Review of The Omega Man (1971) by Josè M — 05 Feb 2010

THE OMEGA MAN is a movie that is a product of its time on almost every level, something that both for and against it as a movie. This film comes from a period in Charlton Heston's career where he starred in sci-fi movies laced with social and political commentary, other examples including SOYLENT GREEN and PLANET OF THE APES.

While those two are fondly remembered for their iconic twist endings, OMEGA MAN is mainly remembered as a fun, campy B-movie, which is exactly what it is. While the opening scenes show promise, too much of the movie feels constricted to sets, and Boris Sagal's direction can't make the content feel bigger than what's on the screen, and a lot of otherwise interesting scenes are ruined by a terrible score that would fit better in a Roger Moore-era Bond film than a grim post-apocalyptic movie.

That, and the editing ain't so good. What makes the movie fun is its early seventies look and feel, as well as Heston's undeniable charisma as a leading man, even if the performance isn't his best.

But like the other sci-fi movies Heston was in at the time, OMEGA MAN is a sci-fi movie with interesting themes and ideas, which saves it from being just a bad, silly B-movie. It's a film that is essentially about the end of the sixties, whether they knew it or not at the time they were making it.

Anthony Zerbe's character, Matthias, and his "family" reek of the Manson clan, and Heston's character, Neville, is an old hippie who goes to the movies on a regular basis to watch the documentary WOODSTOCK, which he knows by heart.

It's apparent that Neville's hippie values have been jaded by the realities of Matthias's evil cult and the aftermath of a devestating war, the way that America was by Sharon Tate's brutal murder and Vietnam war.

OMEGA MAN is no less socially relevant to the time as Heston's other sci-fi classics, it's just a shame that its technical shortcoming keep it from attaining the status of a great genre movie.