The First Omen (2024)

The First Omen is about an American woman who is sent to Rome to start her new life of service to the church and uncovers an evil conspiracy. It's also a prequel to The Omen from 1976.

There are a lot of comparisons between this movie and Immaculate which is another weird situation where two studios have the same idea and release movies around the same time. This has happened so many times in Hollywood. The film has a lot of political messages that are not subtle at all. Directed by Arkasha Stevenson, the film comes off the director's success with Channel Zero which I enjoyed. The problem is that the film would have been better as a TV show.

Nell Tiger Free is a pretty actress but doesn't add a lot of depth to the role she played. Not that there was much to her in Stevenson's writing. You might remember her from Game of Thrones as Myrcella Baratheon. I'm sure she'll grow into her acting abilities once she gets a better coach.

Another actor that doesn't get enough roles is Ralph Ineson who was the father in 2015's The Witch. He has a deep and serious tone to himself that he leans into but was mostly underutilized and with the expensive card of hiring Charles Dance I imagine they could have used both of them better.

The film has a bit of flaws, most notably not being scary. Result: C-

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