Review of The Omega Man (1971) by Mike D — 27 Feb 2010

Finally saw the thing. First things first here...Ive only just very recently seen I Am Legend and havent seen The Last Man On Earth or read the novel.

Wow...this one is all over the shop. In the end though... I really liked it. But its a strange film and I think that people need to bare in mind that if you can get past the sillyness of the first action sequence and the very bizarre nature of what the filmmakers were thinking of when they did all of that...then youll have a fun time here. But youll have to be prepared for occasional outbreaks of sillyness throughout (but it is entertaining) Once it gets going its a good film. The music is a lot of fun but I dont really think that it goes with the visuals on some of it (not all of it...some of it is working) Ron Grainer is very talented and his music is great but I dont think I fully agree with the choices that were made with it going to the visuals at times. The post apocalyptic street scenes are very well done...and the dusty interiors are very nicely done too but are possibly a bit too sound stagey (thats just a lighting problem for me...they still look great though...I think theres a beauty to that style of filmmaking).

Editing did anoy me though at times when they didn't give any time on the dead body shots....the painstaking amount of work that has gone into all of those cant be taken in much at all.....perhaps it was too shocking to do that in 1971 or somebody wouldn't allow it.