Customer Reviews

Omen 3: The Final Conflict [VHS]

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

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....

I adore this movie. It is my favourite in the trilogy. For a low-buget film, I'd say they did a pretty good job. People complain about the acting and direction all the time, but some of the actors weren't very experienced at the time and it was the director's first film. I congratulate them for making such a good movie.

This is my favourite movie. A few of the actors weren't very well known and it was the director's first movie, yet they still managed to put a good movie together. People often complain about dumb things like the attire (hello, it was 1981) and those weird elements often in demonic horror films. It was wonderfully dark and suberbly made. I would DEFINETLY recommend it.

In comparison to "The Omen" and "Damien - Omen II", The Final Conflict is rather weak. It doesn't bring the mounting tension of the earlier films to the satisfactory conclusion one would expect, and Sam Neill's portrayal sometimes lacks a certain intensity. As a horror/thriller film, it's not particularly successful either. The horrific elements are restricted to a handful of scenes and the characters (Dean, Kate, the priests who assist Father DeCarlo in his hunt for Damien) aren't always fleshed out the way they should be. But there are some nice touches, like Damien's monologue in his dark "chapel" and the grand foxhunt sequence. Jerry Goldmith's score is an interesting mixture of bombast and subtlety. And Rossano Brazzi is always enjoyable to watch.

I found the ending awkward and somewhat muddled, and contradictory to key plot points made in the previous films (notably, the importance of having all 7 daggers when trying to destroy Damien) but the film is worth at least a viewing.

I expected Damien the anti-Christ to be further along in his diabolical plans before he would die. Damien is just an ambassador to the UK when he is killed. Instead of bringing the world to the brink of an apocalypse, he is out fox-hunting in the English countryside. With so little of importance at stake, the "final conflict" between Damien and Christ is rather feeble and anti-climactic, like getting a Pinto when you expected a Porsche.

This is especially disappointing because the second film was setting up a plot line in which Damien's company would have a strangle-hold on the world's food supply. I was hoping for global chaos in Omen III -- food riots, revolutions, etc. Omen III briefly reminds us of what Damien's company is trying to do but then drops that plot line completely. Hence the third film does not seem to be organically connected to its predecessor. Indeed, no characters from Omen II except Damien get screen time in Omen III. It's as if with Omen III someone else took over writing the screenplay and decided to take it in a different direction.

It also is odd that Damien was supposed to be such an assiduous student of biblical prophecies but overlooked the prophecy that appears on the screen at the end of the film. What, was Damien's bible missing a few pages of Revelations?

There are some well done scenes, but this film does not measure up to the first two films. Still, it is fun in its own trashy way.

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 seemed 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 thereof. 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. Can you not cringe when Harvey Dean returns home only to find out DeCarlo has visited her to warn her about Damien? "A priest was here today and he told me Damien Thorn is and ANDY-CHRIIIIST, and he'll kill my baby just like he murdered all these other children." Oh, brother. And finally, what about "the final conflict"? Later on after Dean repudiates Damien he returns home to effectively say "Barbara....start packing! I just screwed over the Antichrist!". 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.

The first film, THE OMEN, is one of my all-time favorite movies, but the sequels go from watchable (DAMIEN: OMEN II) to downright baffling.

By the time we get to this film, THE FINAL CONFLICT, it appears that the filmmakers have completely lost touch with their source material and have no idea what they're doing.
Did any of them bother looking at the Book of Revelations?
I understand budget restraints and such, but how can you literally change biblical prophecy to fit their lame story?

The people who saw the original film and were filled with dread understood the coming evil embodied in the demonic child.
By the time they get to THE FINAL CONFLICT, they've got to be scratching their heads.
The Second Coming of Christ is going to be a tad bit more cataclysmic than featured here.
And the fate of the Antichrist is completely baffling.
THE FINAL CONFLICT is like making a movie about Adolph Hitler and he's assassinated in 1936.
Think about it.

I had never seen "The Omen 3-The Final Conflict" until recently. After the first two versions in the "Omen" movies were released people pretty much forgot that there was a part three and ultimately a part four. In this film Sam Neill plays the adult Damien (the son of the anti-Christ) who now holds down a serious job as an Ambassador to England for the United States. He decides in order to control the world he must rid those who want to destroy him, namely a series of priests who know about him and his parentage.
The movie is quite engrossing and involving. The story moves at a fast pace and the script is both strong and intelligent. The death scenes are not to be missed as the production is first rate and horrifying.
Sam Neill steals the film as his performance is evil, convincing, and sexy. I never thought that when someone played the son of the devil that they would exude an overabundance of sexuality, but that's what Neill brings to his role. This is also Neill's first major Hollywood film with mainstream audiences knowing him now for turns in TV's "The Tudors" and "Jurassic Park".
The movie is very short on bonuses, but there is an informative audio commentary by director Graham Baker.
"The Omen 3-The Final Conflict" is available as a stand-alone DVD or as part of the impressive "Omen" boxset that features all the "Omen" films.

Sorry, but I have to talk for a moment about the concept of the "Part 3". I like watching Part 3s, especially Part 3s to successful, blockbuster flicks. By the time you get to a Part 3 in a series, the screenwriters are trying their damnedest to put a new spin on the story and take it in a different direction to separate it from the first. This usually results in laughable, silly and outrageous ideas on film. After all, everything cool and worthwhile was in Part 1, and sometimes you can wring a few interesting concepts from a Part 2, but by Part 3 you're really stretching it(and of course even more so if more sequels are made). Stuff like Star Wars and Back to the Future don't count coz they were envisioned as trilogies from the getgo. But Part 3s can be very fun to watch in their own right. They might be bad films(in rare cases they are better than the Part 2), but can be enjoyed in a different way than the first film was enjoyed.
It's because of Part 3s that Rocky is getting thrown out of the ring by Hulk Hogan, and that Superman is teaming up with Richard Pryor and dealing with an evil twin. It's also the reason Karate Kid 3 ended up being Karate Kid 3.
Well, in this case of Part 3s, I'm talking about the Antichrist. No, not Will Farrell, good ol' Damien from The Omen. In the Final Conflict he has managed to go from 5 to 32 years old in the space of 5 years. He is now reigning king of Thorn Industries and ambassador to Great Britain. He gets a bit worried when he finds out that Christ has recently been reborn, and sends his "Disciples of the Watch"(Ha! Now I know where Testament got that!) to kill all babies born on that particular day. If that weren't stressful enough for the Antichrist, there's a gang of Antichrist hunters out to assassinate him. Armed with those daggers that were given to Gregory Peck in the first film, they periodically attack, only to fail of course. Besides, wasn't this act supposed to be carried out on hallowed ground? Oh well, it's a Part 3.
There's also a reporter who has the hots for Damien, then eventually realizes who he is, but by that time her son has been brought into the Antichrist fold. Damien also introduces her to the wonderful world of rough sex.
This movie is okay. It's not terribly exciting, but just interesting enough to make you want to see it through. Yes, some new concepts are thrown in, but this movie really doesn't feel like a horror film at all, and that's a far cry from the first Omen. I've always really liked Sam Neill, but it's difficult for me to buy him as the Antichrist. He's too nice or something. He seems more just like a corrupt and shrewd corporate headhoncho than the son of the devil. Plus, you'd think the "final conflict" between Jesus and the Antichrist would be a bit more epic. I mean, this is the battle of all battles, baby!! This should be Cecil B. Demille on friggin' steroids. This should make Lord of the Rings look like Deathstalker 4.
Oh, well. I guess for a movie that was pretty unnecessary to begin with, it wasn't all that bad.

The final entry in the "Omen" trilogy actually oudoes its predecessors: it represents the nth degree of cinematic tripe. Sam Neill's rendering of Antichrist conveys all the subtlety of horns, goatee and pitchfork. Moreover, his mass assassination of British infants could not be more ludicrous: such stuff really out-Herods Herod! Finally, the Bad Man's defeat plunges to a level of bathos unequaled in the annals of anticlimax: it makes one long for the old Elizabethan stage wherein demons made their exit through a trap door while flinging fireworks at this Sinful World!
Less horrific than horrible, "The Omen 3" is simply the nadir of filmmaking: an utter waste of time and celluloid. Is it any wonder that horror film cognoscenti--real Goths--prefer European and Japanese movies to such feculent products of Hollywood?