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The not-too-distant future: Zombies have long overrun the earth, And
the human race is as good as extinct. For all he knows, Renchard (Mark
Dacascos), former special forces marine, is the only human left alive, and
he's a broken man since the zombies have killed his wife and son. He
himself has long barricaded himself inside his house and has become
addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs to overcome his grief, boredom
and loneliness alike, but still he's a man with a mission: Day after day
he goes into the city through the sewers (where the zombies can't smell
him) to plant timebombs to blow the place and all its zombies to Kingdom
Come as retaliation for the loss of his family. Then he receives a
distress call from a certain Brianna (Jennifer Lee Wiggins) via his
computer who is holed up somewhere in the center of the city and would
need a bit of rescuing. He turns her down, simply because he's not
accostumed to humans anymore, and the day the city goes up in a bang is
way too close to risk anything ... but then two rednecks, Vincent (Geoff
Meed) and Mike (Ryan Lloyd), show up and try to force Renchard to help
them rescue her. They claim they are from the Antioch project, a science
facility in the hills, and Brianna is the one person immune against the
zombie virus, thus she might be the key to make the world zombie-free once
more. Renchard still refuses to go out and save her, so Vincent and Mike
blow up his house and threaten to go even further, just so he gives in ... In
the sewers, Renchard, Vincent and Mike are attacked by zombies, and when
Mike is killed, Vincent insists on staying with him and urges Renchard to
go on alone. Renchard manages to find Brianna, and the two try to make it
out of the city - which is easier said than done because Brianna is a
pretty stubborn woman and a bit careless, too, which makes them run into
zombie ambush after zombie ambush, and then she crashes their car, too ...
but they are ultimately saved by Vincent, who only now shows his true
colours: He's a bloody supremacist who doesn't want the world go back to
what it once was but believes in Darwin's survival of the fittest - so if
the weaker of the human race are rooted out by zombies, that's not exactly
a bad thing. Of course, he still needs Brianna's immune blood for himself
- though it's doubtful he knows what to do with it - but other than that,
he doesn't need any other humans safe from Mike ... who might be dead, but
Vincent carries him along anymore. Vincent shoots Renchard in the knees
but refuses to kill a fellow marine, then he takes off with Brianna and
dead Mike. Renchard manages to jumpstart a car - but now it has become
personal, and he goes after Vincent to free Brianna ... Suffice to say,
it all ends happily (well, as happily as can be expected in a world
overrun by zombies): Vincent is killed after an extended fight, Brianna is
freed, she and Renchard make it out of the city just in time - and finally
kiss, just before the titles roll ... As the title suggests, I
am Omega is a low budget cash-in (mockbuster) on the
Richard-Matheson-adaptation-turned-Will-Smith-vehicle I am Legend,
which hit the theatres only a couple of weeks after I am Omega hit
the videostores. And as a cash-in, I am Omega was quickly dismissed
as an uninspired carbon copy by the notoriously underinformed mainstream
press (which doesn't make a lot of sense since I am Omega was out
first). Now truth to be told, I am Omega is not the greatest film
ever (which it has probably never set out to be), but it's actually a
pretty decent zombie flick with a few very effective scenes (like when
Renchard completely freaks out when Brianna first contacts him via the
internet) and a rather intelligent script that at least tries to tell an
original story within the narrow confines of the typical zombie narrative.
Mark Dacascos, not the best actor ever, also gives one of his better
performances, while Jennifer Lee Wiggins puts some spunk into her
damsel-in-distress role. However, the film was obviously rushed into
production to beat I am Legend
to the punch, and it shows: The
action scenes do look a bit too hastily executed, some camera setups
clearly lack the shine they would have deserved, and at times one just
can't shake the feeling there are a few pick-up shots missing. Now all of
this is nothing that actually wrecks the film, it's just that the rather
decent script of I am Omega would have deserved a little more time
and care to get things really right. Still, an enjoyable piece of genre
entertainment.
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