End of Days (1999)

END OF DAYS
RATING: 5.5 /10 --> Not good enough to recommend

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What movie do you get when you combine all of the better elements from films like THE OMEN, THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, STIGMATA, SEVEN and COMMANDO? The answer is "I don't know" but it ain't this movie, that's fer sure! Arnold returns to the big screen after his embarrassing ice capading accident in 1997's BATMAN & ROBIN to present us with a new type of Arnold, a drunken, suicidal ex-cop who's ironically caught in the middle of the hottest topic du jour, the coming of the millenium and the arrival of Satan, of course.

PLOT: Satan comes up to Earth to nail the "chosen" woman before the strike of midnight on New Year's Eve of the year 1999, in order to end all existence as we know it and unleash the gates of hell onto the world. A drunk ex-cop and his wise-cracking buddy are out to stop this Angel of Death. Oh yeah, the drunk ex-cop is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nuff said.

CRITIQUE: Nothing new here, folks. This uninspired rehash of various other better thrillers left me indifferent at best and pissed at the missed opportunity at worst. Ambitious this film was in attempting to tackle the apocalyptic fears of the coming New Year. Ambitious was its star in attempting to tackle a new type of role for himself. Unfortunately for both parties, their respective ambitions lay unfulfilled in a script blotted with plot holes the size of Arnold's accent, and a star who is truly difficult to accept in any role separate from the ones which correlate his monosyllabism to strength of character. Granted, Gabriel Byrne was outstanding as the devil incarnate, chewing up all kinds of scenery in a role which finally allowed the man to have a little fun at his job. In fact, there is one particularly great scene between Arnold and Gabes in his apartment, but other than that, very little memorable material here. Looking back, there is even less than I remembered.

Did I totally hate this movie? Not at all. In fact, some of its action scenes were cool, Arnold "looked" the part and the pacing was okay, but overall, the film lacked that special oomph that one expects from an "Arnold movie", or even from an original thriller. The funniest part of this movie (And no, it wasn't Kevin Pollak's one-line quips) is the way Arnold's character discovers the identity of the girl who they are trying to locate at the beginning of the film. It has got to be one of the most ridiculously unbelievable scenes ever written into a serious thriller. "Christ in New York" is all I will say about that. Anyway, you'll see what I mean when you see the movie (On video, hopefully). Another little tidbit that ticked off both my friend and I was the fact that this film made no bones about selling itself via its hip, heavy soundtrack beforehand, but for some reason, the final result barely included one noticeable musical ditty. Slap all of that onto a weak ending, even weaker special effects and you've got yourself a disappointment waiting to happen. Now if all you Arnold fans are really high on this schtick or Gabriel Byrne is an actor whom you respect and admire, than I might suggest you see this one, if only just for the fun of it. For everyone else, skip this misfire and rent an Arnold classic like PREDATOR or TOTAL RECALL, or better yet, bite into a much better film which takes place during the last few nights before the big 2000, STRANGE DAYS.

Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Soon after 1997's BATMAN & ROBIN movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger underwent heart surgery to correct a congenital heart valve condition. He has been married to news reporter Maria Schriver since 1986, with whom he now shares four children. Before his incredible career in Hollywood, Arnold was once referred to as "the most perfectly developed man in the history of the world", according to the Guinness Book of World Records, and was even credited in one of his own films as Arnold Strong. Word on the street is that he received $25,000,000 for his role in this movie. Actor Rod Steiger , who's also in this movie, was once offered the title role in the movie PATTON, but turned it down, saying that he was not "going to glorify war." The role was then given to fellow actor George C. Scott, who won the Oscar for it. Steiger calls this refusal his "dumbest career move." Director Peter Hyams used to be a Chicago news anchorman and generally likes to include a character in all of his film named "Spota". He's also written several scripts himself including THE STAR CHAMBER, 2010 and NARROW MARGIN. Actress Robin Tunney's first movie role was in 1992's ENCINO MAN. Her character was named Ella. His first big lead role was in 1996's witch movie THE CRAFT. This film was originally offered to super-kinetic director Sam Raimi, who turned it down for a shot to direct Kevin Costner in FOR LOVE OF THE GAME (7.5/10). Screenwriter Andrew W. Marlowe's first produced screenplay was 1997's AIR FORCE ONE with Garry Oldman and Harrison Ford.

Review Date: November 22, 1999
Director: Peter Hyams
Writer: Andrew W. Marlowe
Producers: Armyan Bernstein and Bill Borden
Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jericho Cane
Gabriel Byrne as Satan
Kevin Pollak as Chicago
Robin Tunney as Christine York
Genre: Thriller
Year of Release: 1999
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian