The Final Conflict

Plot synopsis:
Damien Thorn (Sam Neill), now 32 years old and head of his late uncle's international conglomerate, is appointed Ambassador to Great Britain, the same position his adoptive father held in the first film. Unlike the previous Omen films, the adult Damien is now entirely aware of his unholy lineage, and his destiny.An alignment of the stars in the Cassiopeia region of the night sky causes the generation of a 'superstar', described in the film as a second Star of Bethlehem. Thorn realizes it is a sign of the Second Coming of Christ and he orders all boys in England born on the morning of March 24, 1982 (the morning when, in the story, the Cassiopeia alignment occurred) to be killed in order to prevent the Christ-child's return to power.A subplot deals with one of Thorn's disciples, Harvey Dean, attempting to hide the fact that his own son was born at the appointed time; Dean not only fails at hiding that fact about his child from Damien, but is killed by his own hypnotized wife - likely in retaliation for refusing to go through with Damien's command to murder his son as a test of loyalty (the last child whom Damien suspects).Thorn has also become romantically involved with journalist Kate Reynolds (Lisa Harrow), a complex relationship which undermines his plans for political dominion for the time being. But Damien is not deterred from his plans and even focuses his attention on her preadolescent son Peter (Barnaby Holm), whom he takes as a disciple, partly by manipulating and exploiting the boy's internal desire to have a father-figure.Meanwhile, Father DeCarlo (Rossano Brazzi) and six other priests armed with the seven daggers of Megiddo - ancient holy weapons which are the only Earthly weapons which can harm the Antichrist - hunt Thorn in the hope of killing him before he can destroy the Christ-child. However, one by one, Damien kills off all the priests (some in horrific circumstances) until only DeCarlo survives.Finally, in spite of Thorn's efforts, DeCarlo informs Reynolds that the Christ-child is out of his reach but that, nonetheless, the task still remains to destroy Damien. In hopes of getting her son back, she (deceivingly) agrees to take him to the Christ-child in exchange for Peter. This is actually part of DeCarlo's plan to lure him into a trap where he is hoping to ambush Damien and catch him off guard, since most of his attention would be directed towards confronting Christ.The plan backfires though when Damien manages to spot DeCarlo first and in a final act of evil, Damien uses Reynolds' son - now slavishly devoted to Damien - as a human shield against the dagger. As Peter lies dying, Damien strangles the stunned Father DeCarlo.In a desperate bid to salvage his waning power, Damien calls out for Christ to appear before him. As he does, Kate sneaks up behind Damien with one of the daggers and stabs him in the back, releasing an otherworldly reverberating wail of demonic agony throughout the cathedral ruins. Christ appears before a dying Damien who then mockingly tells Christ 'Nazarene...you have won...nothing'.After Damien dies, his body is seen lying on the ground with Kate standing over it. In the foreground, a fully grown Christ carries Peter's body and hands him to Kate. The film ends with scripture of Revelation Chapter 21, Verse 4 indicating that when Christ returns to earth, peace will reign for all who faithfully awaited the Lord's return.

Tags: gothic, murder, good versus evil, insanity, revenge, sadist

Review:
This series certainly hasn't lost it's touch, I'll admit.I suppose it's also very upsetting in places, since Damien is now an adult, in change of the Ambassador position after all this time, but even so, the film is very powerful, and very moving.Once again, the "Omen" series flourishes..
This second sequel to huge hit 'Richard Donner's Omen (Gregory Peck, Lee Remick)' centres on anti-Christ personified by Damien (Sam Neill) .
This was great i think,, you have Damien all grown up,, not a kid anymore,, this is pretty cool i think,, now you have all that evil in an adult, which by the way is very scary, Sam Neill does a wonderful job in this, and is very creepy evil at the same time.
THE FINAL CONFLICT is quite an interesting film Damien grows up and the series ends on a satisfying note..
Omen 3:The final conflict was released in 1981 and was meant to be the last film in the series before they made Omen 4 which was absolute disgrace.b The story is that Damien now aged 31 is appointed Ambassador to Great Britain like his father in the first movie however his greatest enemy the holy child.
It is a fitting story as Sam Neill really shines in his first major film role as the Adult Damien, now in command and ready to come into his full power, but knowing if he does not act the Christ child will be reborn and his reign will end.
Considering that I only watch horror movies, and every review I've done on IMDb has been extremely negative of really horrible horror films (hence my name) this being the first positive review I've given is really saying something, at least for me anyway :) In The Final Conflict, our hero (or rather not I guess, since he IS the anti-Christ) Damien is all grown up and using his demonic ways to basically take over the world for Satan.
Perhaps this is part of the reason many don't like this movie, today's horror films are a lot easier to make due to digital advances (which is a good thing) so they appear to have high production quality, but are really terrible made, written and directed.
The final conflict is well made, and of course the score by Jerry Goldsmith is excellent and adds much to the film, definitely would have been a worse movie without his score, I can't say enough how good it is.
"The Final Conflict," the startling, compelling, and above all, well-made, conclusion to what should have only been the "Omen" trilogy, is almost as good as the original.As the tagline promises, ultimate evil now resides not in a child, but in a grown man.
And while that idea sounds like a let-down compared to the owl-eyed coincidence of the character in the original film, it serves the purpose of a continuing story far better than having Damien as a boy of 12 and 13.
A major celestial alignment heralding the second coming of Christ leads Damien Thorn (Sam Neill), the AntiChrist, to England where he orders his acolytes to murder every baby boy born during the heavenly event.
Meanwhile, a brotherhood of monks also journey to the UK in order to kill Damien using the seven Sacred Daggers of Megiddo.I consider the first two Omen films to be classics of the Satanic horror sub-genre, but sadly part three isn't deserving of such an accolade: the 'monks on a mission' plot gets really silly, the bumbling would-be assassins being more accident prone than Harold Lloyd; star Neill hams it up something rotten, his expression alternating between an oh-so-wicked grin and a sinister glower; the malevolent raven from part 2 is replaced by a dumb, slobbering hypno-dog who commands victims to commit evil deeds; there's a unintentionally funny sex scene that sees Thorn going at it jackal-style; the AntiChrist's followers predictably include such 'unlikely' characters as killer kids, a vile vicar, and a nasty nurse; and Jesus even pops up at the end to say 'Hi!'.Don't get me wrong, though...
You really did believe that the end of the world had begun when it was all over.The first sequel, "Damien: Omen II" failed to match the original but still maintained reasonably good continuity from the first film and also had some fine performances too.
"The Final Conflict", by tackling subject matter that I think is impossible to depict or envision in a credible fashion when the gimmick has already worn out after two previous movies, was in a sense doomed to fail from the outset, though perhaps if there had been some actors the stature of Peck or Holden this time out, the results would have been better.Stick to the first film and the second, and envision your own scenario of how it all resolved itself.
Had it been in the hands of a more convincing director I think it would have been better.There are moments when the film is surprisingly shocking without applying graphic effects as seen in the previous 2 films, the most chilling of which are perhaps the events at the old church ruins halfway through the movie.Performances and script are very good (much less cliched than Omen II) and the almost lolita-esque relationship between Damien and Peter is somehow very unsettling, however the original momentum is lost as the end draws near and you can't help feeling that the ending just isn't right.A superb new music score for this chapter does add to what is best described as 'disappointing'..
Damien Thorn(played by Sam Neill,who later went on to make better movies like Jurassic Park)is now 32 and ambassador to Britain.Hearing that Christ has been born again to stop him,he does the cruelist thing and kills all of the baby boys that were born on the day that the second Christ was.At the end,he found out he missed one of the babies and is won over by Jesus.
I felt like this was a great Christian film ,maybe the best Christian movie ever made in the United Kingdom,with the association of American-film makers.A little bit emotional,but not too,with dry humor sometimes,and with two interesting ,and true messages,which messages makes this second sequel the best OMEN movie ever made.The first was too slow for me,the second was better ,the 2006-s version had big mistakes ,for example the too similar screenplay like the first,(not exactly but very similar screenplay like the first Omen film has),but that was stylish,and exciting 2006-s version.Now I don't talking about the fourth part what was made originally for television in 1990-1991 by a French director.Sam Neill Is very good as young Damien Thorn,and the ending is unforgettable,and some dialogs are to..
In the third part of the Omen series Damien,played by Sam Neil tries to thwart the second coming by killing every child born on a certain date and at the same time trying to avoid being murdered by the sacred dagger holding priests.
Sam Neil is fairly good in the part of Damien but that is as far as compliments go with this film.The rest of the acting leaves a lot to be desired as does the story itself.
There's no conflict in the film.The casting is quality, Sam Neill is very good as Damien, but didn't have enough to do!Jerry Goldsmith's score is fantastic, adds an epic feel to a rather average film.
However, a secret order of priests are in place to stop him, no matter how many of their number have to die in the process...Poor sequel is terribly misconceived(jumps too far ahead in time) and utterly ineffectual(no suspense and inept shock value) Sam Neil is the only successful thing here, making Damien a sinister and ruthless foe, but is swamped further by bad continuity, since the first two "Omens", were more or less contemporary(cars, fashions, technology are clearly modern, whereas this film would put them in the 1950's & early '60's!
In most films, we personalise and connect with the victims, in a lot of horror films the killer is shown as an inhuman being who feels no emotion, has no personality, we don't see that here over the three omen films, we connect with Damien, we understand his personality and his motives, and what leads him tobecoming the man he is in this final conflict film, he has emotion, seen in the scene in the second film after having realised who he is, where he runs to the river exclaiming "why me"
he is not portrayed as inhuman quite the opposite, compared to most films where the human killer is seen as not, this film reverses that portraying an inhuman being as human, i personally loved this film every bit, as a finally to a trilogy, it was splendid the kills were spectacular, most notably being of course the death in the tv studio, and as the film progresses it assumes a cat and mouse tone seen in many crime and mystery films, the detectives being the monks, with appocalypse film tones, the sense of doom to come, heard also in the music which flourishes at the end, the light gets brighter the music louder, and the chapters of the bible on screen, i wanted daniel to live, but i think the way the film ended was very appropriate, the acting was brilliant, the scene of the man holding the save our stages sign was hilarious, this film was not as dark as the two before it, in one sense it was almost autobiographic in nature, the person being Damien.
While "The Omen" is one of the best horror thrillers of all time, "Damien" also excellent but not nearly as strong as the first one, "The Final Conflict" is determined by good acting, lots of excellent cadres and complete lack of soul.
It was quite talky; Damien plays it cool, and Sam Neill's performance mostly involved making sinister expressions (at which he's a natural, granted,) and, frankly, the big lines he delivers come out kind of funny-sounding when modulated through his fake American accent (he has one of these in Jurassic Park, too, but at least that role didn't call for any serious acting.) I blame the director more than my man Sam, but I've seen some pretty terrible movies salvaged by one good performance.Why, this film even let down my bloodlusting side.
They were, of course, foiled and thus we arrive at this third Omen movie with the young boy having grown up into a man: foreplay revolving around this antiheroic creature causing mischief and generally coming to be at odds with the functioning Christian world around him gone, replaced only with a full on acknowledgement that destruction and religious new order is his calling.Alas, there is sadly a point wherein we realise the film appears all too keen to fall back into old habits.
What is refreshing is that they know what they must do from the off: the film one long conquest between these two sides of good and evil; not bogged down by what eventually got to be quite dull in the second film, as his step-father took an age to figure it all out before being granted the odd five minute burst at the end to act on it.With Damien striving to get those daggers himself, thus eliminating any threat of anyone turning the tables on him, and the priests tripping over themselves trying to eliminate the guy, the scene is set for an all out war complicated by a virtuous equivalent to Thorn due to be born in the near future (but wouldn't we all have to wait for him to be old enough to actually LEAD us in the war?) as well as journalist-come-love interest Kate Reynolds (Harrow) propping up proceedings.
Add to that the bunch of priests who want to turn Damien into a satanic pin-cushion and you've got an action packed spectacular of epic proportions, right?No.After a nifty gunshot to the face, The Final Conflict, just like the film before it, settles in for a languid trip to ho-hum-ville.
Sam Neill is fine as Damien, but the priest attacks are pretty lame, the sub-plot about the Second Coming is barely exciting, and the grand finale in a ruined abbey has hardly got a pulse.
The central plot idea takes form in Damien becoming the American Ambassador in Britain, a placement that allows him to put together his plan to murder all the baby boys born on the day of Christ's second coming; as one of them is said to be the son of God, and Damien's powers grow weaker all the time that he is alive!Sam Neill takes the lead role of The Antichrist himself, and given the two actors that went before him; he really does look the part.
Sam Neill does a great job as the charismatic and darkly seductive political wunderkind, but, as with the script for DAMIEN: OMEN II, the material isn't there to delve into the tormented soul of evil.THE FINAL CONFLICT attempts to be more in keeping with the original OMEN in terms of style and mood.
Perhaps its the impact of seeing all 3 Omen films on DVD so soon after each other, but by the end of The Final Conflict I was actually getting quite bored of the whole thing.Sam Neill is Damien Thorn in later life, as the last in the trilogy [well, until the 4th one was made as a TVM] comes to its ultimate conclusion of good vs evil.Perhaps ironically this time the good was represented by a TV journalist.
The Seeking out and Killing of the Christ Child, the Numerous and Well Done Assassination Monk Eliminations, Damien's Talk to His Disciples, His Ranting to Christ, and other things make this a Solid Horror and Supernatural Entry that is Neither Embarrassing or Disappointing as Sequels go.It's got a Good Cast and a Fine Jerry Goldsmith Score, a Sharp looking Production Template, and it all Contributes to the Success of the "Final Conflict".
Damien is now close to the US presidency,and his goal of controlling the world through evil is close.Neill is perfect as the suave,yet totally evil underneath Antichrist.It was a fitting finale,and all that was missing was actually seeing Christ appear properly at the end,not just a vague glow of light.
The Final Conflict is a lesser sequel but still worthy.Compentent direction from Graham Baker,a decent script,and Jerry Goldsmith's excellent score help(by the way Goldsmith's scores for all 3 Omens are now available in deluxe edition CD's)A young Sam Neill is very good as Damien,Also good are Rosanno Brazzi as Father DeCarlo and Lisa Harrow as Kate Reynolds.7 out of 10..
With a better script, and some competent directing this film could have been a classic.Sam Neill was a fine choice for the role of grown up Damien, and he does his best here.
Bad horror movie that had a promising start but then looses steam when the story starts focusing on the child killings instead of dealing with a more exciting revelation on how the ANTI CHRIST would come close to taking over the world.In this film,the writers seemed to back down from the expected climactic conflict and decided on a much more watered down,Hollywoodised and over dramatic script/screenplay.The horror sequences were not too edgy enough and the over all production was poor.Too bad because the story potential here was very good and so was the performance of Sam Neil.Only for fans of B grade religious horror movies and big fans of the lead actors......
It's one of Neill's earliest and he is quite young and gorgeous as a grown-up Damien (his co-star, Lisa Harrow, thought so too -- they fell in love during the filming of "Final Conflict" and have a son together).Neill, who apparently is incapable of giving a bad performance, imbues his character with creepy charm and sex appeal and, for those of us suspending disbelief, is quite believable.
However, as the 1991 sequel shows, they didn't use the Daggers of Megiddo properly and Twentieth-Century Fox, rather than Damien, will return to reap their revenge!A great performance by Sam Neill (who, apparently, has since disowned this early film of his); the consistently epic score from Jerry Goldsmith; a haunting opening sequence; the very, very occasional and instantly forgettable shock-factor about characters we care nothing about, and some intermittently nice and eerie location work are about all that save this film from being a complete waste of time!.
For all three movies his score remains as one of the best in the Horror genre.Overall The Final Conflict has a lot of problems but the film isn't entirely bad.
If that wasn't enough a group of seven priest's from Italy now possess the seven daggers of Meggido which are the only things on Earth which can kill Damien & are on a mission to do just that, an Antichrist's life is just never easy is it?This English American co-production was directed by Graham Baker & I actually thought it was a decent horror film that passed the time harmlessly enough.
Such was not the case.This story centers around Damien taking the position his "father" (Gregory Peck from the first movie) once held as American Ambassador to Britain and the priests who have found the holy daggers which can kill the Antichrist.
Having re-watched and enjoyed Omen 1 and 2, from which the combination of Jerry Goldsmiths score and creepy camera work left me pretty disturbed, I was looking forward to the third and final instalment which I hadn't seen before.What a massive disappointment.This film is a complete and total waste of so many good talents.Sam Neill is pretty good as Damian Thorne.
But the third film, The Final Conflict, there really wasn't anything happening in the movie, so that's probably why I didn't like it.