Have you ever heard me say that I liked a remake? Especially a remake of a movie I like? Well if not, you have now. I liked the remake of “The Omen”. Disregarding all the hype of its 6-6-06 release and all the hoopla, it was a good cover of the original.
They update it with modern events heralding the coming of the Anti-Christ. I have a question here; does it make sense for people that interpret Biblical prophecy to include three events (WTC collapse, Columbia explosion and Hurricane Katrina) that take place in a continent that did not exist to the writers of that prophecy? We still lived on a flat Earth according to the authors of scripture, not to mention that the moon used to provide her own light. If their powers allowed them to envision an unknown land and events millennia into the future, you’d think their powers would tell them the earth is spherical. OK, ok, digressing… Plus, I know all the fall-back excuses to prophecy interpretation so it was a useless question. It was just burning in my mind right about now.
They update the coming of the Anti-Christ fairly well. The noticeable thing about this version is that it is a modern overlay of the original. Every scene is familiar, the best lines are delivered the same, “Damien, look at me Damien! It’s all for you Damien, it’s all for you!” Even the scenery is familiar but different. They go out of their way to make things new but they don’t over do it. The effects were good but not flashy. I especially loved that they didn’t pan away for the death scenes. The decapitation, the fall, the spike, the hit and run; all of them were gruesome and fantastic.
Probably the best part of the movie was Mia Farrow. That bitch creeped me out! The original nanny was pretty good at being creepy but Mia just opened it up to a new level. I didn’t even know she was in the movie until I saw her name in the opening credits. When I saw it, I was expecting the quiet demure version of her and somehow cashing in on a little bit of the “Rosemary’s Baby” action. Nope. She just came in and blew away the rest of the cast. She was perfect in the role, even if the role is a little far-fetched. Nobody would allow her to stay on as nanny after just a few of her actions but that flaw is in the original too so we can’t count that against her. Yeah, I loved the Mia Farrow as the Hell-sent-nanny bit.
If I have anything bad to say (and I always do) about this movie it would be the loss of creepyness. The minor suspense in the original gave way to lots of jumps but no suspense. The best example is the graveyard scene. Instead of hearing the dogs growl, seeing the dogs approaching and the audience thinking, “Is he going to make it out of there?” and then having the dogs attack; in this one there is a close up, the music fades out (sure sign of a big moment) and BAM!!! A fucking dog tackles him from off-screen like a cannon-fired linebacker! It made Teresa jump about 20′ in the air and was a really good startling moment, but there wasn’t any suspense in it at all. Lots of scenes like that in this one.
The kid is nowhere as creepy as the original Damien. Maybe this translates into “extra-creepy” for some because the Anti-Christ could be ANY kid, but the original kid was definitely better in my opinion. They could have done a better job in make-up with him.
The mother was not much of an actress. She just didn’t have the presence to pull this one off. All too often she wasn’t scared or confused as much as she was just whining. I didn’t like her at all.
The father did a little better but just seemed too young. Younger wouldn’t have been so bad, in fact it could have been good, except I kept getting the feeling that he was trying to do his best Gregory Peck impersonation throughout the whole movie.
So, going against my conventional wisdom, I now have a remake that I like as much as the original. I think this is the second time I said this now. I don’t remember which movie I said this about before, but I do remember liking a remake. So am I getting soft in my old age? Am I lightening up? Am I typing the same shit I wrote the LAST time I said this? I don’t know the answers to any of these questions. If you liked the original “Omen”, then “Omen v2006″ won’t let you down. It was a good update that didn’t blaspheme the original just for the sake of being new.
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