The Omen

The Omen' starts off with an audacious but ill-judged sequence where a presentation is made to the Vatican predicting the coming of the antichrist, listing various omens including the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Asian Tsunami. This offensive sequence is the only part of the movie that is greatly different from the original, which is often copied shot for shot. Nonetheless, 'The Omen' is a decent suspense thriller, though not scary enough. The plot, for those who don't know, is that a politician adopts the antichrist, who kills off anyone in his way in a series of clever set pieces where people are offed through (mainly) supernatural means. In theory it's all very silly, but on screen it's pretty effectively executed - no pun intended. If you ignore the crass opening then 'The Omen' is a decent thriller which passes the time. [Keir Hind]