Legion

(MA) Sony DVD/BD

An angel, Michael (Bettany), refuses to obey an order from God. He falls to Earth, cuts off his wings, steals an armoury of weapons and dashes into the Mojave Desert to protect the unborn child of a young, single woman (Palicki), who works in a middle-of-nowhere truck stop.

Welcome to The End of Days, Hollywood style, as the hordes of “Heaven” descend to wipe out humanity because God has, well, had enough of us.

While it’s fascinating that two apocalyptic action films have been released this year that focus prominently and unashamedly on biblical matters (the other is The Book Of Eli), lightweight, cheesy and C-grade Legion demonstrates how unsatisfying and misleading it can be when God’s Word is cherry-picked.

Beginning his debut feature with Psalm 34:11 — “Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord” — writer-director Scott Stewart proceeds to simplify a prophesied event into a gun-toting case of angry God vs confused humans.

Without making clear reference to exactly why God sees fit to judge/punish humans (sin is never brought up), Legion also has no place for Jesus Christ — a glaring omission — presumably left out because The One Way To Salvation is inconvenient in a pulpy tale of divine aggression.

Ben McEachen