"Legion" may not be a great film, but if you wanted to pick one film that was symptomatic of America in the early 21st century, this is it: a movie about angels . . . with machine guns.
Yeah, every other Hollywood movie these days is about exploding fireballs and cool acrobatic ass-kicking — even, sigh, "Alice in Wonderland" — but in a film about angels? It's impossible to overemphasize what a departure this is: From "It's A Wonderful Life" to "What Dreams May Come" and "Angels in the Outfield" to "City of Angels," angels have always been benevolent figures who offer compassion and guidance. (The sole exception being Christopher Walken in 1995's "The Prophecy.") "Legion" is the first time angels have come to Earth to coach humans in how to lock 'n' load automatic weapons, or slash people open with their razor-sharp wings and chain-saw maces.
"Legion" is a movie about being so sure that you're right that even God is wrong; it's a movie where scripture is forced to fit the message, not the other way around, and where metaphysical questions of mankind's role on Earth and the divine plan are settled through firepower and brute force. Like I said, it's a movie about America in 2010.
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