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An average movie

Posted : 11 years, 11 months ago on 9 April 2012 08:11

For some weird reasons, I was quite eager watch this movie. Indeed, this movie was actually released on June 6th 2006 (6/6/6) and my daughter was actually born the day after. At least, it seemed that there was an interesting cast involved (Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Mia Farrow, Michael Gambon). Still, they made some huge mistakes in this area. Indeed, couldn't they pick someone else more believable to play the mother? Back then, Julia Stiles wasn't even 25 years old and she looked even younger, 22 at most. Apparently, some other actresses such as Rachel Weisz, Laura Linney or Hope Davis were considered and it would have worked better with them. The other casting mistake was with the young boy. Seriously, it was one of the weakest child performances I have seen for a while. On the bright side, I must say that the rest of the cast was decent, especially Liev Schreiber. Indeed, Schreiber is a fine actor, one of the most underrated at work nowadays and he really deserved a better movie than this. Indeed, the story was really preposterous and I was sometimes laughing at what was happening on the screen. I mean, other movies such as 'The Shining' managed to deal with paranormal phenomenoms without getting so ridiculous. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was not really awful, it was still a weak horror movie and it is not really worth a look, even if you are a fan of this genre.



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Boring

Posted : 15 years, 4 months ago on 1 December 2008 01:14

A remake of the 1979 movie, The Omen, where an American diplomat (Liev Schreiber) comes to realize that his son is the Anti-christ.

The only good thing about this re-make is Mia Farrow as the nanny. She brought some creepiness to an otherwise unscary film (the scene where she's feeding Damien strawberries was the only time I felt ill at ease). She played the character in an understated, quiet manner but at the same time you sensed her determination to "do right" by Damien.

And now for the bad. Let's start with Julia Stiles. UGH! How this woman cannot act - she's so ineffectual, so drained of life that I couldn't dredge up even an ounce of sympathy for her. Also Liev Schreiber and her do not make for a believable couple.

The kid who played Damien kept trying to pass constipated for scary. That look does not make you the Anti-Christ.

Much of the dialogue in this movie was bad. At the beginning when a priest tells Robert Thorn (Schreiber) that "God will forgive this little deception", Thorn should have run away. The movie would have been over in five minutes but that would have been a good thing.

I spent the entire movie making snide comments about what was going on screen which is the only enjoyment I got. So with tepid acting, especially on the part of Julia Stiles, a ho-hum plot and very few scares this movie is just not interesting to watch.


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Standard horror remake

Posted : 15 years, 9 months ago on 4 July 2008 04:02

"The son of the devil will rise from the world of politics."


Considering the paranoid religious gibberish pertaining to the release of Richard Donner's 1976 horror flick The Omen, it's scarcely surprising that a remake was commissioned to tie in with the rare date of 6-6-06. In the current cinematic age, remakes of horror movies are a fickle beast endlessly being rolled out for money. Only rarely have I witnessed a horror remake that produced decent results (I have yet to see a brilliant remake) such as Zack Snyder's reinvention of Dawn of the Dead. Other remakes such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre have become some of the worst segments of modern cinema. Put very simply, Hollywood has become too lazy to create original ideas, so they're recycling and reusing ideas for an easy profit. The creative team for The Omen were so lazy that the person who penned the screenplay for the original (David Seltzer) was hired to polish his own script for the remake.

This remake is absolutely futile. In essence, this remake adds nothing but occasionally impressive gory CGI effects, tasteless references to modern disasters (as a way of displaying the fulfilment of some religious mumbo jumbo that supposedly describes the signs of an impending Armageddon) and a more refined visual style. Aside from that it's essentially a word-for-word, almost shot-for-shot remake of Richard Donner's 1976 original with no additional scares. The filmmakers could have expanded the original film...they could have executed an entirely different treatment of the Book of Revelations...instead this is a purely futile duplicate of the original. Sure, some may think that if this is identical to the original than the scares must be the same...right? Wrong! The death scenes are more predictable, Marco Beltrami's score cannot set the creepy atmosphere of Jerry Goldsmith's music, and the cast are mainly woeful.

The plot is of course identical to that of Richard Donner's 1976 original, except the opening is a little different. The opening of this film depicts activity at the Vatican as the sighting of a comet confirms the world is on the eve of Armageddon. Cut to political figure Robert Thorn (Schreiber) who's racing to the hospital to be with his wife Katherine (Stiles) who has gone into labour. Complications during childbirth leave the child stillborn and Katherine unconscious with permanent damage to her womb resulting in an inability to bear another child. Father Spiletto (Radice), a priest working at the hospital, offers Robert a replacement for his loss: a young child born on the same night whose mother passed away during labour. Believing it is best for his wife's sake, Robert agrees to take the child; raising it as his own with Katherine's oblivious to the situation. Roughly 5 years later, young Damien (Davey-Fitzpatrick) is developing smoothly. But a series of peculiar deaths result in suspicions that the child is in fact the Antichrist - the son of the devil. Robert Thorn then works with photographer Keith Jennings (Thewlis) to discover more about the heritage of Damien.

The characters are portrayed poorly by a disappointing cast. Liev Schreiber cannot replace someone of Gregory Peck's stature. It's impossible to comprehend the praise that Schreiber received. He's a dreadful actor: emotionless expressions, monotone voice, no intensity in line deliveries. Julia Stiles should never have become an actress. Every time Stiles hauls her oversized cranium into shot, the movie grinds to a screeching halt as the theme of the film flips from proficient thriller to daytime soap-opera territory. Mia Farrow supplies the film with the only terrifying moments (a faint praise) as Damien's demonic nanny. Farrow flexed her only decent acting muscle in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby...roughly 40 years ago! Her time arrived and passed long ago. Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick is not sinister or frightening...he's an innocent little boy who cannot act! In the original, the young boy's facial expressions sent chills down your spine. Davey-Fitzpatrick sends tickles down your spine. David Thewlis was nominated for a Razzie award for 'Worst Actor'. I'm shocked at this because Thewlis is one of the only good actors in an otherwise dreadful cast. Julia Stiles and Liev Schreiber should have received the nominations! Pete Postlethwaite is frequently sincere in the role as a priest trying to warn Schreiber's Robert Thorn of the danger. Unfortunately, even he cannot cover up the flaws in the rest of the cast.

Overall, The Omen is yet another addition to the disparagingly extensive list of horror remakes that should never have been authorised. Perhaps as a standalone film it'd be a decent horror outing for the genre buffs. For those who've never seen Richard Donner's 1976 original, maybe some satisfaction will be uncovered. John Moore is a competent director who brings an intriguing visual style to the production; however this remake is pointless and there was never an apposite warrant for a remake (apart from the obvious marketing purposes). At the end of the day you end up wondering what the point was. Cinematic dรฉjร  vu is the most probable reaction.

4.2/10



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