Omega Syndrome (1986) – A Movie A Day 2021 #10
Omega Syndrome (1986) – A Movie A Day 2021 #10
So I was clicking around on Tubi last night looking for something to watch before going to bed, and even though I usually end up watching some cheap horror movie when I’m cruising Tubi, I ended up going down a rabbit hole of 80s action flicks. When I don’t really know or care what I’m looking for, I tend to let the cover/poster artwork make a lot of the hard decisions for me. Painted posters rank higher than posters with photos (with exceptions made for supremely cheesy photo collages), and the more outlandish and wacky the painting is, the better. After a few minutes of clicking, I stopped down on a movie with a poster featuring a trashy-looking image of a maniacal guy in a leather mask with some sort of gun with a giant, smoking barrel. The movie has an intriguingly mysterious title, Omega Syndrome, and to me, the poster promises violent 80s action. Of course I’m not completely naive, and I understand that movie posters often oversell the movies they advertise, but hey, it could be fun. Omega Syndrome ended up being kind of fun, but only in short bursts.
Omega Syndrome is about a Vietnam veteran whose daughter (played by Nicole Eggert) is kidnapped during a liquor store robbery. Frustrated with the lack of police action, the vet, Jack, enlists the help of an estranged friend and fellow veteran, Phil. The two men launch their own investigation that leads them into a white supremacists’ plot involving kidnapping, blackmail, and lots of murder.
It’s a straightforward story that could lead to some decent action, but overall the movie feels like it was made for TV. I suppose the killing, language, and subject matter might push it a bit too far to be shown on regular TV (the movie is rated R after all), but the editing, cinematography, and even the music cues all give it a very strong impression of a 1980s made-for-TV movie. It makes sense considering the director, Joseph Manduke, is primarily a television director, but it doesn’t make the movie any more enjoyable.
The poster’s promise of trashy action is never really met, and what we get instead is a fairly standard crime drama that mostly focuses on the investigation being carried out by Jack and Phil. Witnesses are tracked down and threatened, the police tell Jack to mind his own business, and eventually the culprits are tracked down which erupts in a big gun fight. Up until the final scene though, the action is sparse and underwhelming. It’s fine, but it’s also forgettable, which is really what I think about the whole movie. Fine yet forgettable.
The few things I will remember about Omega Syndrome are some of the people in it. It was fun seeing Nicole Eggert as Jack’s daughter. She didn’t do a whole lot, but she did have a nice moment where she fought back against her kidnappers. Also, Colm Meaney has a small role as a bomb maker. I know Meaney best as Chief O’Brien from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, but I’m always delighted when he pops up in some of the crime and action movies I’ve seen over the years.
For me though, the star of Omega Syndrome is Xander Berkeley. Berkeley’s most high-profile role was probably as John Connor’s foster father in Terminator 2, but I remember him best for multiple roles including George Mason from 24 and from one of my favorite episodes of The X-Files, “Ice.” In Omega Syndrome, Xander Berkeley plays the scummiest of the scumbags, and his performance is one for the ages. He plays his character, Yo-Yo, as a dimwit with a short and violent fuse. He has these vacant looks throughout the film that show there’s not much going on up top, but he also feels like the most dangerous person in his whole terrorist group. If I could recommend Omega Syndrome for any reason, it would be to watch Xander Berkely, filthy teeth and red face and all. He’s great.