The 6th Day Reviews

To be honest, I didn’t expect much from this flick. Indeed, during those last few years, I kept watching Schwarzenegger's movies even though most of them were seriously pretty crappy. But now and then, some of them were actually not that bad and this movie is a perfect example. Indeed, at first, I thought it would be really lame but it was actually pretty entertaining. Obviously, any movie starring Robert Duvall is always watchable, in my book. Furthermore, even though it never reaches the level of other SF classics like 'Total Recall' for example, this plot about cloning was actually pretty cool and it did work for me. Of course, it remains an Arnie flick so you have the usual action scenes, completely predictable and rather boring, if you ask me, but it is inherent to the genre so they didn’t bother me much. At the end of the day, it is a flick which never had much ambition except providing some pop-corn entertainment but, in this optic, it was actually quite successful. To conclude, to my surprise, I think it is actually a well made and entertaining SF flick, an underrated movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are a fan of Schwarzenegger’s work.

its Arnie so I love it - but I admit if it was anyone else probabley wouldnt give it the time of (6th) day.

"I want my life back!"

The 6th Day marks Schwarzenegger's return to sci-fi action with this typically entertaining saga about the topical issue of human cloning.

Set in the not-too-distant future, scientists have discovered a way to clone typical animals (including house-holds pets). But human cloning is outlawed when an experiment goes horribly wrong, with devastating results.

Despite this government restriction on the cloning of humans, a group of scientists work to perfect the technique. Enter typical house-hold husband Adam Gibson (Schwarzenegger) who becomes entangled in a conspiracy when he comes home to discover that he has been cloned and his life has been stolen from him. But the cloning scientists cloned him by mistake (of course it's a mistake to throw two Arnies into the mix), and once they discover their mistake they seek to eliminate Adam to avoid government action against them.

And thus begins a race against all odds as Adam battles to get his life back.

A very original idea, and made during the time when mankind had been most curious about cloning. The film was certainly made at the right time and has relevance to contemporary society...but face it, when you throw Schwarzenegger into a sci-fi action film you're not going to expect a masterpiece. The man cannot act overly well, but at least he's impressive during the action scenes.

And even though the film delivers a good message about its topic, it's still full of plot holes and incredible stupidity on the part of the villains. But of course it's merely an action film, not anything groundbreaking.

The performances were very mixed. Everyone knows that Schwarzenegger can't deliver his lines without making them sound contrived. This is no exception. There's a bit of intensity in his performance, but he's far from receiving an Oscar. Tony Goldwyn was a very intriguing villain. He does what he can with such a mediocre screenplay, but he's not enough to make up for Arnie's average performance here.

Most of the supporting cast are pretty good, but some of the more talented actors are given a side-line position. A shame, because with a bit less Arnie and a bit more talent this film could have made itself a little better.

The visual effects blew me away. For a film made in the age when CGI was still in its infancy, it sells the concept of the future exceptionally well. Especially with the high-tech weaponry and the high-tech computers.

The screenplay was standard. It was at least unpredictable, but we all knew how it was going to end. But despite this, it's an incredibly fun film to watch.

The 6th Day is a fairly impressive sci-fi/action film. There's some good action, some creative ideas and a clever concept of the future. Worth seeing.