolish heroes and even a religious Christian, but with an excellent villain, the Archangel Gabriel, played with great empathy by Kevin Durand, Legion transcends the genre.

There is something special about Paul Bettany: he manages to make the absurd seem perfectly normal and he rescues Legion from what could be silliness. His seriousness in some way lends credibilty to what could have been complete failures. Further, Michael and Gabriel have great chemistry. There appears to be great anguish in their interactions. I feel like I'd like to see the two angels in another film.

I must warn you, Legion takes little consideration of dogma or accepted religious beliefs. The film does come up with some logic in a completely illogical plot though. God, should he have wanted to really kill the baby, could have gotten the job done and Michael seems to know that. Gabriel does not. Does the baby die? You’ll have to see Legion to find out.

Legion succeeds only because of Paul Bettany and to a lesser extent, Kevin Durand. Bettany manages to stay “in character” seamlessly. His portrayal of the mighty Archangel Michael seems designed for him. I think action junkies will enjoy Legion, people interested in apocalyptic films will probably love it, but the rest of the audience should be wary.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.