The Omen (2006)
April 13, 2024 3:29 PM - Subscribe
[TRAILER] A new age of evil threatens to arise when an American diplomat (Liev Schreiber) and his wife (Julia Stiles) learn that the child (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) they adopted may be the son of Satan. Mystical signs point to the Antichrist's coming battle for dominion over heaven and Earth.
Also start ng Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael Gambon, Amy Huck.
Directed by John Moore. Written by David Seltzer*. Produced by Glen Williamson, John Moore for 20th Century Fox. Cinematography by Jonathan Sela. Edited by Dan Zimmerman. Music by Marco Beltrami. also known as The Omen 666.
*Dan McDermott was hired to write the film and produced the working draft. Chap Taylor also worked.on the script. In the end, the WGA deemed the script not sufficiently different enough from the original film to grant either any credit. David Seltzer, who wrote the 1976 screenplay was granted sole credit, despite not being involved in the production.
26% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently streaming in the US on Hulu. JustWatch.
Also start ng Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael Gambon, Amy Huck.
Directed by John Moore. Written by David Seltzer*. Produced by Glen Williamson, John Moore for 20th Century Fox. Cinematography by Jonathan Sela. Edited by Dan Zimmerman. Music by Marco Beltrami. also known as The Omen 666.
*Dan McDermott was hired to write the film and produced the working draft. Chap Taylor also worked.on the script. In the end, the WGA deemed the script not sufficiently different enough from the original film to grant either any credit. David Seltzer, who wrote the 1976 screenplay was granted sole credit, despite not being involved in the production.
26% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently streaming in the US on Hulu. JustWatch.
Thank you for your insight on the Thewlis-O-Meter!
posted by miss-lapin at 4:07 PM on April 13 [1 favorite]
posted by miss-lapin at 4:07 PM on April 13 [1 favorite]
It's critical.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:15 PM on April 13 [2 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:15 PM on April 13 [2 favorites]
I watched this yesterday and this might be the remakiest remake that ever remade. I can see why the WGA gave Seltzer sole credit. It's very nearly the same film. Like, if the original had been halted a week from the start date, this is the movie that might have been made 30 years later if the original script was pulled from a drawer, a later writer had two weeks to do a polish to bring it up to date, and the movie was production designed and cast based on the original 1970's notes.
The problem is one of diminishing returns from the same thing done over again. Moore seems to understand that the scary kid stuff has been ripped off an infinite amount of times, but all of the ramping up he does--while up to current standards and done well enough--isn't enough to recapture the effect of running that stuff through for the first time. It plays as C+ jump scares at best. Schreiber is a solid sub for Peck and Thewlis has shockingly similar energy to young David Warner (I once saw a Tweet describing the prematurely aged early thirtysomethings of 1970s cinema as "ashtrays who look like they can fuck" and Thewlis is right there with Warner on that). The kid is creepy. Julia Styles is fine. But there's little in this that is new.
The bit where the first ambassador dies a horrible death seems pretty well lifted from various scenes in part II. The scenes where Julia Styles' character hallucinates as part of her growing dread of her child are little more than additional color. Robert's erratic drive to the church is amplified into more of a car chase, which is corny as hell, even so, otherwise, same ending, too.
Even though everyone involved acquits themselves well enough, it all feels like leftovers. Probably the most egregious rerun of a remake since the infamous Gus Van Sant version of Psycho.
The only bit that is a clear upgrade is the FX on the photojournalist's death. Thewlis gets wiped the fuck out in an absolutely macabre Rube Goldbergian way, nearly to the level of the better kills from the Final Destination series.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:11 AM on April 14
The problem is one of diminishing returns from the same thing done over again. Moore seems to understand that the scary kid stuff has been ripped off an infinite amount of times, but all of the ramping up he does--while up to current standards and done well enough--isn't enough to recapture the effect of running that stuff through for the first time. It plays as C+ jump scares at best. Schreiber is a solid sub for Peck and Thewlis has shockingly similar energy to young David Warner (I once saw a Tweet describing the prematurely aged early thirtysomethings of 1970s cinema as "ashtrays who look like they can fuck" and Thewlis is right there with Warner on that). The kid is creepy. Julia Styles is fine. But there's little in this that is new.
The bit where the first ambassador dies a horrible death seems pretty well lifted from various scenes in part II. The scenes where Julia Styles' character hallucinates as part of her growing dread of her child are little more than additional color. Robert's erratic drive to the church is amplified into more of a car chase, which is corny as hell, even so, otherwise, same ending, too.
Even though everyone involved acquits themselves well enough, it all feels like leftovers. Probably the most egregious rerun of a remake since the infamous Gus Van Sant version of Psycho.
The only bit that is a clear upgrade is the FX on the photojournalist's death. Thewlis gets wiped the fuck out in an absolutely macabre Rube Goldbergian way, nearly to the level of the better kills from the Final Destination series.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:11 AM on April 14
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posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:32 PM on April 13 [7 favorites]