The Omega Man
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Actor: Charlton Heston, Jill Giraldi, John Dierkes, Monika Henreid, Rosalind CashBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-05-15
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 116321
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Welcome to the future. Biological war has decimated life on Earth. Los Angeles is a windswept ghost town where Robert Neville tools his convertible through sunlit streets foraging for supplies. And makes damn sure he gets undercover before sundown, when other "inhabitants" emerge.The Omega Man adapts Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend into a high-impact, high-tension saga of a fate not far remov
DVD Reviews of The Omega Man
DVD Review: No wonder Richard Matheson disowned "The Omega Man"
Summary: 3 Stars
When another commercial for Will Smith's upcoming "I Am Legend" aired tonight during "Heroes," I got a call from my brother-in-law who was watching the same channel and wanted to know what was the name of the previous version of the film. I was able to immediately answer "The Omega Man," not just because I knew the answer but because I had watched the 1971 movie to gear up for seeing the new version. Charlton Heston, having starred in "Planet of the Apes" was having fun playing science fiction heroes and stars as Robert Neville, a scientist who was conveniently working on a vaccine when a plague broke out. Now he barricades himself each night in a Los Angeles penthouse playing chess against a bust of Julius Caesar, and then going out in the day to gather more supplies to try and stay alive. The whole selling point here is that Heston's character is literally the last man on Earth. The problem is that, well, he is not.
The main problem with "The Omega Man" is that it deviates from the original novel "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson. Now when you talk about the best writers of horror and science fiction in the 20th century Matheson's name should be on your list before you have used all of your fingers. He originally showed up in Hollywood to adapt his novel "The Shrinking Man" into the Universal film "The Incredible Shrinking Man." For "The Twilight Zone" he wrote such classic episodes as "The Invaders," "Nick of Time," and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." He adapted Edgar Allan Poe works like "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Pit and the Pendulum" for Roger Corman, and the first time Steven Spielberg directed a movie it was Matheson's "Duel" for television. But did producer Walter Seltzer get Matheson to adapt his novel? No, he did not.
Instead screenwriters John William Corrington and Joyce H. Corrington wrote the adaptation and decided to get replace the vampires of the original with ghouls who run around complaining about technology (I am not really sure if they are ghouls, because they talk way too much for ghouls, but calling them Luddites is not going to work either). Matheson had a plague that turned people into what we would call vampires, although the interesting thing is he came up with scientific explanations for the traditional elements of folklore (and Bram Stoker). Instead, the Corringtons can up with biological warfare between the Soviet Union and China that turned everybody into those ghouls or whatever. I do not understand why a biological agent makes everybody affected by it dress like a monk: there are not that many monk outfits in most major American cities, so now I am wondering if the ghouls sit around making them. Led by Matthias (Anthony Zerbe), a television anchor turned into messianic misanthrope, these monsters utter flowery philosophical mission statements that further dillute the attempts at horror.
The opening of the film, where Neville drives through the deserted streets of Los Angeles, imagining that he hears pay phone ringing because he is so desperate to find other normal humans, is the best part of director Boris Sagal's film. Recent films such as "28 Days Later" have explored the great irony of having everything you have ever dreamed about available for the taking but living in a world of horror where you will probably not live long enough to enjoy any of it. By the time Neville meets up with Lisa (Rosalind Cash), Richie (a very young Eric Lanueville), and other humans, all such thoughts are dispelled because now there is a chance to save the human race. I wanted to like this film, but "The Omega Man" has not aged well (it looks more like a television movie of a week from that period than a theatrical film) and part of me thinks that if it was not Charlton Heston running around saying "My God" as only Moses can this film would be even more laughable, but whatever problems there are with the script and the production do not extend to Heston's acting in this film. Still, the final shot of Neville is one of such blatant symbolism that it made me groan out loud and since I did not see this movie way back when and am therefore untainted by nostalgia, I have to round down on it in the end. I am hopeful that going back to Matheson's original title is a sign that this new version will be more faithful to the "I Am Legend" novel, but even if it is not the case it has to be way better than "The Omega Man."
Description of The Omega Man
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