The Omen (2006)

Rating:

Betting on a theme accordant to its opening date 6.6.06 to promote interest and intrigue hoped to spearhead followers to swarm in movie houses, the 2006 remake of the 1976 movie "The Omen" fails to deliver the goods, thus creates a big disappointment. The movie poses nothing new and is almost an exact replication of the original only less inferior. Obviously banking on familiarity as the formula for box-office success, this movie fails to neither surpass nor even match the caliber of the original that will soon result to a halt in the monetary gains it may be experiencing in the first few days of showing. The interesting storyline does less to elevate this movie to greatness. It’s the script. It could have been done better.

Robert Thorn agrees to have his dead baby replaced with an unknown baby they later named Damian without Katharine, his wife, knowing it. Katharine thinks Damian is her own while Robert suppresses the idea that Damian is somebody else’s. The couple raises the child like their own. As Robert becomes more successful in his field, terror begins to unfold in the Thorn family. Damian’s nanny commits suicide the day Damian celebrates his birthday in front of all the guests. A priest surfaces voicing out claims about Damian’s true guise. This marks the start of how the anti-Christ, believed to be Damian, is imagined to grow to become with some references from the Bible’s Book of Revelation.

Their acting superior than mediocre, Julia Stiles and Liev Schreiber were the saving grace. Stiles takes on this time a mature role as the wife of a diplomat. Though a little young for the role, Stiles delivers fine and earnest acting. But she lacks a bit the sophistication of Lee Remick. Schreiber delivers intuitive acting true to the character he is portraying hinting viewers of the conflicts from within brought about by living in denial as to who Damian is really. That has been his signature since "The Manchurian Candidate." By the way, the grown up Damien (Gregory Peck) seen in the sequels of the 1976 original looks real close to Schreiber. Just telling. Mia Farrow perfectly fits the role of Damian’s second Nanny. Her fiendish smiles never hide the evil she feigns she’s not.

The 1976 original spawned sequels. This one, I bet, won’t. But having no point of comparison, those who haven’t seen the original might like this movie for its theme, which instills fear and really makes one think of the possibility of Damian’s character. That might arouse clamor for sequels.

© 2006 Jonathan Susvilla