Summary:
A remake of the 1976 classic. An American diplomat begins to suspect his son might be the antichrist.
My Thoughts:
I’ve watched all The Omen movies this year (except for the TV movie “The Omen: Awakening”, and I don’t really have plans to check that one out); aside from the original, none of them really need to exist. The original “Omen” is a classic that I consider to be just a step below horror greats like “The Exorcist” and “The Shining”. “The Omen II: Damien” is essentially the same story, only Damien is now a teenager; It follows the beats of the original film almost to a tee. “The Omen III: The Final Conflict” is a hot mess, and pretty boring to boot! I figured since I’d gotten the other entries out of the way I could try the remake, and one of my roommates joined in the viewing, figuring we could laugh at it if the film was terrible.
From the opening credits, I started to reassess my opinion on this film; not only did the writer of the original film return to write this remake (David Seltzer), the cast is freaking stacked! Liev Schreiber (“The Painted Veil”) plays Robert Thorn, the role previously played by Gregory Peck; Julia Stiles (Hustlers”) plays Katherine Thorn, a role originally played by Lee Remick; Mia Farrow (“Rosemary’s Baby”) plays Mrs. Baylock, Damien’s caretaker; Pete Postlethwaite (“In the Name of the Father”) plays Father Brennen; and David Thewlis (“Naked”) plays the photographer Keith Jennings. Michael Gambon (“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”) also makes an appearance. So, with my expectations now raised a bit, I sat down expecting a film that was probably going to be middling instead of absolutely terrible.
Right away, I noticed a few things were different about the way this movie starts and the way the original film begins. This film chooses to incorporate some of the elements from the later entries in the franchise- the comets in the sky being a sign of the end times comes from a scene in “The Omen III”. I sat up, intrigued. Remakes that do nothing other than update the film for modern audiences are, in my opinion, pretty pointless (looking at you Gus Van Sant- who honestly thought we needed a shot by shot remake of “Psycho”?), but remakes that expand upon the original source material, or do something different tend to have a voluble reason for existing (Thank you, Luca Guadagnino for the amazing “Suspiria” remake!). I thought that if Seltzer wanted to tell his story again, only in a different way, who was I to stop him?
Unfortunately, after those first ten minutes of something fresh, the film falls back into the exact same beats as the first film. As my roommate and I sat watching the film, both of us familiar with the original, we started guessing which people were going to die and how, and most of the time we were 100% correct. Sure, they updated little things; instead of Damien riding a tricycle, he rides a scooter; instead of free-roaming monkeys at the zoo attacking Damien’s car as they drive by, the monkeys just go nuts in their cages. If you’ve seen the original, then you’ll know exactly what is going to happen and when… It sort of takes the fun out of this movie.
Here’s the thing, though: this isn’t a bad film. Had the original “Omen” not existed, this film probably would’ve received far better reviews. It’s well shot, well acted, the story is compelling; it’s just the exact same movie we’d already seen forty years prior.
Verdict:
This movie isn’t bad; it’s competently made. But why on earth would I recommend you watch this film, when the original has a far superior general aesthetic. I could take or leave this film; I’m not mad I watched it- I think it’s great to see the ever-underappreciated Liev Schreiber, Pete Postlethwaite, and David Thewlis in anything. But if the remake adds nothing original, then the film just becomes just an unnecessary cash grab devoid of artistic merit.
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