Simply A Masterpiece

hyped garbage

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This movie starts off with a Jewish scholar by the name of "Rabbi Rostenberg" (Yehuda Efroni) completing research on a Biblical code which can unlock secret messages of prophetic importance from within the Bible. Because of the significant advantages to be gained from its possession, evil forces want his work and send a hit man named "Dominic" (Michael Ironside) to kill him and acquire it. They succeed in killing him and they get most of the code. But not all. When the news of Rabbi Rostenberg's murder leaks out a popular motivational speaker named "Gillen Lane" (Casper Van Dien) is called upon by television reporter "Cassandra Barashe" (Catherine Oxenberg) to explain to her audience the importance of this Bible code. Not long afterward the man recently appointed as the Chairman of the European Union, "Stone Alexander" (Michael York) calls upon Gillen Lane to be his public relations spokesman as he launches an effort to consolidate the world under his leadership. Anyway, rather than disclose the entire plot and ruin the mystery for those who haven't seen this movie I will just say that while this film is entertaining the story itself is mishandled a bit. The main cause of this is the fact that it spends a great deal of time on setting up the story but condenses way too much material at the end. As a result the ending leaves much to be desired. Still, both Michael Ironside and Michael York, along with Catherine Oxenberg to a lesser degree, performed in a reasonably good manner and their performances make the film watchable. However, I cannot say the same for Casper Van Dien as he just didn't have the presence required to be a lead actor. In any case, this isn't a bad Christian film and I think it deserves an average rating.

How well I remember back in 1999 when the Crouch family went into the movie producing business with this end times film, The Omega Code. End times films are a regular cottage industry among the evangelicals and the beauty is that it can be interpreted so many ways that those who want to make these films will have yet another interpretation of scripture.Usually they're not very good and this one is no exception. But with a network at your command The Omega Code was promoted like only a Disney film would be. Paul Crouch and his wife Jan who looks like a Christian version of Mae West put their son Matthew in charge and he directed this film. I suspect that players like Casper Van Dien, Michael York, Catherine Oxenburg and Michael Ironside probably directed themselves. Each made very sure there presence was known often clashing with the others. No one was piloting this ship.And of all things scandal befell this Christian movie as Casper and Catherine found love while married to others. A dime store version of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Not the kind of publicity you want with the fundamentalist audience you are trying to reach.Scandal did not hurt Casper Van Dien's career, but I suspect association with this product did with mainstream audiences. He had done so well playing Tarzan and with Starship Troopers. Here he plays a charismatic motivational speaker along the lines that Tom Cruise did in Magnolia. He gets a call from international media magnate Michael York to work for him as a kind of press spokesman. That arouses some jealousy in Michael Ironside who plays a Satanic hit-man. As for York he's getting the ultimate kind of help for the ultimate kind of ambition.Those who are fundamentalists will not be deterred from seeing The Omega Code. It's better than some Christian films, not as good as others.

"The Omega Code" is no Revelation.The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) produced this amateurish, often predictable apocalyptic suspense thriller about the epic battle between Good and Evil on the eve of the new millennium. Clearly, the 'end time prophecies' in the books of Daniel and Revelation inspired the evangelical screenplay by Stephan Blinn, Hollis Barton, and Hal Lindsey based on TBN founder Paul Crouch's book. Nothing exciting or enlightening about the controversial Biblical code, however, ignites sparks in this loquacious yarn. Sadly, sketchy characters uttering embarrassing dialogue in a cliché-riddled script with little overall action and an anemic ending make only a slight impression in this barely tolerable 100-minute, PG-13 rated melodrama."The Omega Code" depicts the efforts of misguided philanthropic tycoon Stone Alexander (Michael York) who spends millions to usher in a new era of peace and prosperity with a little coercion and terrorism for good measure. You know Stone is up to no good when he talks about a one-world currency and an improved Roman Empire. First, he sends out his right-hand henchman, ex-priest Dominic (Michael Ironside of "Starship Troopers"), to gun down an elderly Jewish scholar after he had broken the 'Biblical Code.' Second, when our sartorial megalomaniac doesn't have his minions manipulating the Bible code to stage a global takeover, Alexander charms a motivational guru, Dr. Gillen Lane (Casper Van Dien of "Tarzan and the Lost City"), into serving as his mouthpiece. Dr. Lane drops everything to accommodate Alexander, forsaking his young daughter Maddie (Ayla Kell of "Rebound") and estranged wife Jennifer (Devon Odessa of "Shoot the Moon"), before he realizes that Alexander has deluded both the world and him. Meantime, our straightforward but simple-minded hero suffers from hallucinatory visions, apocalyptic horses, hooded monks, and the tragic death of his mother. He refuses adamantly to believe in God. As far as Lane is concerned, no benevolent Higher Being could be so cruel and callous as to destroy his saintly mommy in a senseless car accident. In the middle of a conversation with TV talk-show host, Cassandra (Catherine Oxenberg), Lane experiences these terrifying visions, but he doesn't understand what they symbolize. Shrugging them off as uneasily as he does his botched marriage, he helps Stone embark on his quest for global domination until a jealous Dominic intervenes. When he tries to knock off Lane, Dominic accidentally shoots Alexander in the head and then frames Lane for the murder. Not only does Lane now know the scope of Stone's perfidy, but he also because a fugitive on the lam."Long Ride Home" director Robert Marcarelli struggles against a formulaic B-movie script that makes any of "The Omen" sequels appear consecrated by comparison. The action unfolds quickly at first before it bogs down in numbing passages of exposition designed by its didactic scenarists to highlight the problems of modern society. The characters stand around and chew the scenery, but little happens that would make anybody's pulse race. Even the third-act "Raiders of the Lost Ark" pyrotechnics cannot salvage this heavy-handed religious propaganda potboiler. The filmmakers allow Michael York of "Logan's Run" little leeway in his villainous portrayal of Stone Alexander. He appears more urbane than intimidating. We are never in doubt from the outset that York's character is anybody but the anti-Christ. Check out Stone Alexander's star-shaped corporate logo that bears a suspicious resemblance to a pentagram. Indeed, York lends "The Omega Code" what modicum of dignity that it has with his polished performance. As the square-jawed, reborn hero who locks horns with Stone, Casper Von Dien acts like a school boy with a bladder control problem. Only career baddie Michael Ironside seems genuinely convincing as a hard-fisted fiend with no compunctions about homicide. The closest thing to profanity occurs when he utters 'son of a . . . 'then charges out of the room in pursuit of our hero before we can catch the b-word."The Omega Code" draws its inspiration from bestselling authors, such as Michael Drosnin in "The Bible Code," Grant Jeffrey in "The Signature of God," and Jeffrey Satinover in "Cracking the Bible Code," that argue you can find prophesies concealed in divine scripture by using equidistant Hebrew letter sequencing. Hasidic Jews argued the same nonsense as early as the 12th century so there is nothing new about this crackpot theory that is derived in part from Pythagoras who believed that numbers represented the ultimate reality.No, "The Omega Code" is not the greatest story ever told. The same people who complain regularly about sex and violence in movies should think twice about taking their children to see this shallow morality saga. Nevertheless, this TBN feature film contains several obligatory shoot-outs and a knuckle-bruising interrogation scene that earn it a PG-13 rating. Laudable as TBN's evangelical goals appear, "The Omega Code" amounts to little more than a second-rate imitation of a secular doomsday adventure opus. Altogether, this innocuously bland Providence Entertainment film release tastes like Tums for the soul.Stay home and read Revelation; it tops this muddled mystery thriller.

I was not only disappointed; I was embarrassed. As a TBN viewer and supporter, I had heard all the buzz and thought that maybe, at long last, we Christians had finally produced a quality movie on a par with secular productions. Dutifully, I invited and bought tickets for several unbelievers to attend with me. The movie was so amateurish, so fraught with plot holes and so poorly edited both pre- and post-production that I was mortified. Since I work in this industry, it was readily apparent to me how easy it would have been to maintain plot integrity and thereby give the production the quality it was lacking. I was astonished that no effort was made to do so. I can, however, give this movie credit for teaching me never to listen to hype and always preview any Christian movie before inviting unbelievers.