• --
  • B-
The 6th Day | day_l
DAY GLO Sarah Wynter gives Arnold the blues

Credits

Release Date: Nov 17, 2000; Rated: PG-13; Length: 112 Minutes; Genres: Action/Adventure, Sci-fi, Suspense; With: Robert Duvall and Arnold Schwarzenegger
B-
by Owen Gleiberman

Arnold Schwarzenegger, cast as a futuristic helicopter pilot and all around wonderful guy dad, returns home one evening, looks through his living room window, and sees his family, his friends... and himself. Arnold, it seems, has been cloned, duplicated down to the last dimple and sinew, all by a mysterious collusion of corporate and medical forces.

The 6th Day, a high body count action gloss on ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' and ''Blade Runner'' (the faux humans who tromp through the movie are like pods crossed with replicants), is one of those irresistible science fiction potboilers, like ''Demolition Man'' or ''Total Recall,'' that's jammed with corny but fun satirical details of a not so brave new world -- taco flavored bananas, a shopping mall with a virtual aquarium ceiling, a hologram ''girlfriend'' who'll greet you with a smile and a lap dance.

At the center of the movie is a solid gimmick that may or may not be an intentional howler: Schwarzenegger, as a personality, is such a hammy and overdeliberate robolug that when he's on screen along with his double, there's no way to tell the difference. The pod version is every bit as ''real'' as the real thing. ''The 6th Day'' is a bit of a clone itself, but it's got a crackerjack helicopter chase, a semblance of a script, and a sotto voce performance by Robert Duvall as a biotech genius who murmurs sweet nothings to his dying cloned wife. For Arnold's career, at least, it's not quite the end of days.


  • Print
  • Del.icio.us
  • Google
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • Digg
  • More
 

Add Your Comments

The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. You must have javascript enabled to submit a comment.
--
Change/Edit your grade
characters remaining

Copyright © 2008 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.