Produced by John Moore, Glenn Williamson Cast: Live Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael Gambon, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick A remake of the 1976 original demonic-horror story directed by Richard Donner which starred a somewhat wooden Gregory Peck and Lee Remick, this largely faithful version by John Moore, using some modernisations to David Seltzer’s original screenplay, is effective and a little better in a few elements than the first The Omen. The birth of the Anti-Christ, a child called Damien (a corruption of the Latin daemonium for demon and the Greek daimon for spirit) to two unsuspecting parents, one an American diplomat, is the crux of a battle for conscience and belief in the mind of the father, who must kill his child to prevent Armageddon. Opening credits come with ominous music and a priest at the Vatican observatory. A prophecy is coming true, streaking across the heavens in the shape of burning debris of the Columbia rocket, heralding the end of days. A breathless priest researcher gives a graphic power point illustration for a bedridden pontiff of the fall of the Twin Towers, the Asian Tsunami, raging armies drenched in blood and so on. It’s an effective catalogue that might find resonance in the minds of a modern audience, even those who have seen the original film. Satan will cause mankind to wipe itself out, doing battle for our very souls. It all looks and sounds plausible enough for the quaking priests, till the action opens abruptly on diplomat Robert Thorn (Liev Schreiber), rushing to the bedside of his wife Katherine (Julia Stiles), whose newborn baby has died. Swapping her dead baby for one born the same hour, whose mother has died in childbirth, seems the loving thing to do and a small lie that God will forgive, as the persuasive Fr Spiletto (Giovanni Lombardo Radici) tells him. Katherine will never know. Liev Schreiber gives a textured performance as Robert, as does Julia Stiles, in deeper characterisations than the original. While Stiles’ acting is believable, she looks far too young for the part, despite these Thorns being younger and more charismatic than the original middle-aged couple. The baby is perfect, so Julia doesn’t suspect a thing, nor, apparently, does her maternal intuition let her feel anything amiss, initially. Damien (Seamus Davey-Patrick) contents himself early on with merely scaring his mommy by hiding, until his more telling emergence on his fifth birthday, when his first nanny makes what will be a devastating, life-long impression on all the child party guests. Damien’s effect on Katherine is shown obliquely, in horrific nightmares from which she suffers. He seems able to control people hypnotically while looking bland, or at most, spiteful. As a child actor, Davey-Patrick is not quite malevolent enough: a directorial and ethical problem where passive evil evidenced by an occasional sneer is preferable to overt malice. The original tricycle scene that ends in Katherine’s apocalyptic, fluttery-robed fall is replaced by a more lethal, modern scooter. The innovative shot that follows her down is harrowing. The memorable Mia Farrow’s casting as the poisonously sweet second nanny Mrs Baylock is an interesting photo negative of Roman Polanski’s horrific Rosemary’s Baby (1968). After her initial saccharine deception of the parents, she is as demonic a baby-devil protector as one would wish, as are the convincing, ever-attendant Rottweilers. Robert’s character arc is a little deeper. He has to come through major denial set in motion by his initial well-meant lie to Katherine. Instrumental in this is photographer Keith Jennings (David Thewlis), whose photographs of the doomed Fr Brennan, (a frantic and convincing Pete Postlethwaite) show disturbing signs of the seeming God-strike that will impale him. Thewlis is intense enough, and his fate is shocking even when we expect it. Some memorable scenes involve the journey to Fr Spiletto, some shocking revelations and a very scary graveyard scene (at night, naturally) following a spooky boat ride through mist, oared by a white-robed monk. The main changes involve a slicker look, wonderful cinematic contrasts and slightly deeper characterisations of the Thorns and Mrs Baylock. There are some modern, genuinely scary shock-frights. The final shot, however, with all its implications, has almost been pre-empted by conclusions that have already been drawn by many in real life, quite outside of a movie marketed to be released on 6.6.06. © Avril Carruthers 4th June 06
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