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THE OMEGA CODE (1999)
Michael Ironside as a rabbi? Really? For a Jesus-freak end-times movie, The Omega Code focuses less on the sweeping epic supernatural stuff of Left Behind and more on the mechanics of an earthbound international-intrigue kind of film. So far as these things go, it has a recognizable and likeable cast, and production values that make one less likely to make little quote marks with their fingers when describing it as a "movie". Problem is, it isn't plausible at all, and earthbound thrillers need some plausibility, and it's not quite midnight-movie fun enough. Casper Van Dien stars, basically playing the Tom Cruise role from Magnolia, even treating us to a "couch jump" moment. He's a motivational speaker and writer who's a phenomenal success in America in spite of being openly extra-mocking on the subject of Jesus. For further hints on whether he's gonna get sucked up naked into heaven on the day of the rapture (sadly, this movie contains no rapture), look no further than the fact that he's getting divorced, and he's not trying "to stick it out, no matter what!" He changes his mind later, making his the most easily-fixed rocky marriage ever. He claims there's a secret code in the Bible which predicted "Hitler, the Kennedy assassinations...all encoded!" This code goes on in the film to give us such unambiguous forecasts like "REBIRTH OF EMPIRE BEGINS" and "CORNERSTONE LAYS FOUNDATION". His success at the moment is built around his exploration of this code, but now he's been hired by the chairman of the UN, played by Michael York, to...I don't even remember what he was hired for. PR, maybe. York runs a huge corporation which has developed some cyborg nutrient cracker that will feed the world, but probably tastes like balsa wood. Because of this, he's enormously popular (among people who can afford to eat better food than cyborg nutrient crackers). It's a big tumultous world out there, and we find that "The bombings, the food shortages, the epidemics...all connected." Wait, what epidemics? Nobody said anything about epidemics. It's not too tumultous to deny international news coverage to two self-described prophets preaching on the streets of Israel. Now, since this is a Jesus-freak end-times movie, you know the chairman of the UN is representative of that big boogeyman of the fundies: a one-world government. No surprise that York turns out to be the antichrist. "For the sake of human evolution" is a frequent rallying cry for the antichrist's minions and machinations, nudge, nudge. Later in the film he dies (and gets the last rites - bad, bad catholics!) and comes back to life...with Rosemary's baby's eyes! The Omega Code goes completely bonkers in its last third or so, after the antichrist proclaims himself "king and god", a claim met with stunned silence, and then...well, it's pretty funny, especially what we see from that old jewish guy. That's when the Bible starts getting thumped, and it gets thumped good. Then we get the power of Jesus shown as whirly Raiders Of The Lost Ark ghost clouds. It's a long sit before The Omega Code starts getting fun, but if you can sit through the slog, maybe it'll provide you with some chuckles. Inspired one sequel, which I understand is half-remake anyway. (c) Brian J. Wright 2009 BACK TO THE O's BACK TO THE MAIN PAGE |