At one point, there were as many as six planned sequels for the original Omen film. As time passed, producer Harvey Bernard settled on a trilogy.
Picking up with the now 33 years old Damien as the head of a powerful corporation, he has fully embraced who he is to be. After a horrible tragedy, he is tapped to be the ambassador to Great Britain (the same role as his adoptive father in the first film). Damien is a charismatic star player in politics.
A group of monks are seeking to kill Damien, but he foils them at every turn, with bizarre accidents that escalate in to straight up murder. At the same time, journalist Kate Reynolds and Damien strike up a relationship. The single mother is swayed by his charms.
Part of Damien’s plan is to thwart the second coming of Christ. The Christ child was born again during an alignment of stars and Damien has his assistant Harvey put into action the murder of every infant born on that night. Harvey has a secret and tries to keep Damien from discovering that Harvey’s own son was born on that night.
While the film takes all sorts of liberties (there is no prophetic belief that Jesus will return as an infant) it does some nice references (such as the slaughter of the innocents the evokes the action of the King in the Gospels).
Sam Neil is quite charismatic and yet ominous at the same time. Even as he faces Christ his is defiant.
A lot of what I find makes the trilogy of films work is their sincerity. I know I said this about the Exorcist, but it is just as true here as with those films. It is the dedication to taking the idea of God and Satan at war with each other seriously that overcomes the sillier aspects of the films. Especially how they had to constantly escalate the deaths.
While the sequels do not live up to the original, the original trilogy is still an effective overall tale.
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