In the near future, a chopper pilot accidentally encounters his clone
and stumbles onto a conspiracy of clones taking over the world. ACTION/SCI-FI
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The 6th Day (2000)Directed by Roger Spottiswoode
Written by Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberley Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tony Goldwyn, Robert Duvall, Michael Rapaport, Wendy Crewson, Michael Rooker, Sarah Wynter, Rodney Rowland, Terry Crews |
Following a fairly stellar 90s (True Lies, Kindergarten Cop, Total Recall, and of course, Terminator 2), Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2000s output wasn't exactly memorable. It began with The 6th Day, one of the many subpar sci-fi action thrillers about cloning that never really goes far enough with its premise. Especially this one. Tony Goldwyn is a decent actor, but he is not an intimidating villain to go up against the Governator. A PG-13 rating on a film that is desperately trying to be an R-rated adventure doesn't help either. Arnold is about the only thing holding this one together, and that sucks when you've got character actors like Michael Rooker, Terry Crews, Michael Rapaport, and Robert fucking Duvall waiting in the wings doing basically nothing.
Meet Adam Gibson (Schwarzenegger). He's a chopper pilot who accidentally stumbles into a cloning conspiracy when he comes home to find another version of himself sitting with his family. In this future, human cloning exists but it's highly illegal under the so-called 6th Day Laws. But of course, billionaire scientist Michael Drucker (Goldwyn) is secretly a clone himself and is running a cabal of loyal clones. Now that Adam has been targeted for extermination because he knows too much, he decides to bring down the whole conspiracy so his family will be safe. The film has a number of cool scenes and its futuristic depiction of 2015 is pretty decent (I kinda wish RePet was a real thing). But ultimately, it's generic and forgettable like a lot of action flicks of the time. I've definitely seen better when it comes to Arnold Schwarzenegger and sci-fi action. The two are a match made in heaven, and while The 6th Day isn't a bad movie by any means, it's just not a very good one either. Same goes for Collateral Damage and Terminator 3, which also came about right before Arnold became governor of California. Coincidence? I think not. |