Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		2.5
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.5

I Am Omega Blu-ray Movie Review

But I am neither Alpha nor Legend.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 13, 2010

Aha! His interest is piqued!

When The Asylum noticed that Will Smith's I Am Legend was coming to theaters, the "mockbuster" studio decided to make their own version and rushed a movie into production. "Rushed" is probably a good descriptor. I Am Omega -- so titled as a combination of Smith's I Am Legend and the Charlton Heston film The Omega Man which, coincidentally, was based on the Richard Matheson novel entitled I Am Legend (what, no love for Vincent Price's The Last Man on Earth?) -- managed to hit store shelves a full month before Smith's film made its way to theaters, but it didn't seem to cause that much confusion, seeing as Smith's film still pulled in nearly $600,000,000 worldwide gross. The Asylum, for those still in the dark, is a small studio that makes ultra-cheap knock-offs of popular movies; some of the gems of their catalogue include 2012: Doomsday and Transmorphers: Fall of Man. Yup, it's that kind of studio. Other than throwing a dart to decide which blockbuster to capitalize on next, the hardest part of the I Am Omega process had to be decision as to what to call the thing; no doubt hours and hours of hair-pulling, pencil-chewing, and rear-end-numbing numbers crunching and market research analysis resulted in I Am Omega winning out over the more obvious choices, The Omega Legend or I Am the Last Omega Legend on Earth. The genius decision to title the film as it is probably earned the studio a whole extra sale and two additional rentals.

Renchard: defender of warm beer.

Renchard (Mark Dacascos) is the last man on Earth -- or so he believes. He lives in a world where survival depends on a sharpened blade and a full magazine for his trusty H&K submachine gun, not on the daily grind or the ebbs and flows of the stock market. He spends his days and nights defending his humble but heavily-fortified abode from a horde of badly mutated creatures that were once presumably human beings just like him. He scavenges what he can from what's left of his world, traveling the streets of California in his trusty Oldsmobile while in search of MREs or more ammunition. He's set timed charges to destroy the city, but before they go off, he receives a mysterious video stream on his computer from a young woman named Brianna (Jennifer Lee Wiggins) who seeks his help to get her to the fabled human sanctuary called Antioch. Renchard isn't keen on the idea, but circumstances force him to become involved against his better judgment. In a race against time to save the girl before the bombs go off, Renchard will come to find who the true unprincipled and directionless animals are in the world around him.

I Am Omega isn't actually the worst piece of garbage ever to slither its way out of Asylum headquarters, but this still isn't a good movie. Next to Smith's fancy-schmancy take on the story, I Am Omega stinks worse than a festering pile of garbage next a litter box filled with unburied poop. But compared to War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave? This is brilliant stuff. I Am Omega's greatest strength lies in its general premise. It's hard to mess up a "lone survivor wandering a post-apocalyptic world" type of story, and The Asylum's take on it manages to eek by with the bare minimum number of requisite elements at work. Sure, I Am Omega is of an extremely small scale and in no way believable, but there are a few strong-ish elements to the general story arc that are nicely realized here. Director Griff Furst and lead Actor Mark Dacascos manage to paint a somewhat believable picture of a troubled soul with a bleak outlook on life. In his portrayal of an emotionally distraught but necessarily tough and resourceful character who's lost his wife and son and who is struggling to maintain a semblance of normalcy in a world where he's supposedly the sole survivor (it's never really clear why he and he alone has survived), Dacascos' performance is borderline commendable, at least within the scope of typical Asylum fare. Still, there are far more minuses than pluses at work which ultimately drag I Am Omega down into the depths of forgettable and purposeless filmmaking.

Indeed, I Am Omega is pretty much awful, particularly once Renchard's isolation ends and he gets invovled with several other people. Coincidentally, that introduction of additional characters into end-of-the-world last-man-on-Earth movies is usually the major stumbling block and the element that always seems to lessen the impact, emotional balance, and sheer sense of awe such stories engender, so at least I Am Omega isn't alone in that regard. Nevertheless, the rest of the movie just isn't that great or well-thought, out, either. The acting isn't quite as bad as it might have been, but the fight choreography could have definitely benefitted from a little more effort. The film's score is terrible in the way it tries to drum up excitement for some already lame and none-too-exciting fistacuffs or shootings. Worst of all is the suspension of disbelief required to make it through even the basics of the plot. Whether shots of a supposedly dead city that show absolutely no decay (then again, there's no real timeframe provided) or the fact that, surprise!, even when there's nobody else alive the Internet and GPS systems still work is too much to swallow. The plot simply never gels or seems all the coherent, whether in its failure to give more background to the lead character or explain with more detail why he makes some of his choices, such as setting charges to blow up the city that, yes, might be populated by deadly creatures, but could also sustain him for quite some time. Worst of all is Renchard's decision to go along with two individuals who make quite a mess of his things at home; in such a situation, one wouldn't have blinked twice were he to simply put a piece of lead between each's eyes. As it is, letting them live allows the plot to continue on, and in I Am Omega's defense, there are a couple of decent twists in the final act that almost make the movie worthwhile. Almost.

I Am Omega Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

I Am Omega's 1080p transfer won't be the last one standing in most any comparison, but Echo Bridge's effort suits the material well enough. This is a steady but unremarkable transfer; detail is merely adequate, with close-ups of faces revealing good skin texturing. Assorted objects seen around the movie fare well enough, remaining sharp and mostly clear though never capturing that absolutely realistic appearance. The image is made up of a primarily flat video-like texture with uninteresting colors which, in the transfer's defense, seem like they reflect the filmmakers' efforts to paint a bleak and inhospitable environment. Blacks tend to devour details around the frame, but on the other end of the spectrum, they never appear pale. There's no evidence of excessive blocking or aliasing, though banding does pop up on occasion. Watch for a shot that almost looks like a camera negative. I Am Omega isn't likely to win over hardcore videophiles, but considering the film's low budget and the Blu-ray's bargain price, it's hard to complain too loudly about what Echo Bridge has done here.

I Am Omega Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I Am Omega's Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack isn't going to win any awards, but it's a decent enough presentation of a below-par movie. This track lacks in range; it's focused straight up the middle with little-to-no information elsewhere, but its limited spacing is cancelled out by a fair amount of clarity. Atmospherics are handled up front, and the track does little more than make the sounds known; there's no sense of immersion here. Heavier sound effects, such as a major explosion near film's end, fail to find even a smidgen of power, and various gunshots sound puny and indistinct, almost sounding more like cap gun fire than real automatic weapons fire. Dialogue, too, could use a bit more power; several lines play as muddled and lacking in crispness, but basic intelligibility is never an issue. I Am Omega's soundtrack gets the job done; nothing more, nothing less.

I Am Omega Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

I Am Omega contains no special features.

I Am Omega Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I Am Omega is a movie that's not bad for The Asylum, but the plot most definitely feels rushed. It leaves so many questions unanswered and so many elements underdeveloped that the movie crumbles simply because it never makes all that much sense. Still, the acting is borderline decent and the story has a few surprises in store for those who stick around until the end, but don't blame anyone who gets up and leaves halfway through; there's no reason to really watch this, even as a companion piece to the films it mocks. Look for the can of Folger's Coffee with the "L" blacked out; that pretty much sums up how low-rent this thing is. Those who might want to give this a spin will find a passable technical presentation and no extras. Rent it, compadre.