Movies: The Omega Man

I've mentioned it a few times before, but I've never sat down and watched "The Omega Man" in its entirety until it found its way onto my Netflix queue. In many respects, the movie reflects the multifaceted personality and career of its star, film legend Charlton Heston:



Heston plays Robert Neville, the last uninfected man on Earth. Most of the population is dead thanks to an engineered plague, with a tiny portion turning into a cult of light-sensitive, disfigured neo-Luddites led by a former TV new anchor named Matthias. There are also some infected humans who still look and act human, although their time is running out. Can Neville find a cure (and avoid Matthias' cult) before it's too late?

There's some interesting stuff in the movie - some nice aerial shots of a deserted Los Angeles, Charlton Heston blasting away at the cultists with a S&W 76 submachine gun, and the presence of Rosalind Cash, whose character eventually serves as Neville's love interest (this was back in '71 - interracial sex onscreen was still controversial in some parts of the country).

As you can see, the movie showcases aspects of Heston's life - battles for racial equality, battles for Second Amendment rights, and a larger-than-life presence looming above it all. It's not a very good movie (the plot is fairly contrived, and the ending feels like a cheesy ripoff of the New Testament), but it's still worth a look on a slow Saturday afternoon.

Rating: 5/10