Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I graded this Omen sequel 7, rounded up from 6.66. Interestingly, the user rating for this movie is 6.3, 0.36 short of 6.66. Now that would be symbolic I guess.Anyway, this movie ain't child's play, and much has been written about The Omen. When I first watched it, I thought "omen" meant something awful or negative. But "omen" is a neutral word but thanks to this scary motion picture, we associate it with a 666 kid- running-amok. Anyway, after the movie screened, I can imagine parents nervously checking for 666 marks on their kids' scalps and re-familiarizing themselves with the Book of Revelation. But a word of caution for parents in this predicament...the 666 may in fact be 999, as the absence of an underline on the kid's scalp may confuse things, and a 999 kid is innocent.One of the most chilling scenes in movie history (well at least in the Omen series) is when the old guy floats beneath the ice rink.

After his brother is killed in what some suspect was a moment of insanity by attempting to murder his young son, "Richard Thorne" (William Holden) and his wife "Ann Thorne" (Lee Grant ) have now accepted the responsibility of raising "Damien" (Jonathan Scott Taylor) along with his cousin of the same age named "Mark Thorne" (Lucas Donat). But as Damien gets closer to his 13th birthday strange things begin to happen to all of those who pose a threat to his rise in his uncle's multi-million dollar financial empire. Additionally, certain people just happen to appear who also have a vested interest in Damien as well—and they are more than willing to do anything necessary to ensure his rise as the Anti-Christ. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a solid sequel which greatly benefited from a few scenes depicting murder and violence toward the enemies of Damien. Again though, like its predecessor, the plot involved a couple of rather ludicrous attributes of the Anti-Christ which are not to be found in any Biblical passages or prophecies in existence. Apparently, for some odd reason the people who write scripts involving topics of this type have never read a Bible or spoken to someone who has. But that's Hollywood for you. In any case, this film still managed to keep my attention for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Damien, now thirteen years old, is just discovering who he really is, and what he is destined to do. Now living with his Aunt, Uncle, and cousin in a wealthy suburb of Chicago, Damien is anxious to inherit everything. Can Richard Thorn finish the job that his brother failed to do?After the success of the original, it was inevitable that there would be a sequel, and predictably, it's no where near as good, or as shocking as Donner's terrifying classic.Despite the fact that the movie barely has a plot, it's still a fun watch, in the sense of seeing how elaborate the next death scene is, because as the film goes on, they get more and more ridiculous.And this works its way into the flimsy plot. People become suspicious, or find something out snout the titular character, and they soon perish.And in turn, William Holden becomes more and more suspicious, as each death occurs. And this what happens for the majority of the film, suspicions galore.The death scenes on the original were atmospheric, and most of all, very scary. Here though, they are laughable, from a woman literally flung over a truck that takes at least thirty seconds to get to her, to a man looking very concerned in a falling lift, and then getting chopped in half.Because of this, it's unintentionally funny, and this detracts you from the urgency Holden has because of all his suspicions.A fun film for all the wrong reasons, it's just played too straight for its own good.

O2 is an improvement over the overrated first part; it's very well-photographed and interesting - and most importantly doesn't have any tiny "evil children" who can't act - but is bogged down by several flaws, some of which it shares with its inferior predecessor.First of all, the story unfolds in a Godless universe – or at least a world in which God is disinterested or at the very least just a passive observer, never actively participating, never helping by sending over some well-armed uber-priest who slays demons for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unlike Satan, who makes his presence known and who swats his enemies like annoying flies, one by one. This totally unexplained and lop-sided imbalance of power between Good and Evil, between the Church and Satan's minions, is frankly quite ludicrous.This brings me to the other major flaw, directly related to the powers of Good being on vacation: the movie's increasing predictability. By the time we get to the 2nd half of the movie, the murders are so easily foreseeable (who will get killed, why and even when) that you can almost set your watch to them. This makes O2 play out almost like a cheap slasher film, at least plot-twist-wise. Yes, the killings are inventive, mostly unusual, and they are well-filmed but at some point I'd prefer to not have to know everything in advance.The general problem with the "Omen" series is that the imbalance of power between Good and Evil creates a one-sided "battle" (well, a wipe-out really) in which the outcome is a foregone conclusion. With God doing absolutely zip/zilch/nada/niente to help his obedient flock, Satan is poised to win every single time. This kind of one-sided nonsense can only be interesting to Satanist viewers, I'd imagine. Not only is this a bad way to conduct a religious-based horror film because it eliminates all elements of surprise, but it also defies logic. Surely, in a universe in which an all-powerful Divine Being is being challenged by a runaway ex-angel, that Supreme Being would make its presence also known in form of powerful priests, flying nuns, magic crucifixes and what-not. At the very least there should be some priest running around, warning everyone in Bible-speak gibberish, and being protected by God. One single priest, that's all I ask. But there is literally nobody, not even a half-dazed squirrel. How the hell did God – at least the one in this movie serial - even get to be in charge if He never helped the humans with magic powers? This is yet another logic hole, about as big as Oprah's ass.It is hence small wonder that Satan's (and later Damien's) serial-killing in O2 is so brazen, so lacking in caution, so bombastic, and so totally out in the open. Then again, why take stealthy measures when the opposition refuses to fight you? The movie is like watching John Cleese in the boxing ring against Connie Booth i.e. "a full-grown man beating the crap out of a school-girl"; it's like an adult rugby team fighting a team of kids (again the Pythons; that scene from "The Meaning Of Life"); very predictable hence a little pointless. Which is why the ending is such a boring affair; no end-twist – if we ignore that silly nonsense about Holden's wife having been a Satanist all along.But how can Lee Grant be one of Devil's disciples when she looked genuinely concerned and shocked at the old woman's death? Yes, we HAVE been cheated by the movie. Or was Lee perhaps PLAYING UP to the camera? As far as I know, characters in movies aren't supposed to know that they are being filmed hence feigning emotions for the camera for the audience's benefit is simply a moronic plot-device used by clueless writers and directors. Withholding information is one thing; but outright lying movie-goers like this sinks the movie deeper into its mud of bad logic.The set-up in "The Prophecy" series makes much more sense, hence makes for more compelling viewing. Even "The Exorcist" series involves a measure of balance, an actual power-struggle between Satan and God that ensures that stories with unpredictable plot-twists can be written, something that is quite difficult in this Satan-controlled "Omen" universe. It is hence also illogical for Satan to need SO LONG to re-gain power – when there is no visible opposition whatsoever from his adversary. This leads me to the inevitable and very logical conclusion that the Satan portrayed here is either incompetent or lazy, or both.The lush production values, the non-moronic dialogue, the good soundtrack, and the overall mood make up for some of these minus points, but there is no denying that the "Omen" series is far too linear and predictable, and that this movie is far too similar to its predecessor, with an almost identical basic plot.