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We are in the 14th century at a wasteland near Jerusalem. Two men are in a fierce battle, named Cain, a templar knight, and Legion, a demonically possessed figure. Legion exclaims how powerful they are because of how easily they can jump from one vessel to another. Cain points out how there’s no other lifeforms within range that can serve as vessels for Legion to jump to. Cain is also immune to possession. Afterwards, Cain destroys Legion, which seems to solve all problems for now.
As years pass, Legion realizes how they have the ability to transfer into worms that live deep underground. After hundreds of centuries, Legion, now in the 21st century, has returned, but now has merged with other human bodies, allowing him to build stronger. The irony of “Los Angeles,” also referred to as “City of Angels” pleases them. In the current day, they operate as a gang/cult under the leadership of Richard Ceterone, who calls himself Samael.
While law enforcement has made efforts to address the issue, the end result has led to the death of fifteen officers and the addition of a further fifteen members to the gang. According to sources, most of the Legion’s members do not make good undercover officers, and thus do not actually manage to infiltrate the police departments. Two officers, though, decide to take action into their own hands and employ a hitman by the name of Max (Ray Park), using one of the gang’s old books as a way to lure the gang into an ambush.
Things did not go according to plan. While Max was successful in wiping out some of the legion, he ended up still being double crossed by his team and possessing the book of Solomon. Things did not go well for him. At the same time, local Yakuza members have also been turned against their parent organization in Japan, leading to the dispatching of Assassin Ryu (Johnny Yong Bosch). Once there, he quickly discovered that there was far more at play than simple gang conflicts. This entire situation is highlighted even further with Tetsuo (Dan Southworth) has been controlled by a particularly powerful piece of the Legion, so he got in touch with a Buddhist priest (Gerald Okamura) who was able to offer some much needed clarification.
Now ageless, Cain (Esteban Cueto) learns that Legion has returned and it intends to challenge demon Beelzebub (Steve Fite). He goes on to challenge Samael, who tells him that there are four million people in Los Angeles that Legion could use as a host and even Cain wouldn’t be able to kill that many innocents and escape the law.
The three survived men can trust each other because they know that none of them could be possessed by Legion. This forces them into an alliance of sorts. Cain has the dubious dark sorcery as a blessing that also curses him with immortality. His kind, if you can call them that, never felt back with the Fallen Ones, but they did learn from them. Ryu is a product of his warrior-priest ancestors and uses the mental skills they passed down. Unfortunately, Max is just a normal person with a body that has no soul to possess, which is normally a bad thing.
Will even these three be enough to stop Legion from opening a portal with the intention of turning the City of Angels into Hell-A?
This American supernatural action movie is sometimes described as a ‘low-budget direct-to-video’ and it is far better than the phrase tends to conjure up. While it’s not a direct adaptation from a comic, it’s pretty comic-booky in a good way, complete with the transitions framed in panels. The protagonists are each given their own director for the scenes comprising the protagonists’ focus, but the directors who are mostly known as stunt directors manage to blend well enough that it isn’t jarring.
The three main actors are sufficiently competent for their roles and, for this particular subgenre, their characters are given a bit more depth than is customary. Moreover, the stunts and fight sequences are diverse and captivating. (There’s a fight between two former Power Rangers, in case you want a trivia tidbit!) There also is not one of these romance subplots that are gratuitously included, although an early scene may lead you to suspect that there might be one.
The way in which Legion’s powers are structured makes them a compelling threat that requires some creativity to counter. And while there are a lot of indications for sequels to come, this is not one that was made, so you don’t need to worry about how that was going to work out unless you are writing fan fiction.
The special effects sequence near the conclusion is the most glaring blunder committed in regard to the movie since it indicates the upper limit of the budget that had been set for the film.
There is a very graphic type of violence in which a person is tortured and shown at the end. There are some scenes featuring an opium den, but I don’t think we ever see opium being used. Additionally, there is a lot of biphobia and strong swearing.
The violence that is usually lethal is described with a contrasting type of language that is quite different from what the rest of the film uses. This type of film is very easy to follow and automatically makes it entertaining which is why action fanatics would enjoy it the most.
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