When Legion hit theaters in January 2010, I understood from the trailers what the movie was about. The angel Michael (Paul Bettany) has come to Earth to countermand an order from God to kill all of humankind, including the child, still in its mother's womb, that might bring about its salvation. The child's mother — a girl named Charlie (Adrianne Palicki) — is working as a waitress at a diner in Paradise Falls, a speck in the middle of nowhere. Michael must save the kid from an army of angels and God's wrath, or mankind is doomed.
Ah yes, our extermination. We, like the cockroaches we abhor, have spread across the Earth devouring resources and abusing our gift of free will. As Michael says in one scene, "The first time God lost faith in Man he sent a flood. The second time... he sent what you see outside." Like our world is a giant Etch-a-Sketch and God wants to shake things up to erase us from the planet.
And, like cockroaches, we're not such an easy race to erase off the map.
Though largely panned by reviewers far and wide, I liked Legion. It doesn't have the philosophy of The Prophecy from back in the mid-'90s. But it takes a simple premise (the Apocalypse), a chance of redemption (an unwanted child), an interesting battleground (a diner in the middle of nowhere), and shows us angels like we haven't quite seen them before.
Plus, if you add in the interesting cast of characters: Michael (Bettany, Iron Man 2, The Da Vinci Code), simple mechanic/protector Jeep Hanson (Lucas Black, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), inner-city tough guy Kyle (Tyrese Gibson, Death Race, 2 Fast 2 Furious), unlikely mother-to-be Charlie (Palicki, Supernatural), Dad simply trying to get to Christmas Howard Anderson (Jon Tenney, Brothers & Sisters, The Closer), bitchy wife Sandra (Kate Walsh, Private Practice), bratty wild child Audrey (Willa Holland, Gossip Girl, The O.C.), ex-military fry cook Percy (Charles S. Dutton, Roc, Alien 3), diner owner Bob Hanson (Dennis Quaid)... and one ticked off angel Gabriel (Kevin Durand, Robin Hood), X-Men Origins: Wolverine)... Honestly there were so many different demographics represented by the population of the diner and its visitors that it was the perfect place to stage a heavenly battle. Anybody who thinks America isn't diverse hasn't been watching our movies, I guess!
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