Miscellaneous Reviews Festivals Lists Interviews
#
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Here


web analytics

The Sixth Day (March 1/00)

The Sixth Day casts Schwarzenegger as a helicopter owning businessman who goes home one night and finds himself celebrating his birthday. How to explain the two Arnie's running around? Well, it turns out that this company headed by the evil Drucker (played by Tony Goldwyn), cloned him but forget to kill the original. Now, Arnie's gotta find out why he was cloned while evading a ragtag band of cloned assassins.

The primary problem with The Sixth Day is the lack of violence. I've heard Schwarzenegger say in several interviews that he thinks audiences no longer want him to go up against entire armies, a la Commando. I disagree. If we can't see Arnold Schwarzenegger playing an unstoppable killing machine, what's the point? This is not to say his work in comedy is pointless; I quite enjoyed Twins. But when he's making an action movie, it should contain many random deaths via inventive methods.

Of course, had the movie been better, the lack of violence could have been overlooked. It's well made and the special effects are great, but that's just not enough. There are far too many unnecessary scenes of scientists explaining the technology and reasoning behind the cloning, where what you really want is more Arnie action. It's as if the screenwriter had wanted to create a compelling and realistic future society (think Gattaca) but had to alter the script once Schwarzenegger came on board.

There are a few classic Arnie moments (his look of pure glee when he runs over a bad guy is almost worth the price of admission) and the action sequences (particularly the stuff involving the futuristic helicopters) are genuinely exciting, but the Arnie spark just isn't there.

out of

© David Nusair