THE 6TH DAY -----------
The latest Schwarzenegger sci-fi actioner is a derivative middle-of-the-road effort that's entertaining enough while you're watching it, but dissolves from the memory as you exit the theater.
Arnie is Adam Gibson (a tribute to "Neuromancer" author William Gibson?), a family guy with a sexy marriage (Wendy Crewson, "Bicentennial Man" is wife Natalie), preteen daughter and dog Oliver. He owns a helicopter charter business with his younger partner Hank (Michael Rapaport, thoroughly wasted here). After Hank poses as Adam to take the wealthy owner of Replacement Technologies (Tony Goldwyn as Drucker), Adam returns home to find a clone celebrating his birthday and two thugs (who seem right out of "The Matrix") intent on killing him.
Adam is established as an old fashioned kind of guy when he refuses to go to RePet, a pet cloning business, when Oliver dies. (He also owns a vintage Cadillac.) The script, by husband and wife team Marianne and Cormac Wibberley, explains that in this futuristic society, there are laws against cloning humans because of the complexity of the human brain (and the one known experiment which went tragically wrong). Replacement Technologies, which owns RePet, is publically in the human part replacement business, but privately of course they're cloning people, via the research of Dr. Weir (Robert Duvall), who's trying to keep his dying wife alive. The film's title refers to the Genesis passage about the creation of man. Unfortunately, the script botches its main mystery when attempting to explain why Adam Gibson was cloned.
Arnold is no great actor, but gets by here on his likeability. Goldwyn's an interesting bad guy, Australian actress Sarah Wynter ("Species 2") does a good Linda Fiorentino standin and Crewson injects some personality into the wife role. The rest of the cast, which includes Duvall, Rapaport, and Michael Rooker, is unexceptional.
Technically, the film provides a lot of razzle dazzle eye candy, like remote controlled helicopter races, dolls that simulate children and the 'blanks' waiting to be cloned. However, the film's visuals constantly remind us of other films like "Blade Runner," "Demolition Man" and Arnie's own "True Lies." The film's script even borrows the main premise of "The Sixth Sense." Director Roger Spottiswoode ("Tomorrow Never Dies") allows his film to run for an excessive 124 minutes.
"The 6th Day" may be better than Arnold's last effort ("End of Days"), but I doubt it will last many days during the crowded holiday movie season.
C+
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