Just so...so bad

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

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

There is something off-putting about it. I know, it's The Omen, there is supposed to be something off-putting about it, but its not in the creepy good way.I think the bad after-taste is that it follows the original far too close and because of that, like most remakes, it's not saying anything new. It sort of leaves the viewer in the position where they don't understand why they are still watching it.True, the first Omen does seem dated...but even then it adds to the retro appeal and, honestly, it still seems fresh. The concepts, the movie, it was all new in the original and you still have that sense when you go back it it.Honestly, dated isn't bad. it takes a special kind of short-bus rider to dislike something just because it looks old.The remake, it's covering the same old ground and, honestly, aside for a couple dream sequences and the scene at the zoo, it hasn't really improved at all.And then you have the cast Liev Schreiber doesn't really fill Gregory Peck's shoes. Julie Stiles is OK...but wooden compared to Lee Remick.Thewlis was good, but Warner made the more believable photographer.In fact, the only real improvement is Postlethwaite but this is the one case where they really cast a better actor in the role. Troughton was OK, but really, you can't compare.And the talking Damien...no, he was creepier when he didn't really speak.So what you are left with is a shallow remake that doesn't say anything new, offers no revelations, no new insight, and doesn't have the same caliber actors in it.I mean, the only people that are going to like it more, are the mouth-breathers that can't stand watching anything dated.

As remakes go, this one of THE OMEN isn't half bad. It's well shot, with an attractive colour palette and good stunts to recommend it. Technical aspects are superior and a Macro Beltrami score adds to the experience. There are some quite horrific moments and some decent performances in the cast. Live Schreiber, an actor who I've never liked much, acquits himself well in the role of Robert Thorn; he's no Gregory Peck, but he makes a decent job of it. Julia Stiles is less assured in a somewhat bland turn as the put-upon mother, but the supporting cast make up for this. There's a raving Michael Gambon in a cameo role; a scary Mia Farrow, ageless and reminiscent of her role in ROSEMARY'S BABY as the creepy nanny, a scene-stealing Pete Postlethwaite as the mad priest, and best of all, a mannered and well-crafted turn from David Thewlis as the photographer played by David Warner in the original (Thewlis matches Warner's performance measure for measure).My main complaint, as with so many remakes, is that this one follows the original too closely. A couple of deaths are changed, but for the most part it's exact. Where's the fun in that? Why couldn't we have had a happy ending for a change? Nevertheless, this OMEN is a good film, and very much better than OMEN IV, the last sequel before this. Some of the deaths are inventive and pleasantly shocking, and the new decapitation doesn't disappoint. Sometimes things threaten to get a bit like FINAL DESTINATION but for the most part this rises above the rest as a good, old fashioned horror thriller.

The Omen (2006): Dir: John Moore / Cast: Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite: Faithful remake to the 1976 horror masterpiece about the son of Satan entering the world parented by the American Ambassador and his wife. Strange occurrences follow as Ambassador Thorne is approached by a paranoid Priest claiming to know the actual birth right of his son. He is also approached by a photographer who made haunting discoveries that will lead Thorne on a quest that he wishes not to fulfill. Totally unnecessary remake is beautifully made and directed by John Moore who made the awful Behind Enemy Lines. Some of the differences lose their dramatic shock or payoff such as nearly every death scene, which are altered. The scene at the safari park is also a mishap here. Liev Schreiber holds strong as Robert Thorne as does Julia Stiles as his wife but filling the shoes of Gregory Peck and Lee Remick is no easy task. Mia Farrow appears as the ominous nanny promising protection to Damien. The problem here is that it is too much of a send off to her great performance in Rosemary's Baby. David Thewlis is rightly cast as the photographer out to assist Thorne with proof of his son's birth right. Pete Postlethwaite plays Father Brennan who approaches Thorne with information regarding his son's birth. Pointless but well made update remains inferior to the original. Score: 7 ½ / 10

After several years of raising his son, a US diplomat comes to believe that he's adopted the son of the Antichrist and must try to stop those who are intent on letting his demonic legacy come to fruition.Overall this may be a pointless but surprisingly watchable effort. The fact that this is a remake of the original and doesn't do anything drastically new to the proceedings is definitely the biggest flaw, since this one practically copies the original's plot as well as whole scenes straight from there. This gives the film the feeling of redundancy as it once again shows the couple's son dying in birth, the secretive adoption and the ensuring career change all coming from the original's plot verbatim. As well, the fact that this one features scenes like the arrival at the church, the disastrous birthday party, the tricycle attack and even the scenes of the two retracing the clues of the apocalypse get carried over from the original and manages to feature them shot-for-shot in the new version without deviation, furthering the ties of familiarity here between the two versions. More to the point, both of these issues combine together against this one being so predicable and unnecessary that really hold this one down and make it quite a troublesome effort here when on a fundamental level the effort is challenging to get through. That does make for enough here to hold off the few positives on display which are quite surprising throughout here. The one thing this one gets right is the build-up between the religious prophecies and the actual evil within here, as the opening montage of real-world tragedies leads nicely into the sequences in the first half which signify something is happening. As the coincidences begin piling up and painting a darker picture it becomes all the more obvious and that's quite an enjoyable feat. Likewise, the frantic finale packs a lot of action into this one by really amping up the pacing of events which is much higher at this point despite showcasing the film's fast-paced action at its best, much like it accomplished throughout the rest of this in order to really make for a watchable effort with the pacing in here. Otherwise, it's not all that bad of an effort.Rated R: Graphic Violence, some Language and intense demonic themes.