Damien: Omen II -- Don Taylor
I don't know if I understand the mechanics of the Omen universe. Damien has the mark of the beast but the evil forces seem pretty formidable without him having to do anything at all. From his birth to when he turns 13 lots of people die, theoretically without him having a hand in it. He learns he has telekinesis of some kind early in Omen II but doesn't make use of it until much later. So how does this evil force operate and where is God in all of this? At least in the Harry Potter books Voldemort keeps getting defeated along the way to regaining his full power. It's all winning for Damien. Oh well...
The biggest issue with Omen II is that it should be all about Damien coming to terms with who he is (if we are to start at age 13). Instead there is a big plot point about a business man who has some sketchy ideas about buying property and the former owners farm on it to help solve world hunger, or something like that. This guy is also a minion of Satan, apparently, who works for Damien's uncle. I love William Holden, but all this business should be in the background without as much detail. Good kid actors are hard to come by, so I can see why a screenwriter would be afraid of focusing the whole story on Damien as a kid, but seriously, it's a drag.
Jerry Goldsmith (who is my film composer) comes up with a score that I thought was a lazy knockoff of his score for the original Omen. I was very disappointed to learn that it was him. When you're that prolific, I guess you can have a few clunkers in there.
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