End of Days Reviews

To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting much from this flick but since it was starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, I thought I might as well check it out. In fact, I remember it quite well, for some reasons, at the end of the 90’s, with the end of the millennium coming up, the studio were trying to exploit the idea that , in 2000, it could be the end of the world with movies such as ‘Armageddon’, ‘Deep Impact’ and this one. Well, from the whole bunch, this movie was definitely the weakest one, I’m afraid. Honestly, I wasn't really impressed by Schwarzenegger in this flick but, at least, I though that Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Pollak had some good moments but it was certainly not enough to make this really entertaining. I still think that the whole thing had some potential but eventually, it was just a very lame movie. The main issue with this kind of features, in my opinion, is that they try to make you believe that they are all really dark and edgy but, at the end of the day, it is a just an average action movie with fewer lights on. To conclude, I didn’t care at all for this movie and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

End of Days is a film that can be summed up with one simple statement: Schwarzenegger vs. Satan. For the fans of Schwarzenegger, I'm sure you'll delight in Arnie battling supernatural forces.

Unfortunately despite liking a number of Arnie's action movies, End of Days could be his worst action movie thus far. The film is ridiculous, stupid, overproduced, dumb, horrible and just plainly abysmal!

Basically, a girl named Christine (Tunney) is born in 1979 and is apparently "chosen by Satan" to be his bride. The Vatican is aware of her presence and aim to protect her. In the latter of 1999, just before the new Millennium, Christine is living with her stepmother and is being plagued with visions of Satan. Then Satan comes to Earth, takes the form of a human, and aims to find his bride that he chose 20 years ago.

Jericho Cane (Schwarzenegger) is still getting over the devastation of losing his family. He begins investigating strange occurrences to do with priests and other weird religious nut-cases. As it turns out, the Vatican have a sudden change of heart and now want to kill Christine before the beginning of the new Millennium as she can bring about the "end of days".

From there the film is a heap of religious mumbo jumbo filled with stupendous action that becomes embarrassingly not entertaining due to the poor nature in which it was created. I don't know where to start with my elaboration of that sentence...but basically the fast cuts look appalling. It suffers from the same syndrome as many modern action movies. Making fast cuts and using shaky cam in an attempt to please the "four-minute music video generation" of action movie-goers. As a result the action doesn't make a lick of sense and you can't make out anything.

Not to mention it was poorly edited, with continuity errors surfacing frequently. And the director made a "creative decision" to make the film clouded in darkness. As a result of this dismal concept, nothing can be made out. Everything is so dark and lacking in shadow detail that the action looks even worse.

And because there's so much action and little exposition, the whole movie is essentially religious gibberish with a few guns being fired and a lot of blood. The scenes of action get so monotonous towards the end that it isn't even worth your time.

And yet, it keeps getting even more stupendous towards the pathetic conclusion of the movie.

Usually I'd respect Arnie due to his skills during action scenes, but his performance is mind-numbingly bad! Maybe it would have worked as a drama with a good actor in the title role. But an action movie that's meant to be taken seriously that promotes Schwarzenegger as the film's primary acting talent? Give me a break!

There's also such a dreadful script and awful direction thrown in here as well. On top of this, the special effects weren't impressive at all.

The film also makes absolutely no sense. Schwarzenegger investigates murders and yet keeps saying he's not a cop, but a private citizen? The Vatican saying they will protect the girl...but all of a sudden get men to try and kill her? Satan magically grabs loads of henchman to fight against Schwarzenegger?! There's so much more I could describe here, but you don't need to get very far to know that this is certainly one to leave on the shelf.

Honestly, I think everything in this movie was bad. It would take pages to list all its flaws! The result is truly, painfully appalling and a no-brainer action movie. I don't think there were any redeeming features at all. Don't rent it, don't watch it, and don't even consider buying it! Lowest point: Arnie getting the crap beaten out of him by a granny.