The Omega Code

  I've never been a particular fan of melodrama, or of drama at all, really, but what this film does, it does fairly well. The plot moves steadily in a well-controlled arc toward the climax. It contains at least one surprise for people who have actually read Revelations and pretty much knew what to expect. It uses fairly recognizable (amazingly so, for the genre) special effects to imagine "supernatural" or biblical events.

The weaknesses lie in two specific places. The characters don't quite work. The main character is neither lovable nor sympathetic (nor well-acted). The bad guy (Michael York) must necessarily get a little hammy (the script requires it, and only The Emperor from Star Wars could pull it off). The plot, either despite its exegesis or because of it, contains some pretty glaring holes.

As a draw, though, the comparative religion involved becomes quite fascinating. The possibility of a strict "bible code" becomes irrelevant to those who have read the New Testament because the predictions made by the letter-based code in this film are actually stated quite clearly almost word-for-word in scripture. It seems a bit redundant, and possibly ethnocentric.