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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 2.35:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
  • French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
  • Italian: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
  Subtitles
    English, French, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, English - Hearing Impaired, Italian - Hearing Impaired, Romanian
  Extras
  • Theatrical trailer - 2.35:1, 16:9
  • Featurette
  • Interviews - An introduction to the film

The Omega Man

Warner Bros./Warner Home Video . R4 . COLOR . 94 mins . M15+ . PAL

  Feature
Contract

This sits among the stable of various ’70s science fiction movies that the eminent Charlton Heston starred in like Soylent Green and Beneath the Planet of the Apes among dubious others. Made in 1971 and set way off in the distant future of 1977, Omega Man is the story of a geneticist who is working on a vaccine for a global plague, unleashed in the form of germ warfare. Heston plays the geneticist who develops the vaccine and injects himself (after his helicopter pilot dies mid-flight and they plummet to earth in a gratuitous stunt/explosion that is wholly unnecessary). Why he chooses the moment of the crash is uncertain, but anyway, he survives and lives out his life among the detritus of society that’s left.

That detritus is people in the form of mutant albinos afraid of the light who want everything ‘old world’ destroyed in some sort of religious fervour. And naturally, this includes the last (or Omega) healthy human.

"If you just have to play James Bond... I’ll bust yo ass!"

Just when Heston is seemingly crazy, babbling to a bust of Julius Caesar (like the lost-at-sea Wilson!), a perfect blaxploitation moment occurs in the form of Rosalind Cash. This petite woman plays a sassy survivor who develops a way-too-fast sexual relationship with Heston that is altogether too weird, particularly when he calls her ‘baby’ in hip slang talk. She has a brood of children, all of whom are in the throes of the virus, but he develops an antidote from his own blood. Then, he gets captured, the mutants cause trouble, they attempt to kill him, his new girlfriend gets sick and joins up with Mutant Power Inc., and Heston must decide in the end who to save and who to let die.

It’s a bit thin on plot, but the film isn’t so bad. The myriad long shots of the dead city are great and well shot, as is the action within them. Sometimes the action is deliberately speeded up, which is a little unnerving but rare. The makeup gets a little cheesy sometimes, (and I mean talcum powder in the afro to portray albinism) but it’s part of the appeal of the film. However, some of the metaphors and symbols used are just a little too heavy-handed, which detracts from us, the audience, having to think too hard. And I hate it when movies treat me like I’m too stupid to figure it out (even if I am). If you don’t look too hard, just enjoy some classic schlock sci-fi.

  Video
Contract

The full-on cinema aspect of 2.35:1 with 16:9 enhancement delivers some awesome shots of the dead city, as mentioned above. There are occasional artefacts, but someone’s done a nice job cleaning this film up because it looks pretty sharp considering its age of 32 years. Shadows are a bit murky in night and dark interiors, but the blacks all look true. There is some even older footage from Woodstock the movie playing in the cinema Heston visits and even this looks great. Flesh is all fairly good, aside from the albinism thing and obvious makeup, but otherwise the colour looks fine and the film looks rather nice.

  Audio
Contract

A crackerjack Dolby Digital 2.0 mix brings every scream, every shot fired and every blood curdling ululation to moderate life. Whilst the sound effects all seem to work okay, there are moments when the synch doesn’t seem to quite hook up right. To give the full feeling of the empty streets, long silences are employed and these do work very well, however they tend to make the soundscape kinda disjointed as a whole.

Musically speaking, there isn’t much here, but what is gets used to good effect. It sounds a little tinny at times, but this sort of adds to the allover feeling of desolation. Otherwise, most of the dialogue is okay (again though, with Heston’s ‘baby’s. Ugh).

  Extras
Contract

The first of three extras, the introduction features screenwriter Joyce H. Corrington, the guy who plays Dutch, Paul Koslo and the guy who plays Richie, Eric Laneuville. They all speak about their experience of the film and this montage of interview soundbites plays for four minutes. Worth a watch, but I watched it after the film and defeated its purpose.

There follows a nine and a half minute ‘making of’ featurette which is worth a look, but seems a little awkward at times. Charlton Heston hosts and speaks with an expert on survival on set as they discuss issues pertinent to the film. It’s a little forced and an early ad for the film really. Oh, and for the pedants, there are six awesome film artefacts in a row at 09:07. Presented in the made-for-TV format of 4:3 glory.

Lastly, there’s the three minute, 2.35:1, 16:9 enhanced original theatrical trailer. This looks pretty good, though it (as is so often the case with trailers) kinda describes a different film. Oh well. Still, it looks great, even if it does suffer some synch issues.

Not a bad collection for an older movie, but an audio commentary would have been sweeter than the intro.

  Overall  
Contract

Fans of older science fiction will most likely get a few kicks outta this ’un. People like me who have seen this film in their youth, forgotten it, watched The Simpsons Halloween segment entitled The Homega Man and laughed will have fun picking the references. I enjoyed that a lot.

It’s not rocket science (fiction) but it does have a message tucked away that isn’t too hard to uncover, thanks to our ham-fisted symbols. As far as DVD goes, however, this is a pretty good package all told and worth the kitsch value of seeing Charlton Heston play Homer Simpson.


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      And I quote...
    "It’s like Castaway, but with guns and mutants and blaxploitation!"
    - Jules Faber
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Nintaus DVD-N9901
    • TV:
          Sony 51cm
    • Receiver:
          Diamond
    • Speakers:
          Diamond
    • Surrounds:
          No Name
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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