Customer Reviews

The Omega Code [VHS]

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(82)

 

 

The Omega Code is a rather strange film; a product of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, it is an Armageddon film that portrays the End Times with increasingly little regard to actual Biblical prophecy and only mentions Jesus once in passing. Strictly as a film, it's not all that bad. Sure, there are some plot holes and a few goofs, but the cast is surprisingly well-known and the special effects are actually pretty good (especially for a $7 million dollar film). The real problem comes with the storyline and the tendency for lead players to ham it up. Frankly, I don't really consider this a Christian film at all, as it basically just exploits the popularity of the dubious Bible code and wanders far afield from actual Biblical prophecy.

The "hero" of this film is, of all things, a motivational speaker named Gillen Lane (Casper Van Dien) who just happens to be an expert of sorts on the Bible Code (despite the fact he is in no way religious). When we first meet him, he's jumping all over the furniture of a talk show set like Tom Cruise on Oprah, preaching his secular message of personal evolution through the proper mindset. A short while later, he joins up with the fabulously rich philanthropist Alexander Stone (Michael York) to help make the world a better place. Stone does so much good for less fortunate people that he is appointed chairman of the European Union. Stone isn't what he seems, however; as we in the audience know, he has gone to great lengths, including murder, to acquire the key to the biblical Omega Code. By reading the computer-generated prophecies of the code, he determines what to do and when to do it. So it is that he sets his Jerusalem Plan in motion, blowing up the Tomb of the Rock, only to swoop in and do the impossible: secure a genuine peace deal between Israel and Palestine. As part of the seven-year deal, he pledges to rebuild the Tomb of the Rock as well as Solomon's Temple side by side on the Temple Mount. Lane is with him all the way, handling all of the PR. Stone's henchman (Michael Ironside), a former priest turned bodyguard/hit man, gets jealous of Lane's influence and kills Stone, pinning the blame on Lane. While Lane is on the run, though, a miracle happens: Stone is resurrected (luckily, the hospital folks had just left him in a private room still hooked up to monitors for untold hours after declaring him deceased). Stone's resurrection only adds to his fame and influence. When he says the world needs one government, nations get in line to kiss his hand. Nationalism just vanishes overnight, which is absurd; there's certainly no way America would just sit idly by and let some pasty European become king of the world.

During his coronation inside the brand new Jerusalem Temple, Stone goes far beyond proclaiming himself king; he actually declares himself God. At that point, all masks are pretty much off, with Stone pledging to annihilate any nations who oppose his leadership. The only thing Stone lacks is the final piece of the Omega Code, crucial data which just so happens to fall in Lane's hands. There is one pretty effective plot twist that brings Stone and Lane back together at the end, but it's hard to categorize the ultimate conclusion as a contest between ultimate good and ultimate evil.

As a Christian, I have to say that this movie does not carry any sort of effective Christian message at all. While it does draw some material from actual Biblical prophecy, it increasingly goes its own way, relying on insipid pronouncements from its fictional Omega Code to push the apocalyptic story forward. Jesus and the Gospel are almost completely ignored altogether. To me, this is the kind of Biblical prophecy film that non-religious writers would produce - yet its origins lie with the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and that is what makes the whole movie experience somewhat unsettling. In the end, you're basically left with special effects and an increasingly sensationalist story to carry the day. As such, The Omega Code, whatever its origins and purported intentions, really does little to distinguish itself from all manner of End of Days films coming out of Hollywood in the last decade. Don't consign this film to viewers here in the Bible Belt, as it really doesn't have all that much to offer Christians.

Okay first of all It doesn't surprise me that TBN would make such a terrible movie. Besides being full of the heresy you would come to expect from the people who bring you the cultic prosperity movement. It laughable, Micheal Ironside as the false Prophet? He plays the same guy in every film he does. The plot is so laughable I dont see how any Christian could sit through it. The whole Bible Code idea is another TBN Shame.

The Omega Code - Revelation foretold it, Nostradamus predicted it, Casper Van Dien ruined it. Thank the Trinity Broadcasting Network for those 100 minutes of your life that you just wasted. The folks at TBN, of all people, should know that any a movie about the power of God that doesn't have George Burns listed in the credits, is a bad idea.

I'm having a hard time deciding what is more preposterous - the thought of a book that predicts every major event in world history, or the fact that Casper Van Dien still has a job. While the plot of "The Omega Code" would be mildly interesting if they passed it off as fiction, the movie turns into a convoluted and frustrating mess once they try to convince you that secret codes actually exist in the Torah.

There's a reason why it's called a CODE... because it's a jumbled mess of nothing. When things are written in gibberish, it can be translated into anything you want it to. Hell, you could translate this review as being favorable if you tried hard enough. The fact of the matter is that this movie is a bunch of boloney and it should be avoided at all costs.

If you're in the mood for a good movie containing forced-religion, rent "The Heavenly Kid". If you're in the mood for a good Casper Van Dien movie, then even God can't help you.

But $3 was still way to much to pay to watch this. I thought the story would be good... the bible code... sounds pretty interesting, and it probably could be if not for the horrible acting and writing. I cannot overstate how terrible and laughable the acting of Casper Van Dien is in this movie. And there is a fine line in writing that teeters between profound and cheesy, unfortunately the Omega Code writer(s)slipped and stumbled blindly into cheesy.

This movie is worth a laugh, but that's about it.

I thought this movie was not only horribly, painfully, awfully bad, but also offensive. Lets break this down into bullet points:
-Plot: This is the least bad of the points Ill go over. Its a somewhat interesting idea. One major problem is that the Biblical code they use seems to involve writing passages in a grid, with no spaces, and then picking letters in a regular, mathematical pattern to get messages. This is actually a genuine trick used in Judaic mysticism, and I believe also Islamic mysticism. There are a few errors, though. First off, its shown once being done in English. The Old Testament wasnt done in English. It was in Hebrew or Jewish Aramaic. Further, this trick only works well in those languages because the vowels are not written. The consonants carry unwritten vowels. This makes puzzles like this work well in Semitic languages (Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, etc.). Now, what I immediately noticed is that this little "trick" is portrayed as if the Jews never realized it, even though theyve been doing it for millennia. A Christian, who doesnt seem to speak Hebrew or Aramaic, has to figure it out using English (see point above), and "show them the light".
-Acting: I cringe using that word here. "Acting" implies that people actually act, or have some talent at it. The most interesting characters were the two angels, and the devil. The angels were, in my opinion, under-used. (I was also sad to see that they didnt pull out any Old Testament style smiting. I was looking forward to seeing a special effects loaded can of Righteous Wrath being opened at some point in the movie.) I actually ended up sympathizing with the devil because that was the only character who showed *any* acting skill. Everyone else ranged from cardboard props to annoying.
- Music and Setting: Nice. Nothing special. Ok. However, some of the props used lead to.
- Message: The message I got was, "Other religions are just fumbling around, waiting for a Christina leader to show them whats really going on...The movie is none-too-subtle about Catholic bashing. If you look closely, the only visibly Catholic character is an ex-priest who was de-frocked for murder, or homosexuality, or both, and who is in knowing service of Satan. If you look even closer, the big golden thingy on the Devils desk is called a "monstrum". Its a sacramental used to hold a Eucharistic host for public adoration and some benedictions. They are found in Catholic churches. (Im not sure about Anglican.) They are something distinctly Catholic, and the Devil uses one to decorate his desk.

So, overall, the movie is horrible. I found the Catholic-bashing in a "Christian" movie particularly offensive. I thought the portrayal of other religions was demeaning. The acting was horrible. The whole thing is worse than a waste of time.

My, my, my, if only there was something below a rating of 1. I am, admittedly, not a student of the Bible, so I can only offer my opinion of "The Omega Code" as a stand-alone film. And that opinion is low indeed. From the start, Omega Code is obviously a religiously centered movie, and yet it seems to want so bad to be secular. Slick camera shots, two big name leads, and the "action flick" format seem to scream "Look at us! We're making a secular film with Christian subject matter! We've done the impossible!" But rather than intelligently weaving religious aspects into an already strong movie, the filmmakers seem to treat the mainstream and biblical elements of Omega Code like the hot and cold water in a broken gas station sink. Sometimes it'll be hot, sometimes cold, but never properly mixed. And in this case, neither are well executed separately either. So we're left with a motion picture that spends half its time on mind-numbingly boring biblical diatribe and the other half on mind-numbingly boring hackneyed action scenes. Don't get me wrong. "The Ten Commandments" among other films has proven that the words of the Bible don't have to be boring. But in this film, boring is all they can hope to be. In fact boring is the operative word in this flick. Boring boring boring. So boring, that even when attempting to lampoon it with a friend of mine, we were quickly silenced by the sheer mesmerizing tedium taking place on screen. How could a movie with so many explosions be so boring? I'll tell you how. 1) It doesn't respect its audience. 2) It was ill structured and ill conceived. 3) It was clearly written by a mentally-challenged orangutan. Final thoughts? This thing makes "Batman and Robin" look like "The Sting".

This movie is worst than the Antichrist!
Because TBN is a better lier than "he"!

I'll never watch a TBN film "ever" again,this garbage is not even worth
a rental.

How could a "Christian" Org
screw and twist the book of Rev
to such a degree and pretend that
it's a fine "great!!" movie?

I would expect "Christians" of TBN
to do an exact story of the Bible..
or one that is very close.

What a joke! Don't spend your money or time!

I saw it in the theater, and was tempted to kill the projectionist. I had to remind myself it wasn't his fault. He was only acting under orders. Actually, the film is so dumb it's funny, and that's why it's destined to join the ranks of other rank films like Ed Woods' PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE. And, so, I give it a one-star rating as my way of nominating it for status as a cult classic. If it were an animal, however, I'd have to give it a mercy killing.

Besides providing proof that Christian filmmaking has arrived nowhere after more than twenty years, it "reveals" the silliness of Hal Lindsey's ideas for the end of the world. Once you see them "fleshed out" on the big screen, the one thing that becomes clear is what a trite end for the world is envisioned by this whole concept. I suggest reading End-Time Prophecies of the Bible, if you want a dramatic look at biblical prophecies for the end of time.

I wrote a review for this movie a while ago (see "good thing I only rented it"). And it amazes me to see the un-Christianlike comments the so-called Christians are making.... Calling people who disliked the movie 'pagans' and telling us to fear the wrath of God for judging 'his work'.

I am a Christian, and the movie was terrible *gasp*. I urge those who liked it to rent a film starring a good actor like Harrison Ford or Kevin Spacey, and compare them to Casper Van Dien.... I shudder mentioning him in the same sentence. But I even doubt that a great actor could have saved the script. As a general rule, I dislike any movie that has two grown men air-conducting classical music in a scene that isn't supposed to be humorous.

Let's see if from now on we can stick to reviewing the movie, and stop pre-judging the reviewers religious beliefs.

It's perhaps inevitable that "The Omega Code" and the newer "Left Behind: The Movie" will be compared and contrasted by fans of the apocalyptic Christian thriller genre. And for my money I'd give "The Omega Code" the edge by a comfortable margin. Although made on a budget about 40% that of "Left Behind," for some reason "The Omega Code" just looks better, benefits from tighter editing and a more compelling script, and has a stronger cast, including a reunion of Caspar Van Dien and Michael Ironside (both of whom starred in the terrific "Starship Troopers"), as well as veteran British actor Michael York, and Catherine Oxenburg, best known for her work on "Dynasty" back in the '80s. True, Van Dien's acting is over-the-top - at times hilariously so - but, when all is said and done, this is a B-movie...and there's nothing wrong with that. The B-movies of the '40s, after all, are the film noir classics of today. For my money the gold standard of this kind of apocalyptic Christian-themed good vs. evil movie is still the TV adaptation of Stephen King's "The Stand," but there's nothing wrong with the idea of an entertaining Christian-themed action movie. "The Omega Code" is far from perfect, but actually isn't a bad Saturday night rental for a young Christian couple to eat popcorn by.