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Customer Reviews of Omen 3: Final Conflict

Not So Dandy "Dandychrist"
Could it get any worse than this? Forget the OMEN IV TV disaster. 20th Century Fox sold the entire "Omen" franchise right down the tubes with this poorly acted, scripted, and Graham-Cracker Baker directed mess. Originally, Fox had planned two further sequels to OMEN II, one in which Damien would be in his 20's and then in his 30's in control of his Uncle's corporation. They settled for one "final" conflict and in late 1980 had televised a cleverly edited highlights trailer for this film, shown during a telecast of OMEN II. I waited with bated breath, even though the trailer semmed mysteriously bereft of dialogue or the creative death scenes of which the series was known for. The novelization preceeded the movie and it was essentially a one idea book...Damien in search of the reborn baby Christ. On opening day, it was apparent from critical & audience reaction that Fox had delivered onto us a bomb of major proportions, the dregs of the series and horror in general. Sam Neill may have looked the part, but boy...that acting or lack there. Listen to his intonations when he tells Harvey Dean the Messiah will come out of "ANGGGLAAAND". Listen to him deliver the line "don't let the Red CROOSSSSSS beat them to it." That's acting? Rossano Brazzi, as poor a job as he did in the movie as the head of an all-monk asasination squad, at least brought some unintentional comic relief to the proceedings. Can you not laugh in hysterics everytime he refers to Damien as "Dum-eon Torn, da Dandychrist"? Who exactly is "Dumeon Torn"? The acting and mentally challenged long lost brother of actor Rip Torn? The movie lacks pacing, atmosphere, & effects. What exactly did the Ambassador see in the mirror that was so horrifying it drove him to suicide...the tremendous bags under his eyes? How horrifying to see the two priests "trapped" by a sliding gate in the old church as pre-CGI lightning rips across the sky outside. How spine-tingling to see a nurse turn down an oxygen lever in a nursery to snuff out a prospective Christ Child! Oh the terror at seeing a child's ball hit a mom in the head and watch as her errant carriage get barely tipped over in perfect condition by an oncoming car? Look at Barbara Dean (this actress must of taken a correspondence school course in acting right before filming began) and the expression on her face when she sees a charcoal faced baby take the place of her infant in its crib. She looks like she's smelling onions. And finally, what about "the final conflict"? Were we not cheated in not seeing Damien battle his adversary the Holy One as prophesized? And what's with being done in by one dagger from some frizzy headed newscaster with a penchant for screaming out "love me Damien" during kinky sex? The movie goes against its own mythos...all seven were needed to destroy Damien body and spirit. Jerry Goldsmith's score was the one thing that was likable here...he expanded on themes present in the other two scores and embellished them wonderfully with music heralding the second coming. Forget those idiots who claim "Omen II" isn't a good movie...it's a respectable followup to THE OMEN with real star power that carries a sense of dread and terror in the Damien's coming of age <
>story. This "Final Bomb" concluded the story in the worst possible way...cheaply and without horror or any redeeming drama.

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Still Holds Up
Yes, "The Final Conflict" - third in the "Omen" Series - suffers from a few flaws at the screenplay level. I mean, let us not beat around the burning bush here- The apocalyptic battle between good and evil is minimalized to seven cossack monks (each armed with one of the sacred Seven Daggers of Meggido, the only weapons known to be capable of ending Damien Thorn's life) wandering the countryside, attempting to assassinate Thorn? That's a bit of a stretch. And, theologically speaking, Christ is due to return as a conqueror,not as a helpless child who could conceivably be executed during a campaign to mass murder all children born at the same time and on the same date. <
> Those qualms aside,this is a genuinely chilling and thought provoking film. Watching "Conflict" recently, I was reminded that - once upon a time - we expected legitimate PERFORMANCES from our actors,instead of allowing special f/x overkill to tell the story. To wit, it's all about a then young Sam Neill. He is simultaneously compelling, charming and creepy as the adult Damien, never leaving the viewer a shred of doubt that he has nothing but the worst intentions for the souls of mankind. <
> It's apparent that the operative budget constrained the filmmakers from pulling off the climactic battle they were going for, and on that level there is a feeling of disappointment.However, all such reactions are overwhelmed by a sense the filmmakers were telling a compelling story, a good one at that, and what we are left with is a modern masterpiece, really. This is a film that - honestly- will NOT resonate well with a bunch of kids raised on a steady diet of CGI monsters, nonstop explosions, endless gun battles and cool,hip throw away lines. <
> A quieter, more meditatitve film that allows the true nature of evil to be exposed as it unfurls it's story one chapter at a time is hardly what modern audiences are clamoring for, so it's no surprise "The Final Conflict" couldn't find a niche audience until the past few years, when more sophisticated filmgoers began to search the movies of their youth for something - ANYTHING - offering an intelligent counterpoint to the gutter trash occupying most theaters today. "The Final Conflict" is one such film, a well-crafted picture which triumphs ( despite it's obvious flaws) and delivers the goods as both a theological drama and a terrifying horror film. I know I've gone on too long here,so let me wrap with three final observations: <
> 1)This IS a horror film, and the "creative death" sequences are -if anything- more craftily orchestrated than ever before. In fact,there is a death by fire early in the picture which,in my estimation, may be the single most horrific method of dispatching a victim these people have come up with yet. <
> 2)The late Jerry Goldmsith's score to this film is perhaps the greatest score ever composed for a horror film, one as dramatic and sweeping as it is operatic and stirring. The fact that it never recieved an Oscar demonstrates an Academy bias against the genre. <
> 3) For all those who,in their reviews of this film, lamented that the plot changed to allow the seven monks to hunt Damien down armed with only one dagger apiece - rather than immediately planting all seven daggers into him in the pattern of a cross (as stated in the original film) - I offer this observation: in "The Omen", the exorcist Bugenhagen clearly states that the first dagger planted into Thorn's body will extinguish physical life. I believe this is a no-brainer. These monks were intelligent enough to know that getting one dagger into Thorn - who was the US Ambassador to Great Britian (and therefore heavily guarded at all times) -would be difficult enough. There was no way they were ever going to get get him into a room with seven knife-wielding holy men, so it actually makes thematic sense that they would eschew trying to destroy his spirit, for the time being, in favor of achieving their primary objective- ending Damien's physical existence to insure the safety of the Christ child. If you're going to criticize the film, please pay attention to all of the details. <
>Peace out,kids!!! - D.S.

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A much underrated Masterpiece ...And the score !!
The Final Conflict is a rare film in its genre...consisting of sumptious production standards, no over the top CGI or hammy lines....just beautiful cimematography, strong acting and the best element of all....Jerry Goldsmith's compellingly beautiful score.... this movie demonstrates how a powerful film score can transcend and lift a film into a higher realm of fantastic possibilities ........in my opinion this film is a perfect-seamless blend of visionary lushness and sound....I believe this to be Goldsmith's greatest score with the exception of that composed for Ridley Scott's film Legend ... again a beautiful example of evocative film making incorporating the undeniable power of a perfect film score. So if you need only reason to see this film let that be it....