I’m tired of singing the same song about remakes over and over. I’m tired of being angry about the studios taking a classic and ruining it. And it’s a waste of energy especially since I have no power to stop them, and you idiots will just go to see whatever the commercial man tells you to see. So I’ll just save it and review the damn movie. Much like Gus Van Sant remaking “Psycho”, this remake of the Omen is an interesting shot by shot reproduction with many liberties taken in minimal aspects of plot and character, but it has a nasty habit of being rather unnecessary.
In fact it’s wholly unnecessary. It’s not hard to believe that the only reason for this film’s existence was to market on the very rare alliance of 6-6-6. It’s not much of a stretch, and to say that it was an after thought would just be denial setting in. Plus, I’d have to call you a jack ass. In a world where religion has a strangle hold on society, this remake was a surefire cash-in. In my film world, this is not apart of the film lexicon. In my filmy world, “The Omen” stars Gregory Peck and is directed by Richard Donner. In my film world, there’s never been an “Omen 4” or this remake, but sadly, many will acknowledge it, and those fools must be tolerated. “The Omen 2006” is yet another in a line of dumb retreads that vainly attempts to side-step the former film and break in its own mold. By doing this it follows the original almost shot by shot, so there were zero surprises as to where the story was headed.
So why should I have invested time in this? This seems to be a question not many people are asking themselves. And that’s sad. The most interesting twist though is that this remake tries very hard to be self-important, even aligning itself with recent world catastrophes attempting to add a relevance to it, and it sees fit to shove that connection down our throats as much as possible ad nauseum. Moore’s film has an undeniable atmosphere to it that I couldn’t help but enjoy. While I didn’t particularly like this retread, Moore’s direction is very competent, and his very good direction makes it worth watching.
From the moody London set pieces, to the wonderfully done graveyard scene, Moore has the mood down cold, and knows the material and how to go about it in terms of a grim post-apocalyptic theme. Meanwhile, the supporting cast also hold up the ends of the film as the great David Thewlis gives a very good performance as a photographer who stumbles onto the signs of the potential deaths brought on by Damien, and Mia Farrow is wonderfully twisted as Damien’s nanny/protector who takes it upon herself to insinuate herself into the family, and really goes all out to strike down any antagonists. Farrow once shows why she’s such a talented actress, and she really gives a good performance. Who else but the Rosemary can protect the son of Satan? Kudos to the casting directors for including this subtle reference.
As for the cast, one of the many contributing factors that attribute to the lackluster product is the bland performances by its two main stars. The characters themselves requires some sort of lapse of logic as Stiles herself looks too young to be a mother, let alone Schreiber’s wife. Schreiber, who looks old enough to play her father instead of her husband, is no Gregory Peck. Granted, I’m a fan of Schreiber, but his character is dull. And his reactions to the potential truth that his son may be the anti-Christ are rather underwhelming and downplayed. There’s no agony, because neither of these characters ever bond with Damien. The whole set-up is supposed to be that Stiles is cold toward Damien, while Schreiber bonds with him, yet we rarely see either happening. Throughout Moore’s film, Stiles and Schreiber look awfully bored in their characters, and Damien is also a boring character.
Damien, in the original, was a mixture of menace and innocence, and had this particular gleam in his eyes that spelled doom for everyone around him, but the performance by Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick is dull as he does nothing but stare off into space and conveys a sense of boredom rather than menace. The character of Damien has to be engaging enough to warrant our spending time with these people, and Fitzpatrick is never talented enough to pull that off. Furthermore, the deaths caused by Damien are continuously dull with vain attempts to add shock value, when really it’s just the director gauging the audience. All in all, the obvious climax aside, it’s a shame we’re going to see another lame franchise infest the theaters. Certainly, it’s not the worst remake of all time, but it really is one of the more ridiculous, unnecessary, and gimmicky of them. This is a self-important, smug, and utterly boring reproduction of a perfectly good supernatural thriller. Even if the atmosphere, and direction is competent, and the cast is talented, this is still another dumb remake.