The Omega Man (2007)

The Omega Man is based loosely (and by that, I mean very loosely) on Richard Matheson's classic end-of-the-world novel I am Legend. Taking place in the near future, the Omegan Man imagines a world where the majority of the population has been wiped out by biological warfare. Those that have survived have become albinos who can only come out at night. In a clever touch that has never really been given its due, their leader is a former TV news commentator named Mathias (well-played by Anthony Zerbe who is both sympathetic and threatening). Mathias has declared that the only way to purify the world is to destroy all reminders of their former life and that includes anyone who may not have been infected with the plague. At the beginning of the movie, that would appear to be all of one man -a former military scientist played by Charlton Heston who spends his days driving through a deserted Los Angeles is search of both a cure and more humans. At night, he hides in his well-lit apartment while Mathias's mob angrily tries to force him out.

The Omega Man is at its strongest in the beginning. The scenes of Heston driving across a deserted Los Angeles (scenes that were shot on actual L.A. street) continue to haunt thirty years after they were first filmed and, for all its inherent camp value, there's something undeniably powerful about seeing the half-mad Heston passing the time by sitting in an empty music theater and watching Woodstock. As well, Mathias' siege on Heston's apartment is also well handled. After this, the film loses its way slightly with Heston predictability getting trapped outside after dark and much of the film's action falls flat. However, uneven as it may be, it all builds up to a truly powerful ending that will shock those raised on the sci-fi films of the '80s and '90s and the final visual image of Heston still packs an incredible amount of power. Despite the fact that Charlton Heston's performance here (and Soylent Green) provided the inspiration for many impressionists, he actually gives an excellent performance. While he spends much of the film gritting his teeth NRA-style, he also brings a very believable sense of fear to the night scenes. Heston doesn't make his hero an obvious hero -instead of being a standard good guy, mankind's last hope is instead presented as having been driven almost mad by his responsibility.

When it was initially released, the Omega Man got mixed reviews and unfortunately, it has retained some of that negative stigma. When I was a kid and this movie used to play nearly every Sunday afternoon, I thought it was the scariest film ever made. The images of Mathias and his followers with their black robes and pasty faces used to give me nightmares. Now that I'm older, the movie no longer terrifies me but it still carries an undeniable and admirable power. Instead, it is an uneven film that, like many so-called B films of the 1970s, sticks admirably true to its darker than dark designs. For all the critical sniping that the Omega Man has suffered over the years, it is still a film that could teach today's Hollywood directors a thing or two about making an effective movie.

With a nod to some of the previous reviewers, yes this movie is quite dated. Especially if you are watching this for the very first time. It's a film that was released in 1971 and is about events 4 years into the future. So of course it's dated. But I had the pleasure of seeing this in the theater when it was first released and to this day, no film EVER grabbed my attention as quickly as "The Omega Man." The opening scene, done pre-opening credits, is and probably will always be my all-time favorite scene, if only for the surprise factor.

The plot is the "end-of-civillzation-and-beyond" kind. Here, a border war between Russia and China turns into germ warfare, releasing a nasty bug into the atmosphere. Most people die almost instantaniously. However, a small percentage live on for a short while but are turned into an almost albino state where any type of direct light causes them emmense pain. Heston plays Robert Neville, a government researcher who discovered a cure for the virus only to have his helicopter crash on the way to deliver the vaccine. As a last resort he injects himself with what's left of the vaccine and thus becomes the only human on the planet immune.

Now to clarify some of the mis-information stated in other reviews. The group of albino survivors are not vampires/nombies/whatever. As the virus takes hold of them they go insane. Led by Mathias (Anthony Zerbe) they have decided the disease is God's punishment for man's overuse of techology and have decided it is their mission to burn all forms of knowledge. By night we see book burnings as they sack the deserted Los Angeles. To them Neville is like Satan because he refuses to denounce the old ways. This leads to basically two stubborn men bent on the destruction of the other. By day Neville hunts down "the Family and by night the family lays siege to his fortress-like home.

Yes, there are some scenes that really push the envelope of believability. But then again, this is science fiction, and any good sci-fi story will do that. There are also many scenes that keep you on the edge of your seat. One in particular, after being captured, Neville is taken to Dodger Stadium where the Family plans to burn him along with a huge pile of books. To the family, it's their crowning moment. But at the last minute both the family and Neville get a surprise when the stadium lights are suddenly turned on, sending the family to the ground in pain. I can't go further into the scene without spoiling it so lets just say the escape is one of the many surprises that keep popping up.

To sum up, I would recommend this film to any sci-fi fan. Again, it is dated but the plot is great and of course Heston and Zerbe are absolutely great as adversaries. Don't miss it.

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Boris Sagal's film "The Omega Man" was the second attempt to make Richard Matheson's classic novel (the third is with Will Smith) into a film. Matheson wrote a screen version that starred Vincent Price (entitled "The Last Man on Earth")that captured some of the qualities of his novel but suffered from being shot in post-War Italy on a low budget (Matheson substituted his name in the credits with a pseudonym). It's moody, low budget cinematography added to the film but it fails to live up to Matheson's original novel."The Omega Man" likewise fails to live up to Matheson's novel but is still an enjoyable if dated science fiction film. Charlton Heston and the supporting cast do a fine job with the material that they are given even if the screenplay guts some of the best elements of the novel in favor of more topical material from the time. The opening sequence where Heston drives down a deserted street in Los Angeles and then screens "Woodstock" in an empty theater continues to be eerie and quite effective even 35 years later.

In Matheson's original novel the result of viral warfare (in the film this is due to chemical warfare. Joyce Carrington takes credit for coming up with this concept) changes humans into vampire-like (ghouls in this film with a sensitivity to sunlight)creatures. Neville appears to be the last human. In the film the creatures are led by a former news anchor (played by Anthony Zerbe)who taunts Neville hunting him just as he hunts them, Neville meets other humans after a long period of isolation awakening his sense of humanity.

Any science fiction film is truly about the decade it was made in. The film ends up being about the last vestiages of the 60's and 70's (and cults like the Manson Family which is really what the "Family" of ghouls represent)and the conflict between the status quo and youth culture. Neville represents technology, reason and the past while the "Family" represents a rejection of the very things that made them into monsters and changed the world.

Although it's a bit heavy handed and departs signficantly from Matheson's novel, "The Omega Man" carries over some of Matheson's themes and the sense of loss, lonliness and how we can lose our own sense of humanity when surrounded by "monsters". There are some very effective scenes in the film and Heston does an excellent job of portraying Neville's fragile hold on sanity. Although not as good as "Planet of the Apes" or even "Soylent Green", "The Omega Man" is a dated but enjoyable science fiction film that has become a bit campy with the passage of time.

The DVD features a very good transfer of the film. An "introduction" (it's more of a brief featurette on the film) by screenwriter Joyce H. Corrington, actors Paul Koslo and Eric Laneuville who appear in the film Unfortunately Heston wasn't interviewed for this reissue of the film. We do, however, get a vintage featurette where Heston talks about the film and his character with an anthropologist that influenced his take on Neville. We also get a text extra "Charlton Heston-Science Fiction Legend". Although this isn't the best film of the four science fiction films Heston made during the 70's (the ending of this film with its heavy handed Christ-like death of a major character is a bit much), it's still enjoyable due to the action sequences and the performances of the veteran cast.

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The Omega Man on blue ray is a whole different movie than on the standard edition. This is because the print has been cleaned up and it is well mastered. Warner brothers typically on their standard releases use whatever print they have left and do not attempt to clean it up. But for this blue ray version they have removed the lines and awful purple blotches that were on the standard issue. In fact I managed to contact their customer service and ask them to deal with the bad print situation that has plagued many of the companies standard dvd issues. They obviously listened to me and others who voiced the same concern and gave us this wonderful print of the omega man. This type of cleaning up can be done for many older movies and this will make any movie from the 30's through the seventies seem like a new experience. This movie is from 1971 and now it looks brand new again. It has the same extras that the standard dvd has but this is a cleaned up and wonderfully made print. I think we can fault many of the newer releases on blu ray for not putting out the special editions that blu ray demands. For instance 'live free and die harder" should have been unrated on blu ray as well for the same price. Or the terminator 2 should at the price of a blue ray should been loaded with all the extras that the special editions had. However any movie older than 1980 needs it's prints to be cleaned up badly and that's a very special thing to behold in it's self. I would love to see lots of warners old movies with all those lines in them cleaned up as well. computers can remove them and the bbc has done marvelous work with Doctor Who in this regard. That series is distributed by Warner Brothers as well. Ok what about the movie itself? It's a classic science fiction movie with excellent performances. One of the best elements of the film is that the last man meets the last woman and she's black. And this doesn't matter as they are just glad to find someone. This is a timeless statement about humanity. But it is the ever evident threat of biological terror or even natural biological plagues that continue to ravage the world that makes this movie pertinant and frightening. I personally watch old movies and do not try to overanalyze such things as effects or stunts or such. For this holds true even for very old sci fi movies from back in the fifties. They didn't have cgi back then and they did the best they could. enuff said! But the movie remains a great sci fi classic that will continue to gain veiwers due to it's well written story. And the images of the insane diseased and rotting family that actor Anthony Zerbe leads that truly resonates today. Because they are no less insane than many modern cults who pray to a supreme leader for all of their answers. Thanks should be given to Warner Brothers for this blu ray edition and lets hope they go even farther back and clean up classics like 'little ceaser" or even just fix up their other releases from the same period including those wonderful hammer horror movies who they own the rights to. A two for one release on older movies would be great too. anyways this is a great film that will stand the test of time.

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This movie is such a classic, I don't think a thousand words can do it justice, but I will try though! If youre antisocial like me, you'll appreciate the fantasy of "being alone". There have been times when I cut class and went to the movies at about 11am on a weekday and made believe I was Charleston Heston in the early "Woodstock" scene, which is just a priceless sequence.The movie does have its political commentaries about how the lack of world peace can turn everyone into light-sensitive Zombies ( Anthony Zerbe, Lincoln Kilpatrick) and interracial loving (Heston and Rosalind Cash). Richard Matheson (through Boris Sagal)has made the ultimate social commentaries with this masterpiece. I don't know about you? But I can't wait for them to unearth an extra hour or two of deleted scenes and bonus footage.Omege Man is a movie that can be watched for 3 hours.

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