After a gory opening with a two-minute cameo from Charles Dance, the movie slips into a low gear for half-an-hour or more before the Revelations start to kick in to make it an over-ripe prelude to the OMEN originals. Bill Nighy looks very uncomfortable in his role as a cardinal who may or may not be fully protective of our heroine; in one early scene I thought his lines were being dubbed, God knows why.
There's a garish glamour to the whole show that calls Dario Argento to mind. There are some welcome nods to the Gregory Peck OMEN, but the link to that movie at the end of this one is clumsy and seems to leave open the possibility that THE FIRST OMEN will not be the Last Omen. A prequel with a sequel - not sure that's a good idea. Sadly, Bill Nighy does not bring anything like the degree of class that Gregory Peck brought to the first Damien story in 1976. For diehard fans of Satanic-themed movies (count me in!) this is rather thin fare.
There's a garish glamour to the whole show that calls Dario Argento to mind. There are some welcome nods to the Gregory Peck OMEN, but the link to that movie at the end of this one is clumsy and seems to leave open the possibility that THE FIRST OMEN will not be the Last Omen. A prequel with a sequel - not sure that's a good idea. Sadly, Bill Nighy does not bring anything like the degree of class that Gregory Peck brought to the first Damien story in 1976. For diehard fans of Satanic-themed movies (count me in!) this is rather thin fare.