I Am Omega

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.

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?

I'd heard about this one, another apocalyptic combo takeoff on I AM LEGEND and THE OMEGA MAN, that was independently produced on a low budget and released direct to DVD on the Asylum label. It's about a man who is one of the few survivors on Earth after some sort of catastrophe (it's never made clear) has turned people into grotesque and marauding zombies. He meets up with a couple of other guys who need his aid in reaching one known female survivor somewhere who may have the cure within her own blood.

There is nothing that's new or unique here, but it functions very much like a "LAST MAN ON EARTH meets DAWN OF THE DEAD", and is more of a zombie film than anything else. On that level I think it succeeds pretty well in spite of the lack of funds... the ghoul makeup and special effects are actually quite good, and there is a decent amount of one-on-one threat and action with the creatures (who are played by real people). In fact, while watching this I thought to myself how much better this aspect of the movie played out than ANY of the silly and needlessly cartoon-like "dwellers" of Will Smith's mega-budgeted I AM LEGEND (which wasn't released until after this, also in 2007) ! Sometimes less is more in this regard, and a tiny budget requires more realism. Sure, there are many curious mistakes (how do computers still work, and why are there lights everywhere at night, for instance?) but I got the impression that hearts were in the right place and the filmmakers did the best with what they had. **1/2 out of ****

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.

Mark Dacascos stars a lone soldier looking to blow up the city to destroy zombies that are overtaking the world, seems that you can be effected by their blood, but through kickboxing and gunfire Dacascos saves the day and perhaps the last woman on earth. Here's the deal I Am Omega is better than average for an asylum released product. Indeed the thing that is strange about Asylum films is that where as people liked Cannon and Full Moon, this group is universally hated and though their movies sell well the public opinion is of disgust and dislike. I Am Omega actually isn't too awful of a movie. I mean it's still a bad movie but it does have it's moments of goofy fun and with the reuniting cast of Kickboxer 5's Geoff Meed and Mark Dacascos the movie is watchable for fans of Dacascos. I think the main problem with this movie is that we know so little about how the apocalypse came and many loose ends are left at the end. That being said some of the action is okay and the movie's fast pace made it watchable. As for Asylum, I understand why people dislike their films, Transmorphers, Snakes On A Train and so on were all really awful films but I give credit to this one, in that I think fans of Dacascos will enjoy this movie. The bad acting (from everyone but Dacascos), the cheap production values and underwritten script detract the casual viewer but like I said fans of B.movies may find some enjoyment in this.

* * out of 4-(Fair)