Legion - Movie Review and Discussion

Intro

I originally watched Legion when it came out on DVD and showed up in my library. Today, however, I was flipping channels trying to find something to watch. It's Saturday and even with over 600 channels, there wasn't really much on I knew I'd enjoy watching. Legion was airing on FX so I decided to watch that. Even though I didn't actually sit through the entire movie this time, I did think about some of the messages it sent. That's what spawned this blog post, even though I should be reviewing something else entirely.

SPOILER WARNING

If you haven't seen Legion, I highly recommend you watch it before reading this review/discussion. I am going to spoil some things, as usual.

Disclaimer

One of the main characters of Legion is the archangel Michael. The villain of the movie is the legion of angels. My thoughts on the movie mainly have to do with religion. I am by no means a Biblical scholar. I have read a lot of the Bible. I went to a Lutheran school from Preschool into Fifth grade. I went to church until I left high school. My opinions are my opinions and by no means represent the church or the Christian religion. You can attempt to argue with me in the comments, but I'm not arguing about what I have to say so... save yourself the trouble and don't attempt to argue with me on this.

Also, I identify as Agnostic. So despite my Christian upbringing, I don't actually subscribe to the tenants of that faith.

Legion - Review/Discussion

Characters:

Michael - Played by Paul Bettany.

Charlie - Played by Adrianne Palicki.
Bob Hanson - Played by Dennis Quaid.
Jeep Hanson - Played by Lucas Black.
Gabriel - Played by Kevin Durand.

(For the rest of the cast list, you can go to IMDB)

Review:

Legion is your standard dark apocalyptic action movie. There are lots of guns, lots of explosions, and lots of CG. I thought it was a fun ride the first time through. Mostly, though, I wouldn't watch it if you've got a weak stomach or have objections to violence or possible religious questions.

Discussion:

The premise of Legion, in case you've decided not to watch it before reading this, is that God has lost faith in humanity and just decided we needed to be wiped out. The only way to save humanity is for a particular baby to be born. Instead of using a flood, like he did in Noah's time, God sends his legion of angels to wipe out humanity, especially Charlie, the unborn baby's mother. The archangel Michael breaks from God to protect Charlie. His reasons for doing so and the very fact that the angels are ordered to wipe out humanity sparked this blog post.

First, I'd like to talk about the wiping out of humanity by the angels. I was really disturbed by this idea after thinking about it. The angels are following God's orders because God arbitrarily decided humans didn't deserve to live anymore. All of them, save Michael, just up and follow these orders. Now, it's not the angels following orders I have a problem with, it's the orders themselves. I remembered from my Bible lessons that God had promised not to do something like that ever again. However, upon reading the actual passage in the Bible, it turns out God was not breaking his promise at all for a very big reason I'll discuss after I type out the verses so you can read them yourself.

Genesis 9:11-17 according to The Holy Bible: New International Version

"I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

     And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

     So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

In Legion, God does not, in fact, send a flood to "destroy all life." Instead he sends a legion of angels to destroy just humans. This is seriously scary to think about. Assuming you believe that God controls the angels and can indeed send them to do whatever he wants, watching Legion is fucking scary. If God actually just up and decided all humans needed to be wiped off the face of the planet, it could and would happen. God never promised he wouldn't wipe out all humanity. He promised not to send a flood to destroy all life.

On a side note, I noticed while typing those verses that God repeats himself a lot. Makes me think he must be senile or something...

Anyway... the next thing I want to discuss is Michael. Michael decides to disobey God because Michael believes God is wrong in his decision of destroy humanity. There's a small discussion between Gabriel and Michael about the fact that Michael still loves humanity, even though God decided he doesn't anymore. Michael decides to give God what he needs rather than what he wants by saving Charlie's baby and thus saving humanity. This characterization of Michael is the only characterization of him where I actually like Michael rather than hate him.

So... that's essentially it. The thought that God could just decide all humanity needed to be wiped out is scary and Michael was actually a good guy for once.

Favorite Lines:

"When God chose your kind as the object of His love, I was the first in all of heaven to bow down before you. My love, my hope for mankind was no less than His. But I have watched you trample that gift. I have watched you kill each other over race and greed... waging war over dust and rubble and the words in old books. And yet, in the midst of all this darkness, I see some people who will not be bowed. I see some people who will not give up, even when they know all hope is lost. Some people, who realize being lost is so close to being found. I see you, Jeep. Fifteen years old, your mother leaves. Your father withdraws from the world and you spend the next five years of your young life helping him find his way home. You love a woman who bears the child of another and you love her with no thought of yourself, even though you know she may never love you the way you love her. You, Jeep... you are the reason I still have faith." - Michael

Housekeeping

I'm currently working my way through watching The Originals. I forgot that Grimm and Dracula were premiering last night so... I didn't watch them and they're on my list of things I need to watch. I'll catch up eventually... this post just stuck in my head and needed to be out there on the great wide internet.

Love ya, Jessie