Day 276 - 10/3/09 - Movie #276
BEFORE: I watched some of the "Omen" movies when I was a kid, particularly "Omen III: Final Conflict", because at the time I dug Nostradamus and the Book of Revelations (I didn't read the whole Bible, I just peeked at the end to find out the Anti-Christ did it...) but eventually I wised up. However, when I saw a box set of all FIVE "Omen" movies in the discount DVD store, I had to buy it. The first four are a faint memory, so I suppose I should add them to my list for next Halloween. Or maybe save the original for movie #666, if I make it that far. Anyway, this is the 2006 remake version - cool, back-to-back Mia Farrow appearances!
THE PLOT: An American official realizes that his young son may be the devil incarnate.
AFTER: Let's get a few things straight. First, I doubt that there's an observatory or even a telescope in the Vatican. It seems to me that an organization that denied Galileo and heliocentrist theories for so long wouldn't have much interest in astronomy. Next, using a slideshow of images from 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the Thailand tsunami to prove that we're entering the End Times is just really low-class exploitation. And how does a paparazzi photographer know so much about the Book of Revelation and what it all means?
Now, a lot of parents probably think that their kids are "demonic" when they act up. But Damien is the real deal - of course his adoptive parents don't want to believe it, even when hell-hounds show up at the door looking for table scraps and the bodies of nannies start piling up. But since the parents don't want to believe it, they end up paying the price. Didn't we tell you not to ride your razor-scooter in the house, Damien?
Damien's father (Liev Schreiber) goes on a "DaVinci Code"-like quest with the photographer, to uncover the truth about Damien's origin. I did like that their trip took them to Megiddo, a battle site in Israel which begat the word "Armageddon", meaning "Mount of Megiddo". But the other links to the Bible and interpretations of the Revelations were a lot more tenuous. "The beast shall rise from the sea." Oh, that must refer to the "sea of politics" - huh? How do you get from the ocean to politics?
In addition to being influenced by the works of Dan Brown, the movie has some elaborate Rube Goldberg-style death sequences that would probably feel right at home in one of those "Final Destination" movies. That sort of cheapened the experience for me.
RATING: 5 out of 10 stained-glass windows
SPOOK-O-METER: 5 out of 10 (for explicit gorey deaths)
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Not only does the Vatican apparently have an observatory, the observatory has its own web site: http://vaticanobservatory.org/. However, it's not *in* the Vatican per se -- it "has its headquarters at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, outside Rome." Even still, Galileo must be thinking "Hypocrites!"
ReplyDeleteYeah, Michele corrected me on this fact - I guess they mentioned it in "Angels & Demons" or maybe "The DaVinci Code". However, given their persecution of Galileo, I doubt the Vatican takes astronomy that seriously. And I really doubt they're scanning the heavens looking for fulfillment of prophecies.
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