Omega Doom

Reviewed by Kathryn A

(Sci-Fi, made in 1995, starring Rutger Hauer)

Omega Doom is one of those movies where I think they came up with the title and the star first, and then had to figure out what to do with them, so they did the time-honoured thing and made a Western. It so happens that it's set in a post-apocalyptic future and all the characters are androids, but it's still a Western -- complete with Spanish guitar riffs when things get tense. But to make it quite clear that it isn't a western, they don't use guns, they use sword-lasers (they look like swords and knives, but they shoot laser bolts). And it can't be a Western, because the characters aren't human -- as made plain by the strategic bits of wiring exposed by one sort of android, and the identicalness of the other sort, and the whirring noise that all the characters make when they move. Except for the hero, of course. He's Different.

Yeah, I sound scathing here, but I enjoyed it. Then again, I like watching Rutger Hauer make witty remarks. And there were some quite beautiful ladies to look at. And the long moments watching the characters tensely watch each other, to the sound of Spanish guitars, in the snow, in the ruined town, in the years after the War. Not to mention the lovely sound of Rutger Hauer declaiming Dylan Thomas poetry in the credits.

Sid & Nancy scale: donuts