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Omega is the last letter
of the Greek alphabet and Charlton Heston finds himself the last man alive on
earth, or so it seems. He is the Omega Man and it is his struggle with his
sanity and his battle with the remnants of humanity twisted physically and
mentally by germ warfare that is central to this cult 1970’s sci-fi gem.
Robert Neville (Heston) is
a biological scientist who through miraculous circumstances finds himself
immune to a worldwide virus that kills off most of mankind. He roams around a
deserted city during the day shopping, catching up with his favourite movie
(Woodstock no less) and changing cars as suits his fancy. As the sun sets
however Neville becomes the supreme survivalist armed to the teeth with
automatic weapons. For at night ‘the family’ rule the streets, deformed
albino’s led by their messiah Matthias (Anthony Zerbe), sworn against modern
man’s evil technology and seeing Neville as the last painful memory of what
they once where. Heston and Zerbe are brilliant and ironically both seem as
violent as each other, enter into this mix several non virus humans Neville
stumbles across and the story unfolds.
DVD visual transfer is
good for a movie this age with a great widescreen presentation. Audio is in
Dolby Digital 1.0, yes that is mono, but the movie doesn’t suffer that much
due to it’s great on screen action. Music in the title theme is memorable and
still conjures up fond memories of this movie when I saw it some 20 plus years
ago.
Extras are a little light
with a brief introduction by screenwriter Joyce Corrington and two minor
supporting actors. There is an interesting featurette with Charlton Heston
giving some insight into his character’s mental state and a decidedly 70’s
theatrical trailer. The menu is not animated but serves its purpose in a
workmanlike manner.
I am a great fan of this
film and I was overjoyed to view this in widescreen for the first time. It is
a sublime idea carried by the star presence of Heston with great action and
tension. Who can forget Neville playing chess against a bust of Caesar, his
self depreciating one liners on his predicament and the bizarre pseudo
philosophical mutterings of his arch nemesis Matthias. One of my favourite
movies of this sci-fi genre and with tremendous repeat viewing appeal. To
quote Neville “they don’t make films like that anymore”.
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