Omega Doom

Most people would tell you that this flick stinks because it's got poor special effects or the plot seems to be vague. Frankly, you can't judge it next to A-list movies. It's not an A-list movie. What it is though, is a remarkable story with some interesting film tricks to get around its obvious low budget.

In Canada we have a TV station that happens to play independent Sci-fi flicks on weekends and Omega Doom caught my eye because it has Rutger Hauer in it. I figured I would turn it on, have a good chuckle at a plotless flick with a good actor and was surprised to see an intriguing situation of the "Omega Doom", Guardian Angel (Hauer) being feared by others of his kind. That and he has a wicked looking sword...it's like the line in the Simpsons when Homer says "but that little guy hasn't done anything yet, you know he's gonna do something and you know it's going to be good."

While you wait for him to do his thing, the other characters are introduced, the war is explained...and frankly, by then I was salivating. You just *know* who he is. Finally, Angel begins to do his work. The film work is well done, and despite what has been said above, Hauer did his own stunts. And for you Ladyhawke fans, he performs the sword-throwing trick again.

It's also a very good example of a short story brought to life. It could work well on a stage, too. The acting is very consistent and the dialogue, while sparce, doesn't betray the characters. The only thing I didn't like was the bartender singing Joy to the World at the end, but it's okay, because the conversation between Zeke and Angel at the end nods at the idea that life is about waiting, knowing when to act and when not to.

If you are looking for an A-list movie, go to your local theater. If you want to see something quaint and intriguing, watch this. Just don't raise the bar too high...that wouldn't be true to the flick. It's an excellent B-movie, and something good to write a paper on!

'Omega Doom' really does have a special place in my heart. As movies go, it's not the best. It isn't even good. But... well, just watch the thing. There's no way you can sit through the whole sci-fi/western/inexplicable noise-packed experience without either beginning to love it or snapping and attacking bystanders with the remote.

It's less of a movie and more of a game, to be honest. See how long *you* can stand the bizarre whirring sounds, played whenever each and every 'robotic' (translated from Low-Budget: contact lenses and metal gloves) character moves. Even when their eyes move, for god's sake! It's half endurance test, and half bad, bad movie. But watch it anyway.

In a dark and dismal world, Rutger has obviously found passage through a land of endless fatty food buffets. This movie was bad enough on its own, but add a nearly comical robot to be cut to pieces, a gun, a bunch of women borrowed from a Robert Palmer video set (and almost as active), and a waddling Rutger Hauer; what do you have? Something Troma would have refused to release on their Sex & Violence office webcam.

This looks like its going to be an exceptionally dull sci-fi, with Rutger Hauer, looking like some kind of Russian WW2 soldier, playing a renegade android in a post-apocalyptic landscape - a setting which allows for no expensive effects, just a derelict, rubble-strewn building site.

'Omega Doom' is still dull, but when after 20 minutes or so, you realise that the story is a Yojimbo/Fistful of Dollars remake, the film starts to have some minor points of interest.

With no real sci-fi elements - a bloke with shaven bits in his hair, metal gloves and blue contact lenses doesn't totally convince as a fully-fledged android - the film leans towards its Western roots, with two rival gangs holed up on either side of the street and a saloon where Rutger Hauer muses with the friendly female bartender, before playing off the opposing gangs. Hauer fits into the role as the impassive stranger well, accompanied by a spaghetti western guitar theme building up the tension to the inevitable showdowns, which are settled in the classic Western tradition - Omega Doom has a quick draw Shane would be proud of.

Although I quite enjoyed these areas, they couldn't cloud the fact that 'Omega Doom' is boring and derivative, not demonstrating any particular areas of ability on the part of its cast or crew, apart from Hauer who is OK despite being on auto-pilot - but then he is a class actor who, for some reason, prefers to ply his trade in these bargain-basement efforts.

With an annoying whirring noise which accompanies each androids move, and a tiresome 'head' character providing Hauer with his sidekick, there is nothing here for even the most easily satisfied sci-fi viewer. Kurosawa and Leone fans will find enough points of reference to make this interesting, but only in the same way that 'Jaws' fans enjoy 'Orca' or 'Grizzly.

"Omega Doom" is a movie whose ambitions clearly outweigh its budget. However, there is something to be said for genre filmmakers like Albert Pyun who try to make the most of the budget they do have. As others have already pointed out, this is essentially a spaghetti Western transported to a post-apocalyptic setting. At times laughably pretentious, at other times interesting. Rutger Hauer (who has the "stoic, mysterious and deadly loner" role, in the classic Clint Eastwood tradition) still has screen presence, and Tina Cote is pretty hot even when she's playing an emotionless, cold-as-ice killer robot. Their last fight could have been longer and better edited, though. (**)