Imagine a world where cars drive themselves and bachelors have virtual girlfriends. Sounds like paradise, right? Actually, in "The 6th Day," this situation turns out to be more hellish than heavenly.
A mega-corporation called Replacement Technologies has joined forces with a new company called RePet, which can clone a new dog or cat to replace a deceased pet. When his daughter's dog dies, helicopter-charter pilot Adam Gibson (Arnold Schwarzenegger) wrestles with the idea of having a clone made of the dog. But when he arrives home, Adam discovers a clone of himself eating his birthday cake and kissing his wife (Wendy Crewson). What's more, RT's Dr. Weir (Robert Duvall) CEO Michael Drucker (Tony Goldwin), eager to prevent any discovery of Replacement Technology's illegal human cloning project, hunt Gibson down.
"Day" is nothing more than a return to familiar terrain, stealing from the futuristic action sequences in "Total Recall," the Arnold-meets-Arnold idea of "Last Action Hero," and the kind-hearted Arnold of "Kindergarten Cop". But the star's performance makes up for what Cormac and Marianne Wibberley's script lacks in originality. While the 52-year-old shows signs of age, his ability to find humor in campy dialogue and situational irony is what allows him to hold onto his title of action hero.
Throughout the movie, there are many lighter moments. Replacement Technology's henchmen repeatedly die and are cloned again. One of the henchmen complains of a neck ache after Gibson breaks his and has to be regenerated for the second time, causing another henchman to snipe, "Oh, knock it off. We've all been killed before."
While he proves to be king of the one-liner, it's the multi-sentence lines get Schwarzenegger. When "Day" tries to get serious that director Roger Spottiswoode's film throws its star for a loop. He recites many philosophical lines, but they come off as too hollow, and destroy any attempts at adding meaning to the film.
In "Day," Schwarzenegger makes several references to his older classic films. For instance, as he leaves RePet unsure of whether or not to have his daughters deceased dog cloned, he says to the salesman, "I might be back."
When "Day" throws in some sarcastic social commentary, it cannot help but come off as hypocritical. While chasing after some villains, Gibson remarks, "I don't want to expose [my daughter] to any graphic violence. She already gets enough of that from the media." Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
On the plus side, the special effects in "Day" were truly dazzling. Gibson flies helicopters, which can transform into high-speed jets at the push of a button, and there are several very intense chase sequences. Also, the actual cloning sequences, where you watch a "human blank" morph into a person, are done quite well.
Spottiswoode (best known for "Tomorrow Never Dies") films quite a few great chase scenes, but it's in the scenes between such action sequences where he fails. More often than not he switches scenes with a collage of quick-cuts that get very annoying very quickly.
"Day" never approaches the highs reached by previous Schwarzenegger action classics like the "Terminator" films and "Recall." It does, however, show much improvement from more recent films such as "End of Days" and of course "Jingle All the Way." Maybe with the proper story, the star can find a new path for his career rather than continuing to clone his past successes.
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