When my wife and I saw the trailers for Legion in theaters, we knew it would be better to see it on DVD than spend money to spend it on the big screen. It was a good decision. Seeing the elderly woman repeat "Your baby's gonna burn" more than once was a turn off. Both of us have liked Paul Bettany since he appeared in A Beautiful Mind. In Legion, he plays the Archangel Michael with conviction but the story does not give him much in the way of material. His characterization is bland and tired. He has a great cast to support him, including Dennis Quaid, Charles S. Dutton, Kevin Durand (as Gabriel) and Lucas Black.
Legion is essentially a special-effects film set in the middle of the dessert with humankind facing extinction at the hands of angels. We don't know why God has decided to eliminate all humans but it is even more puzzling why the unborn child of a waitress, Charlie, (Adrianne Palicki) is fated to be the salvation of humanity. Although we never know who the father of the child is, Jeep (Lucas Black) is devoted to her. We never learn how or even why the child is significant. The idea of a second virgin birth comes to mind but if God wants all of humanity destroyed why would he allow a savior to be born? We don't have a clear motivation for Michael going over to the side of the humans. Generally, the story is too incoherent to care what happens.
The action takes place at a diner in the middle of the dessert, something like The Petrified Forest except we have possessed humans instead of gangsters. There is a cross section of people stuck at the diner representing every kind of stereotype. The possessed humans who lineup outside the diner bear a close resemblance to zombies, ready to pull one of the humans out of a window to sink their teeth into him.
Legion concludes on an upbeat note with Charlie, Jeep and the newly born child driving away. Hopefully, a sequel will not be in the works.
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