The Omen
Director- John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines)
Is it just me or is this summer movie season kinda beat so far? One interesting movie a week comes out and then there are some ancillary features of varying quality. Despite being in Nashville, An Inconvenient Truth was not playing anywhere, so this was the next best option. I have never seen the original, so anyone familiar with it could chime in on its merits.
This film is a summer oddity. I suppose the idea of a gimmicky 6/6/6 release appealed to studio executives. It is entirely possible that this is why it was remade in the first place, purely for the marketing opportunity. That would be rather sad, but predictable. I could not shake the feeling during this movie that we would have been better served to see it as a release in the Fall, closer to Halloween. Because the movie itself endeavors to be scary and creepy, but not a horror film closer to high art, ala The Sixth Sense.
Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles star as parents whose child dies while being born. A priest offers them another motherless child born on the same day- at 6 am on June 6th!!!! As the child grows up more and more creepy and disconcerting things begin to happen to the people around him. The movie does not go to great lengths to hide that the child is the anti-christ.
There were a couple good things about the movie. Mia Farrow's presence as the child's wicked nanny is inspired casting, adding a powerful wink and nudge given her involvement in Rosemary's Baby. There are some seriously frightening and creepy moments. But overall the movie is just not that good- I feel like there is a great idea for a movie in here waiting to get out, but the acting isn't great and it just doesn't work. I cannot recommend this film, but it wasn't really bad. Just not good.
Is it just me or is this summer movie season kinda beat so far? One interesting movie a week comes out and then there are some ancillary features of varying quality. Despite being in Nashville, An Inconvenient Truth was not playing anywhere, so this was the next best option. I have never seen the original, so anyone familiar with it could chime in on its merits.
This film is a summer oddity. I suppose the idea of a gimmicky 6/6/6 release appealed to studio executives. It is entirely possible that this is why it was remade in the first place, purely for the marketing opportunity. That would be rather sad, but predictable. I could not shake the feeling during this movie that we would have been better served to see it as a release in the Fall, closer to Halloween. Because the movie itself endeavors to be scary and creepy, but not a horror film closer to high art, ala The Sixth Sense.
Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles star as parents whose child dies while being born. A priest offers them another motherless child born on the same day- at 6 am on June 6th!!!! As the child grows up more and more creepy and disconcerting things begin to happen to the people around him. The movie does not go to great lengths to hide that the child is the anti-christ.
There were a couple good things about the movie. Mia Farrow's presence as the child's wicked nanny is inspired casting, adding a powerful wink and nudge given her involvement in Rosemary's Baby. There are some seriously frightening and creepy moments. But overall the movie is just not that good- I feel like there is a great idea for a movie in here waiting to get out, but the acting isn't great and it just doesn't work. I cannot recommend this film, but it wasn't really bad. Just not good.
posted by Paul Johnson at 6/09/2006 09:13:00 AM 
1 Comments:
I had the privelege of watching THE OMEN on 6/6/06 (ok, I was dragged to it)... and I must say, it was wonderful (only because I hope this movie doesn't bring an end to the Hollywood establishment).
Alright, so the movie sucked. Surprisingly, the cinematography and the background score were very very good... too good for a movie with such a loose script and poor acting.
Interesting note: There's a scene where Liev Schreiber's character gets a newspaper clipping. I didn't notice the real article they were stressing on, but found a hilarious sideline - "Tourists Missing in Antarctica!"
I actually burst out lauging, but was shushed by the scared audience members around me (come on, really?)
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