Chris
June 11th '06, 03:45 PM
Starring: Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, Pete Postelthwaite, Seamus Davey Fitzpatrick.
Director: John Moore
Certificate: UK-15, USA-R, AUS-MA, IRE-15A.
Runtime: 110 Minutes
The Plot:
When the unborn child of Ambassador Robert Thorn and his wife dies during childbirth, Robert is approached by a mysterious priest claiming to offer a solution to his predicament before his wife finds out and consequently breaks her heart. The solution is that another child was born at the exact same time that the Thorns child died, and that the Thorns could simply adopt this child and raise it as their own. This child was born at 6am, on the 6th day, of the 6th month, and is a perfectly normal child until it reaches its 5th birthday, then a series of strange deaths begin to surround the child. Little Damien is infact, the son of the Devil...
Whats Good:
The film is a very faithful remake of the original 1976 movie starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick as the worried parents, while this is also a good point it is also its eventual downfall, more on that later. The acting is relatively good from all the actors and a nice addition that was not in the original is the first five minutes where it is explained about certain events that are apparently depicted in the Bible that herald the coming of the son of the Lucifer (the World Trade Centre attacks, the Columbia shuttle explosion, the Tsunami in the East).The graveyard scene is also quite well handled and offers one of the biggest 'jumps' in the movie.
Whats Bad:
The fact that it sticks so closely to the original story makes it rather predictable and unoriginal, especially if you've seen the 1976 original. This makes it hard to not compare the movie to the original when it is almost an exact copy, right down to the dialogue. The only thing that has really been changed is the deaths, and they are arguably less impressive, especially the beheading scene. These deaths seem like something copied out of a Final Destination movie, when infact it was Final Destination that copied The Omen with the 'fortelling photos' thing. Also, the new Damien is notably less 'evil' than in the original, he just looks like any other child, whereas in the original he actually looks evil, right down to the blank stare on his face.
Conclusion:
A pointless remake of a Horror classic. If you've never seen the original you may like this film more than i did because you wont be comparing it to the older film, but for anyone who has seen the 1976 version, its just a mediocre imitation. That said it doesnt 'destroy' the memory of the original, it merely copies it and leaves you wondering why it had to be remade.
6/10
PS: Or should that be 6.66/10, lol:P
Director: John Moore
Certificate: UK-15, USA-R, AUS-MA, IRE-15A.
Runtime: 110 Minutes
The Plot:
When the unborn child of Ambassador Robert Thorn and his wife dies during childbirth, Robert is approached by a mysterious priest claiming to offer a solution to his predicament before his wife finds out and consequently breaks her heart. The solution is that another child was born at the exact same time that the Thorns child died, and that the Thorns could simply adopt this child and raise it as their own. This child was born at 6am, on the 6th day, of the 6th month, and is a perfectly normal child until it reaches its 5th birthday, then a series of strange deaths begin to surround the child. Little Damien is infact, the son of the Devil...
Whats Good:
The film is a very faithful remake of the original 1976 movie starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick as the worried parents, while this is also a good point it is also its eventual downfall, more on that later. The acting is relatively good from all the actors and a nice addition that was not in the original is the first five minutes where it is explained about certain events that are apparently depicted in the Bible that herald the coming of the son of the Lucifer (the World Trade Centre attacks, the Columbia shuttle explosion, the Tsunami in the East).The graveyard scene is also quite well handled and offers one of the biggest 'jumps' in the movie.
Whats Bad:
The fact that it sticks so closely to the original story makes it rather predictable and unoriginal, especially if you've seen the 1976 original. This makes it hard to not compare the movie to the original when it is almost an exact copy, right down to the dialogue. The only thing that has really been changed is the deaths, and they are arguably less impressive, especially the beheading scene. These deaths seem like something copied out of a Final Destination movie, when infact it was Final Destination that copied The Omen with the 'fortelling photos' thing. Also, the new Damien is notably less 'evil' than in the original, he just looks like any other child, whereas in the original he actually looks evil, right down to the blank stare on his face.
Conclusion:
A pointless remake of a Horror classic. If you've never seen the original you may like this film more than i did because you wont be comparing it to the older film, but for anyone who has seen the 1976 version, its just a mediocre imitation. That said it doesnt 'destroy' the memory of the original, it merely copies it and leaves you wondering why it had to be remade.
6/10
PS: Or should that be 6.66/10, lol:P