Although I’m not personally a big fan of remakes I believe the only justification for making one is when the filmmakers have something new to add to the movie or want to give the movie a so called upgrade (especially in the case of scifi or action movie where a lot more can be done thanks to modern technology).
Which is why fully knowing that this is a legendary horror movie and having seen the original I automatically lowered my expectations when I went in to see this movie.
As I suspected this movie violated the cardinal sin of making a remake which added nothing new to the original, it is quite clear that the studios wanted to cash in on the special date 06/06/06 that presented itself.
This movie has nothing new to add to the omen , the flow of events and the concept of the movie is identical to the original.
The casting is so-so, the extra young ambassador to england is hard to digest and the only character who was perfect was Mia Farrow as Mrs Baylock and David Thewlis as the photographer . Lets face it though, its not like Julia stiles and Liev Schreiber are comparable to the like of Gregory Peck.
The acting is really good and though Mia farrow was cast perfectly unfortunately her character was way to loud and like Damian any one would just look at the way she behaves and know something was wrong. The show was clearly stolen by Thewlis who looks and acts his part perfectly.
Comparisons to the original can takes days and pages hence I will comment only on 3 major points.
1)While the original revolved around Damian who was mostly confused and largely unaware of who he was and the powers he possessed (he only learns about it in the second part as young boy) this Damian is fully aware of it and that takes away most of the charm of the original.
Hence instead of the plot and Damian’s identity unraveling before us we are subjected to an evil scheming Damian from the beginning of the movie. Its stupidly obvious that he his evil, the child cast as Damian looks like a brat , acts like one, and has none of the innocence associated with the original (you actually feel bad for Damian for the entire movie for unfortunately being who he is). THUS ONE OF THE MOST LEGENDARY SCENES WHERE A SEEMINGLY UNFORTUNATE BOY TURNS AROUND AT SMILES AT HIS PARENTS FUNERAL REVEALING HIS EVIL IS COMPLETELY WASTED. This particular scene left a haunting impression on me as a child ( left me with a fear of the dark for nearly 10 years and I cried and puked out of fear for 2 weeks after I saw this movie in fact post this period I have never felt fear in a film again also realised why children should not see horror films hehe).
Not as important but mentionable was the scene where the photographer realises what was happening and takes his own photo, that scene and the horror associated with it (knowing how you will die) was far better in the original.
2)The legendary background score which was made the original special was missed throughout the movie. Even though the background score here was very very good it was ordinary in comparison to the haunting score of the original.
DUE TO THESE FACTORS THIS MOVIE LACKS THE CONSTANT TENSION ONE FEELS IN THE ORIGINAL.
3)The only aspect where this movie was AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL though slightly different was the cinematography and visuals , the movie has breathtaking and mesmerising visuals. The cold bleakness of London, the loneliness of the mansion, the paranoia of the priest, the holiness of Jerusalem, the stormy rainy day, the deliberate mishaps, each and every scene was near perfect. I’ve not seen such a visually pleasing movie in a long time. This movie is literally a pictographic orgy.
Another question that one thinks of is why make a movie based on the prophecies of the bible when nowadays (thanks to the DA vinci code) people are questioning the absolute authenticity of the bible and whether we should be adhering to it so religiously.In todays world the justification and authentication for the prophecy seems like a conspiracy theory and is hardly believable.
Nevertheless the entertainment value of the movie is unquestionable and though I would still recommend one watch the original (i still feel they were better of re-releasing a digitally mastered original) this movie can be watched.
Be sure to go in with lowered expectations and an open mind.
P.S if you are cinema student or lover you have to see this movie only because of the stunning visuals.
+s breathtaking visuals (i mean breathtaking), good background score, good acting especially from thewlis, a few genuinely scary and tense moments.
+/- Mia farrow, the boy who plays Damian, background score not as good as the original
-s lacks the constant tension, Damian is evil from the beginning, so-so casting, totally unnecessary remake as nothing new was added, to few scary and tense scenes.
total 4.5/5 on ten (in absolute terms this movie is a 7 which is rare considering its a remake it looses the points despite lowering expectations because it was an unnecessary remake)