Religion and horror can play well together. They can also be unevenly matched. Although Legion has been on my list since shortly after it came out, my impression after having watched it is that the angels are strangely corporeal. Their fights are physical with very little supernatural involved. I suppose that’s why it’s generally classified as “action,” but the premise is one that suggests a bit more supernatural would’ve been welcome. The writing suffers from any number of ailments, and the ending leaves you wondering just how good God is supposed to be in this telling. I suppose a plot synopsis might help.
A pregnant waitress in a remote diner is nearly at term. The Archangel Michael has come to earth in Los Angeles (get it?) and has armed himself to protect this unborn baby. He comes to the diner where the owner and his son, his cook, and four customers are holed up against what they think is a demon attack. Michael eventually reveals that the arriving hordes are not demons, but humans possessed by angels. God has decided to wipe out the human race again, this time with angelic mercenaries. If the waitress’s baby survives, however, the world will be saved. So there’s lots of shooting, and although a white guy dies first, the only two Black characters are the next victims, of course. To kill angels, it turns out, you have to shoot them. Who knew? In the end, which pits Gabriel against Michael, it’s revealed that God was testing the loyalty of his angels by giving them this task. Mindless obedience, God thinks, is wrong. If people have to be killed to prove it, so be it.
The theme of the messianic baby stays intact but goes nowhere. At the end it’s unclear if the angel attacks are still going on, but the waitress and her boyfriend, along with the baby, drive around heavily armed, ready to fight. Did the angels get the message that they are being tested by God or are they, like many Republicans, simply following the “leader”? Seeing the title and knowing nothing of the story, I had assumed this was a movie about demons. The “Legion,” of course, is angelic but there’s not a lot transcendent about them. Even the use of wings (which are bulletproof), makes this feel like Dogma without the humor. I knew religion would be involved in this horror, but I didn’t know how poorly it was played out. Still, it would fit into Holy Sequel, if it ever happens.
