Short Take: The writing is vague and unpolished, but the ambition is evident

Director: Scott Stewart (feature debut)

Screenwriters: Peter Schink (Gotham Café) and Scott Stewart

Cast: Paul Bettany (The Da Vinci Code), Adrianne Palicki, Lucas Black (Jarhead), Charles S. Dutton (Rudy), Kate Walsh (TV’s Private Practice), Dennis Quaid (The Alamo), Tyrese Gibson (Transformers 2), Willa Holland, Kevin Durand (3:10 to Yuma)

Length: 1h 40m

Synopsis: After many years of violence, tyranny, apathy, and greed, God has decided to exterminate the human race for a second time. But instead of a flood, this time he sends his army of angels to possess the weak-willed and kill the would-be savior of men – an unborn child. The archangel Michael, though, refuses to give up on mankind and refuses to carry out his orders to destroy it. Instead, he takes it upon himself to be the protector of the unborn savior, in the process accepting the help of a handful of strong-willed, albeit unprepared, individuals.

Warning: This review contains material that might be considered “spoiling.”

Analysis: For better or worse, the theology of Legion is not altogether loyal to the Christian Bible and its congruencies. It appears to mix elements of both the Old and New Testaments, which at times conflict with one another to form a bizarrely complex interpretation of God and his teachings. The manifestation of God here resembles that of the Old Testament, being one who would use fire and brimstone to punish those who would sin so gravely (e.g. sentencing man to endure a great flood). On the other hand, the inclusion of a savior in infant form clearly pertains to the story of Jesus of Nazareth. This combination leads to one of the film’s many unanswered questions, which is why if God wanted to exterminate mankind would he provide a savior for them? Initially one might think that the reason would be that he wants to test mankind’s A) will to survive, and B) willingness to follow him. However, through dialogue spoken about God by those who have presumably spoken directly to him (Michael and Gabriel), we learn that God’s motives are initially genuinely malicious. So, God indeed allotted an unborn child to be the savior of men during a time when his intentions were to destroy all of mankind along with said unborn savior. Understanding this dissidence may be possible after much deliberation and contemplation, however the film itself fails to even acknowledge it. Being that this issue is not explained, one might be inclined to consider it unjustified.

Director Scott Stewart provides a number of visual cues that help us discern the progression of the story. For instance, he uses the natural progression of time (the transition from one day to the next) to indicate which stage in the narrative we are witness to. The film begins during the late afternoon, and then continues on to dusk, night, and then dawn. The intensity and direness of the story builds in accordance with the level of darkness depicted on screen. With this relationship set up, it is clear that Stewart believes that the night is darkest just before the dawn. Likewise, he also appears to believe that the coming of the next dawn will come no matter how dark the previous night. Because of this relationship between time and the film’s narrative development, one can easily claim that Stewart is pressing for this allegory to pertain to the fate of mankind. And to go one step further, because the allegory is in reference to the changing of days one can presume that Stewart is also claiming that man’s fate is forever cyclical; destined to endure God’s attempts at annihilation every so often due to his initial innocence and eventual sinfulness.

This supposed cyclical nature of mankind could have something to do with the film’s main theme: being lost. Several characters are specifically said to be lost in life (as well as mankind in general), including God himself. The angel Michael explains that the reason God is punishing mankind is because he has lost faith in it. Arguably because of this lack of faith, he claims that God himself is lost. For this very reason Michael decides to defy God’s wish for man’s termination, hoping that his efforts and faith in man will inspire God to withhold faith once again and remember that he created man out of love and affection. Because Michael has taken up the mantle as the one who will lead the faithless out of darkness and despair, a link between him and Jesus can be reasonably suggested. After all, Jesus’ mission also was to lead the lost and forlorn into the light of faith. Now one only has to ask themselves what to think of Michael in comparison to Jesus after Michael was not only able to lead mankind into the light of faith, but God as well. What could Stewart’s opinion be? And if the fall and salvation of man is cyclical, when will our next savior come?

Rating: 6.0