I Am Omega

This isn't a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination but it's not bad and definitely a lot better than old jug ears effort. Here's why I'd rather watch this a million times than watch Will Smith doing his pitiful Shrek/nervous breakdown scene one more time.

The people in this film aren't computer generated and though they don't look great they don't look like computer game bad guys skating over the floor. This is a definite improvement. In the odd scene they actually look quite good.

It leaves the more philosophical aspects of the book and two films alone. Fair enough, it's not like we haven't seen it done and rather it was absent than messed up and garbled like Legend.

There's a small amount of chemistry between the characters, in Legend there's all the spark of a pair of rubber gloves rubbing together. The characters are all pretty simple but they do have a personality of sorts, again a step up from Legend.

Lastly the main character doesn't really express any emotions which is fair enough, I prefer that to the two faces Will Smith can pull off. You can accept a man who is totally robbed of emotion but it's harder to accept a man that only has two facial expressions and flicks through them and gets his movie described by some genius on here as "an acting buffet."

It's not a perfect movie, some bits are a bit weak but I genuinely enjoyed it so give it a chance you might like it too. For a cheap rip off it's surprisingly entertaining.

I Am Omega (2007)

** (out of 4)

The Asylum hits back with their own cash-in on Will Smith's I AM LEGEND. This adaptation of the Richard Matheson story features Mark Dacascos as Renchard, the last man on Earth who has had this title since an unknown thing happened which caused everyone to die (the cause is never made clear in the film). Thanks to the internet that is still working for some reason, Renchard manages to find out about a woman living nearby and she just happens to know where a colony of survivors is. First the two must destroy the zombie creatures that are stalking them. Anyone who knows anything about The Asylum knows that the company truly has turned out some of the worst movies in recent memory and it's rather shocking how good I AM OMEGA turned out. It's far from being a good movie and it's certainly not in the same league as the Smith version (or the Price and Heston ones) but at the same time it really does seem that the filmmaker's hearts were in the right place. For the most part the subject matter is taken very serious and we're given a pretty good look at someone who is all alone in the world. I thought the early scenes building up the situation of the lead character were handled very well and I thought that there was some nice atmosphere to be found as well. Another good thing were the actual monsters as they looked very good and I thought they made for great villains. They seem like a cross between your typical zombies and the monsters from THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE but either way they look fine. The performances are decent but they're really not asked to do too much. The main problems with the film is that we've simply seen this story so many times before and nothing new is done with it here. I'd also say that some of the CGI gunshot wounds look very bad and at 90-minutes things start to drag towards the end. Still, I AM OMEGA is a masterpiece when you compare it to other films from the studio but this still remains only for those interested in seeing every version of the original story.

Behold the inevitable straight to video incarnation of Matheson's now thrice adapted "I Am Legend" which effectively combines the titles of the two latest ("Omega Man" and "I Am Legend") into one that will fool the unsuspecting movie renter/buyer. As with most knock-offs available from The Asylum, the much labored over box art promises a far more interesting and far more expensive film (it may be a tragedy that these are some of the last examples of good movie-related graphics). But since this is from The Asylum I'll assume you all also know what sort of inexpensive film to expect.

Trashing the straight-to-DVD industry aside, it is hardly the worst movie of its kind (that honor belongs to "Forsaken" with turns the story into a vampire road movie). "I Am Omega" has pretty good location use and competent production value. The editing is fairly stellar and the zombies weren't that laughable (although they were no substitute for the cloaked mutants of "The Omega Man"). And mercifully there are no bad video after effects like a lot of these low budget movies do.

The main problem is the slowness. The flashbacks in this version of the story (which cause the first 30 minutes to drag badly) choose to explain Dacascos' character as a tortured soul rather than unfold the explanations for the world being near over. The decision to use mindless zombies rather than intelligent mutants makes the action a little repetitive and doesn't actually help much with the horror. Red necks and the token female are added to give our heroes someone else to deal with. Director Furst and writer Meed add an explosion count down to move things along as well.

It won't hurt you too much if you keep your expectations low. If you're new to The Asylum, this is perhaps one of the better examples you'll find.

Zombie movie goes martial arts.

The big flaw of the movie is: you've kind of seen it all, because I am Legend is out pretty fresh and maybe you have by now seen the Omega-Man also. The story is ripped!!! AND the script sometimes ain't very good: it happens to be illogical and often you just don't know, what the heck the guys are doing and what for.

BUT: The acting in Omega is still pretty good - partially you'll find some gems. O.k. it's not character, but it's decent enough for a SF/horror/martial arts. What do you expect? Klaus f***ing Kinski??? The camera work is sometimes really good, no joke some really bright shining jewels in there, also the light and the locations, especially in the beginning, when Renchard is on his own. I liked the scene when you really don't know if it's his imagination that haunts him or a monster. The zombie-make up is good, the sounds they make on the other hand is quite simple.

I don't like the attitude to just judge a movie because there is some supposed to be original out there somewhere which can boast with a STAR or so. I don't think Will Smith did such a brilliant Job in Legend and - hey the Legend Script was also kind of obvious, wasn't it :D? Omega at least has one big surprise/turning point, and this makes it more interesting than Legend, no joke, this rip off has genius own ideas about the Last-man-on-Earth-against-the-zombies-Topic.

Try to forget that there is Legend, that there is 28 days, weeks whatsoever and try to take this movie as it is, without bias.

SEE! Not so bad, eh?

Yet another remake of I AM LEGEND has Mark Dascasvcos as one of very few humans left on our planet after some major catastrophe. Everyone else is now a flesh-eating zombie. Mark D. plays a former military type who is planting bombs around the city to take out as many zombies as possible. He also shoots and beats to death as many as his schedule allows. In the middle of everything, a distress call comes in and he finds a lone survivor in the heart of the city, a young female. He reluctantly embarks on a mission to save her, in the company of two other ex-military guys who show up seemingly out of the blue. Lots of decent fight scenes, as befitting the film's legendary kickboxing star. OMEGA is moody, well photographed and has a great first half that loses some steam in the second. The gore is cartoonish, and the goofy-looking zombies are clearly played by stuntmen in rubber monster suits. No harm done, assuming you can accept the lead in this umpteenth version of the Richard Matheson story being a kickboxing machine.