We usually prefer our 1980s shitty action flicks to have come from Cannon or Action International Pictures. Those two companies have warmed up many a chilly night in the Missile Test compound. But, New World Pictures, Roger Corman’s behemoth, could be counted on to take a break from its regularly scheduled horror, sci-fi, and good movies, to churn out a suitable action stinker.
Today’s film is Omega Syndrome, which is obscure enough that it isn’t, as of this writing, on the list of New World Pictures’ films on their Wikipedia page. But, their logo is right there at the beginning of the movie.
Released in 1986, Omega Syndrome was written by John Sharkey and directed by Joseph Manduke, whose career was spent mostly in television. At its core, Omega Syndrome is a buddy cop flick, only the two buddies aren’t cops.
Buddy #1 is Jack Corbett (Ken Wahl), a down on his luck journalist and Vietnam War veteran who has crawled into a bottle after the death of his wife. Buddy #2 is Philly Horton (familiar That Guy actor George DiCenzo), a fellow Vietnam vet whose life still revolves around that lost conflict. Both are troubled individuals, but this character development is mere window dressing, and has little to no effect on the plot.
Thirteen-year-old Nicole Eggert plays Jack’s daughter, Jessie. The two are out and about in Los Angeles doing father/daughter stuff when a convenience store they are in is robbed, and Jessie is taken as a hostage, supposedly to cover the robbers’ escape. But, it’s more complicated than that. The robbers, including Xander Berkeley as Yo-Yo and Robert Gray as 
Saxon, are members of a white nationalist terror group called Omega, identified by a small tattoo of the Greek letter omega on their forearm. They didn’t nab Jessie at random, as revealed later in the film, nor did they count on Jack being an experienced combat veteran with a gun nut war buddy.
Frustrated with police efforts led by Detective Milnor (Doug McClure), Jack enlists Philly’s help, and the two of them enter the murky underworld of white nationalism, busting heads and neo-Nazis all over Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Milnor plods along, missing obvious clues, dismissing valid theories, and, as McClure plays him, bumbling through life. It’s not a signature performance from McClure, but it does showcase his uncanny ability to submerge the nuances of a part into decades of experience in overacting.
The movie flits from seedy location to seedy location as Jack and Philly investigate leads. In between Milnor pleads with the two of them to stop their antics, but never puts them in cuffs. We also get a peek into the day-to-day routine of the Omega terrorists, which mostly consists of Yo-Yo bouncing off the walls like a methhead, with teeth to match; Saxon lifting weights; and a bombmaker played by Colm Meaney who has nothing to do in the movie except crouch over a workbench. There is a sad car chase between a Plymouth Satellite and, I shit you not, a Chevy Chevette, some fist fights, and then a climax at Omega’s warehouse headquarters. This would have been a great time for something to blow up, as there was a frickin’ bombmaker in the movie, but, alas, no such luck. Manduke and company must have been unable to pry any more cash out of Roger Corman’s tight fist.
Omega Syndrome is the most anonymous of anonymous action flicks. The body count is low, the action is peripheral when it should be the focus, the characters are boilerplate, there is not a single ‘wow’ moment in the entire film, and the lead, Wahl, is out-performed by a That Guy who usually got no more than a few minutes of screentime in whatever he was in. There just isn’t enough going on. Omega Syndrome slips down the Watchability Index, taking over the #402 spot from Trip with the Teacher. Yuck.