Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: 20th Century Fox
Blu-ray: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: A
Runtime: 1:48:19
Chapters: 20
Feature Size: 33.4 GB
Case: Lightweight Gatefold Case, with Slipcover
Release date: October 7, 2008
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: AVC @ 36 MBPS
Audio:
English DTS HD 5.1 Master Audio; English 5.1 DD, Spanish
& French Mono.
Subtitles:
English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin & Korean
Extras:
• Feature Commentary by Director Graham Baker
The Movie: 4
Optimistically titled "The Final Conflict" (Omen I-III
producers Harvey Barnhard & Mace Neufeld couldn't let
bad enough alone and put together a made-for-TV movie
titled: "Omen IV: The Awakening" – not a part of this
collection, though it was part of the 2006 DVD Omen
Collection.) In this final part of the trilogy, Damien
is now 32, head of Thorn Industries and poised to fully
come into his birthright. But first, not having the
benefit of George W's hindsight that might have
recommended against the venture, Damien seeks the very
post that his father had, and which eventually led to
his fateful part in this tragedy.
Damien is played by Irish-born Sam Neill. At this point
in his career, Neill was still eight years away from
Dead Calm, nine from The Hunt for Red October, and
fourteen from The Piano and Jurassic Park. Even though
some way off, and given his performances in all of those
later projects, I have to judge his lackluster
performance in Omen III the fault of his director. The
script, up to about the last ten minutes, is not really
all that bad. But the direction is weak most of the
time. Most curious is Don Gordon as Dean, Damien's
secretary and right hand man. His reactions to Damien's
various pronouncements are utterly without recognition
of the practical or metaphysical implications. Things
change when his own son may be targeted, but even then,
his character is without substance. If you read the
subtitles as the movie goes along, you can see that the
script has unrealized potential.
As the movie opens, Christian astronomical signs
indicate that the Second Coming is nigh, a fact that
Damien is keenly aware of. He sees his mission as
heading "The Nazarene" off at the pass. Once it is
determined that the rebirth of The Messiah will take
place somewhere in southern England, it's a simple
matter of killing all the male children born on the
appointed date. This requires the mobilization of
Damien's Satan-worshippers: In other words, that part of
the English middle class who haven't already been
sidetracked into Christianity. Meanwhile, a handful of
monks under the guidance of Father DeCarlo (convincingly
played by Rosanno Brazzi) swear to kill the Antichrist,
Damien Thorn, with the recently unearthed Megiddo
daggers before Satan's spawn has a chance to put his
plan into action. Unhappily for us, these guys are none
too bright about how to go about it.
Image:
8/9
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were ripped directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
The first number indicates a relative level of
excellence compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a
ten-point scale. The second number places this image
along the full range of DVD and Blu-ray discs.
The look of this movie is very different from the first
two: it's clearer, cleaner, less lyrical and much less
interesting. All of this is reflected properly in the
Blu-ray transfer, which is pretty much blemish-free. Bit
rates are high: in the upper 30s.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music:
7/6
By this time, Goldsmith had lost touch with whatever
muse he had for the first movie, which is to say that
the score works well enough, but is on balance
unremarkable and uninspired. The uncompressed DTS audio
mix fairs better than the Dolby Digital 5.1, mostly in
respect to it's being dynamic rather than subtle or
atmospheric. Graham Baker's pedestrian direction doesn't
give us much to go on.
Operations:
2
I took off 3 points for the worst packaging I've seen
for a Blu-ray set. The outer sleeve, which is the same
height as a standard DVD package, is thin – that's not
uncommon, but the gatefold that holds the discs is an
embarrassment to the industry – hardly double the
thickness of the thin outer sleeve, with the cheesiest
disc holders ever. Another thing I had trouble with was
that when I selected the desired scene from the menu
while the movie was playing, the scene came up but the
menu persisted. Why? Everything else went well. Disc
loads quickly with no previews or promos.
Extras:
4
Besides a "theatrical trailer" in surprisingly poor
quality 4:3 (made for TV, perhaps!), the lone extra
feature is an audio commentary by the director. I tuned
in a few times: and found Baker to be not especially
engaging or informative.
Bottom line:
6
Considering the price of this collection, the
presentation is inexcusable. That said, the discs
themselves are all very good in terms of both image and
sound. It's nice that the first two movies retain the
original mono option. At the moment, only the first
movie is available separately, so the "Collection" is
the only option for any of the other movies in HD.
Leonard Norwitz
October 9th, 2008
