Ahnold no Deckard clone
Sixth Day A film review by Michael Redman Copyright 2000 by Michael Redman
** (out of ****)
Human cloning appears inevitable. We've cloned sheep. We're mapping the human genome. Can a clone of a former President who, himself, runs for that office be far away?
"The Sixth Day" examines the moral implications of copying people. Sorta. It also tosses in an Arnold Schwarzenegger action film and does neither with much thought...or action.
Adam Gibson (Schwarzenegger) returns home one day to discover that he's already there. His duplicate is enjoying his birthday party. Even worse, he's enjoying his wife in the back seat of their suburban assault vehicle.
In the not-too distant future, cloning is commonplace. "Repet" is a commercial success assuring your family they never have to suffer the death of a beloved pet. Rover is back with you, just a clone away. Human copying has been outlawed but a rogue company is secretly Xeroxing away.
The bad guys have to kill Gibson before they are discovered. Arnold has to survive, destroy their operation and make everything safe for law-abiding folk. It's a typical Schwarzenegger movie, but not quite as exciting.
The action scenes lack the punch of earlier Schwarzenegger pictures. Accustomed to the more highly stylized "Matrix", the audience for old-fashioned shoot-em-up science fiction films might be disappearing. This one isn't exactly a box office sensation.
The story feels reminiscent of "Bladerunner" but without the soul. The minor plot element of which Gibson is "real" (which could be interesting had it been explored for more than 30 seconds) is handled clumsily compared to the underlying question of whether Deckard is a replicant. Gibson's mission is to destroy clones which happen to have a built-in limited life span. Sound familiar? Compare the final scene with one of the Bladerunner endings.
In this season of Christmas releases, Santa won't be laughing "Ho! Ho! Ho!" at this film. It'll be more like "Ho! Hum!"
(Michael Redman has written this column for long enough that he can remember both versions of "Bladerunner". Email redman@bluemarble.net with your cinematic memories.)
[This appeared in the 12/7/2000 "Bloomington Independent", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be contacted at redman@bluemarble.net.]
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