The Omega Code «½
PG-13, 100m. 1999
Cast & Credits: Casper Van Dien (Gillen Lane), Michael York (Stone Alexander), Catherine Oxenberg (Cassandra Barashe), Michael Ironside (Dominic), Jan Triska (Prophet No. 1), Gregory Wagrowski (Prophet No. 2), Devon Odessa (Jennifer Lane), William Hootkins (Sir Percival Lloyd), Robert Ito (Shimoro Lin Che), Janet Carroll (Dorothy Thompson), George Coe (Sen. Jack Thompson), Robert F. Lyons (General). Screenplay by Stephan Blinn and Hollis Barton. Directed by Robert Marcarelli.
PG-13, 100m. 1999
Cast & Credits: Casper Van Dien (Gillen Lane), Michael York (Stone Alexander), Catherine Oxenberg (Cassandra Barashe), Michael Ironside (Dominic), Jan Triska (Prophet No. 1), Gregory Wagrowski (Prophet No. 2), Devon Odessa (Jennifer Lane), William Hootkins (Sir Percival Lloyd), Robert Ito (Shimoro Lin Che), Janet Carroll (Dorothy Thompson), George Coe (Sen. Jack Thompson), Robert F. Lyons (General). Screenplay by Stephan Blinn and Hollis Barton. Directed by Robert Marcarelli.
"The Omega Code", an apocalyptic thriller, based on events supposedly foretold in The Bible’s Book of Daniel and Revelation, belongs in that pile of forgettable made-for-TV movies Hollywood made last year about the Y2K computer bug.
These are the kinds of films where the recordable tab on the side of the videocassette rentals ought to be restored so people can copy over them.
The film, which played in only a few theaters last October, was considered by its independent distributor, Gener8xion Entertainment, a success after making the list of top twenty most watched movies at the box office.
The unexpected triumph was enough that ABC News did a brief story about the picture and the audiences who were flocking to see it. The majority of patrons who paid to see The Omega Code were those faithful viewers of The Christian Broadcasting Network who promoted the end-of-the-world thriller on its local stations.
A woman interviewed by ABC commented how there was finally a movie out there now that followed her religious beliefs on how the final battle between Good and Evil, between God and the Antichrist, will take place.
Upon hearing that comment, I had to wonder if that person and I actually saw the same film. As far as independent productions are concerned, "The Omega Code" doesn’t have the clever believability, or perhaps I should say gullibility, of last summer’s "The Blair Witch Project" and lacks the juicy, witty dialogue of Quentin Tarantino’s "Pulp Fiction" (1994).
The film is completely devoid of any suspense. It has no hero worth rooting for and makes the mistake of portraying the Antichrist, who is played by Michael York ("Logan’s Run"-1976) into a likable character. It is true that movie villains are the most colorful characters who steal the show. "The Omega Code" was promoted as a religious movie and depending on one’s religious beliefs and how he or she was brought up, it would be wrong if the audience rooted for the devil.
The picture borrows ideas found in author Michael Drosnin’s 1997 controversial book, "The Bible Code." The book, like the film, follows the notion that The Bible has hidden mathematical equations in the form of crossword puzzles that reveal certain events past, present and future. They can only be translated in the Hebrew language with the use of computers.
The book said such things as the assassinations of Israeli President Yitzhak Rabin and JFK, the fiery end of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, and the Oklahoma City bombing were all mentioned in “The Good Book.” I didn’t believe a word it said but just imagine what director Oliver Stone ("JFK"-1991) could have done, or can still do, with such a project.
Ironically, "The Omega Code" cites only one reference that wasn’t even mentioned in Drosnin’s book thus making the picture even less believable. We meet Gillen Lane (Casper Van Dien), a popular motivational speaker and author who explains to a talk show audience how Princess Diana’s death in 1997 was foretold using this so called “Bible Code.” Lane mentions such phrases in The Bible that when translated reveal the words, “tunnel”, “Paris” and the number “5757” which mean the year 1997.
As a result of his beliefs, Lane is given the chance to work with Stone Alexander (York), a power hungry Middle Eastern politician who already has his hands on “The Bible Code” disc thanks to his personal bodyguard and former priest, Dominic (Michael Ironside). Alexander thinks Lane can unlock the final code that will reveal his destiny and bring about the apocalypse.
Soon Lane is overcome with visions of horsemen and hooded monks that don’t make much sense and realizes he has been sticking up for the wrong guy. The Bible Code’s revelations come up every ten minutes as the camera zooms in periodically on printouts found in Alexander’s underground computer center that say “rebirth of empire begins” and “ten horns unite world peace.”
Subplots are revealed that involve the destruction of Middle Eastern synagogues, presumably by Israeli and Palestinian forces, but why they occurred are never fully explained. What we do see is that Alexander is the only one who can bring about world peace.
We see two supernatural prophets preach the word of God throughout Jerusalem to anyone who will listen. The climax comes right out of a scene in "Star Wars" (1977) where the Death Star is bearing down on Princess Leia’s home planet. Remember when Leia (Carrie Fisher) tells Peter Cushing’s Governor Tarkin the supposed hidden location of the rebel base but the Empire blows up her home planet regardless?
When Lane reveals the final code to Alexander in an attempt to call off World War III, the political leader gives his armed forces the ok to attack anyway.
The only saving grace the film has is York who is one of my favorite actors. Like Sam Neill ("The Final Conflict"-1981), Jack Nicholson ("The Witches of Eastwick"-1987) and Al Pacino ("The Devil’s Advocate"-1997), all of whom have played the Prince of Darkness before him, York displays the same traits of his predecessors and has all the best lines.
“I was Judas leading Christ to the resurrection,” he tells Lane. “I was Hitler leading the Jews to extinction.”
York’s Alexander is handsome, impeccably dressed, and says things that make you think he is a man of great promise. When he is shot in the head midway through the film, (a prophecy also revealed on a computer printout), the world mourns the way they did when JFK was assassinated. When the leaders of seven nations come to Alexander’s bedside the minute he miraculously survives his head wound, the political leader calls it “a bedside summit.”
Is there really someone out there called the “Antichrist” who will one day call himself God and bring about the destruction of mankind? Some said the Antichrist was Hitler. When the Gulf War began in the late 80s, people rented the documentary, "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow" (1981), thinking Nostradamus’ references to a Middle Eastern prince was Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Some believe he, or “it”, is already here and is only a matter of time before they make themselves known.
I’d love to see a movie made that follows with what the Book of Revelation tells us. "The Omega Code" is not it. The film is nothing more than a cheap attempt for religious organizations to make it big in Hollywood. It doesn’t challenge, change much less question one’s beliefs on how the world will end. I believe the end of mankind will happen when the sun becomes a giant gas bubble and swallows up the entire solar system. That isn’t supposed to happen for another billion years.
Up until now, apocalyptic films have come in the forms of disaster movies where aliens in spaceships the size of pancakes destroy manmade landmarks like the White House ("Independence Day"-1996) and meteors “the size of Texas” ("Armageddon"-1998) threaten to put us into another ice age.
There is a group of books out now called the Left Behind series that in recent years has become so popular, authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins have written a separate series for kids. Both works are based on events discussed in the Book of Revelation.
The first novel appropriately titled, "Left Behind", begins in great detail how Israel’s enemies were miraculously destroyed by fire and large hailstones while certain people all over the world from passengers and flight crews in planes to automobile drivers suddenly disappeared into thin air for no apparent reason, leaving only their clothes and belongings behind. The result was a slew of traffic pileups and thousands of jets in the air either crashing or flying on autopilot.
I found those events in that book intriguing, if not horrifying than I did with Gillen Lane’s beliefs that mankind’s destiny, as well as Princess Diana’s, can all be found in “The Good Book.”
©2/28/2000
These are the kinds of films where the recordable tab on the side of the videocassette rentals ought to be restored so people can copy over them.
The film, which played in only a few theaters last October, was considered by its independent distributor, Gener8xion Entertainment, a success after making the list of top twenty most watched movies at the box office.
The unexpected triumph was enough that ABC News did a brief story about the picture and the audiences who were flocking to see it. The majority of patrons who paid to see The Omega Code were those faithful viewers of The Christian Broadcasting Network who promoted the end-of-the-world thriller on its local stations.
A woman interviewed by ABC commented how there was finally a movie out there now that followed her religious beliefs on how the final battle between Good and Evil, between God and the Antichrist, will take place.
Upon hearing that comment, I had to wonder if that person and I actually saw the same film. As far as independent productions are concerned, "The Omega Code" doesn’t have the clever believability, or perhaps I should say gullibility, of last summer’s "The Blair Witch Project" and lacks the juicy, witty dialogue of Quentin Tarantino’s "Pulp Fiction" (1994).
The film is completely devoid of any suspense. It has no hero worth rooting for and makes the mistake of portraying the Antichrist, who is played by Michael York ("Logan’s Run"-1976) into a likable character. It is true that movie villains are the most colorful characters who steal the show. "The Omega Code" was promoted as a religious movie and depending on one’s religious beliefs and how he or she was brought up, it would be wrong if the audience rooted for the devil.
The picture borrows ideas found in author Michael Drosnin’s 1997 controversial book, "The Bible Code." The book, like the film, follows the notion that The Bible has hidden mathematical equations in the form of crossword puzzles that reveal certain events past, present and future. They can only be translated in the Hebrew language with the use of computers.
The book said such things as the assassinations of Israeli President Yitzhak Rabin and JFK, the fiery end of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, and the Oklahoma City bombing were all mentioned in “The Good Book.” I didn’t believe a word it said but just imagine what director Oliver Stone ("JFK"-1991) could have done, or can still do, with such a project.
Ironically, "The Omega Code" cites only one reference that wasn’t even mentioned in Drosnin’s book thus making the picture even less believable. We meet Gillen Lane (Casper Van Dien), a popular motivational speaker and author who explains to a talk show audience how Princess Diana’s death in 1997 was foretold using this so called “Bible Code.” Lane mentions such phrases in The Bible that when translated reveal the words, “tunnel”, “Paris” and the number “5757” which mean the year 1997.
As a result of his beliefs, Lane is given the chance to work with Stone Alexander (York), a power hungry Middle Eastern politician who already has his hands on “The Bible Code” disc thanks to his personal bodyguard and former priest, Dominic (Michael Ironside). Alexander thinks Lane can unlock the final code that will reveal his destiny and bring about the apocalypse.
Soon Lane is overcome with visions of horsemen and hooded monks that don’t make much sense and realizes he has been sticking up for the wrong guy. The Bible Code’s revelations come up every ten minutes as the camera zooms in periodically on printouts found in Alexander’s underground computer center that say “rebirth of empire begins” and “ten horns unite world peace.”
Subplots are revealed that involve the destruction of Middle Eastern synagogues, presumably by Israeli and Palestinian forces, but why they occurred are never fully explained. What we do see is that Alexander is the only one who can bring about world peace.
We see two supernatural prophets preach the word of God throughout Jerusalem to anyone who will listen. The climax comes right out of a scene in "Star Wars" (1977) where the Death Star is bearing down on Princess Leia’s home planet. Remember when Leia (Carrie Fisher) tells Peter Cushing’s Governor Tarkin the supposed hidden location of the rebel base but the Empire blows up her home planet regardless?
When Lane reveals the final code to Alexander in an attempt to call off World War III, the political leader gives his armed forces the ok to attack anyway.
The only saving grace the film has is York who is one of my favorite actors. Like Sam Neill ("The Final Conflict"-1981), Jack Nicholson ("The Witches of Eastwick"-1987) and Al Pacino ("The Devil’s Advocate"-1997), all of whom have played the Prince of Darkness before him, York displays the same traits of his predecessors and has all the best lines.
“I was Judas leading Christ to the resurrection,” he tells Lane. “I was Hitler leading the Jews to extinction.”
York’s Alexander is handsome, impeccably dressed, and says things that make you think he is a man of great promise. When he is shot in the head midway through the film, (a prophecy also revealed on a computer printout), the world mourns the way they did when JFK was assassinated. When the leaders of seven nations come to Alexander’s bedside the minute he miraculously survives his head wound, the political leader calls it “a bedside summit.”
Is there really someone out there called the “Antichrist” who will one day call himself God and bring about the destruction of mankind? Some said the Antichrist was Hitler. When the Gulf War began in the late 80s, people rented the documentary, "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow" (1981), thinking Nostradamus’ references to a Middle Eastern prince was Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Some believe he, or “it”, is already here and is only a matter of time before they make themselves known.
I’d love to see a movie made that follows with what the Book of Revelation tells us. "The Omega Code" is not it. The film is nothing more than a cheap attempt for religious organizations to make it big in Hollywood. It doesn’t challenge, change much less question one’s beliefs on how the world will end. I believe the end of mankind will happen when the sun becomes a giant gas bubble and swallows up the entire solar system. That isn’t supposed to happen for another billion years.
Up until now, apocalyptic films have come in the forms of disaster movies where aliens in spaceships the size of pancakes destroy manmade landmarks like the White House ("Independence Day"-1996) and meteors “the size of Texas” ("Armageddon"-1998) threaten to put us into another ice age.
There is a group of books out now called the Left Behind series that in recent years has become so popular, authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins have written a separate series for kids. Both works are based on events discussed in the Book of Revelation.
The first novel appropriately titled, "Left Behind", begins in great detail how Israel’s enemies were miraculously destroyed by fire and large hailstones while certain people all over the world from passengers and flight crews in planes to automobile drivers suddenly disappeared into thin air for no apparent reason, leaving only their clothes and belongings behind. The result was a slew of traffic pileups and thousands of jets in the air either crashing or flying on autopilot.
I found those events in that book intriguing, if not horrifying than I did with Gillen Lane’s beliefs that mankind’s destiny, as well as Princess Diana’s, can all be found in “The Good Book.”
©2/28/2000
