`The 6th Day:' another cloned action flick
By ADAM WELTLER
Scene Movie Critic
Arnold Schwarzenegger's newest film, "The 6th Day," is not his best to date, but it's not his worst either. Let's face it, we're arguably looking at the world's greatest action star, whose career has ranged from classic high mark action movies such as "Terminator 1 and 2" (soon to be 3), to the depths of crap-dom in "Last Action Hero" and "Jingle All the Way."
But Ah-nold's getting older and he's tackling more intelligent subject matter (about as intelligent as you can get from a Schwarzenegger flick), and his audience is either paying the price or reaping the benefits, depending on how you look at it.
In "The 6th Day," Arnold tackles the tricky subject of human cloning. In the not-so-distant future, Adam Gibson (Schwarzenegger), a commercial pilot, is mistakenly cloned and then hunted down by a group of hit men sent by a ruthless business tycoon bent on erasing his mistake. The process of human cloning is illegal in this future society and existing as a clone is a capital crime. So both sides must race to correct the situation before society discovers it.
To say the least, the issue of human cloning is slightly thought provoking. The movie raises important questions: Do clones have souls? Are they dangerous? Should we be tampering with God's work? Even the title of the movie refers to the Bible and how, on the sixth day, God created man. In this futuristic society, they have already made it legal to clone pets. A company (humorously named Re-Pet) specializes in providing that service. The question is: Where do we draw the line in cloning?
The problem here is that the audience doesn't want to have to think when it sees an action movie such as this. But they don't have to think much.
The story line spells out almost all answers you would need: Cloning is bad and the natural process of life is good.
Sure, we're stuck with the dilemma of how cloning could provide us with medical benefits, but look, Arnold just shot someone and said something clever, what was I thinking about again? Never mind.
The movie awes us with explosions, special effects and lots of bright, shiny things while, at the same time, trying to inject feelings and social issues that never quite hit home.
One could assume Arnold is reaching the time of his life when he's thinking his films should be more socially responsible, and it's kind of sad.
Other than the floundering plot, the movie has some unorthodox cinematography. The camera work is distracting. Like most current action movies, "The 6th Day" tries to give itself a "Matrix"-like look, and whereas "The Matrix" treaded the fine line between flashy and visually incomprehensible, "The 6th Day" falls toward the latter. The special effects of "The 6th Day" are impressive, however, and director Roger Spottiswoode ("Tomorrow Never Dies") handles them well.
The movie itself is not unlike Arnold's previous endeavors. He stumbles into trouble in a futuristic society and the bad guys hunt him down as he races to uncover the truth of what is happening to him (like in "Total Recall"). This movie doesn't quite reach that level unfortunately, and while the special effects are better and Arnold's acting ability has improved (now if he could just drop the accent), "The 6th Day" lacks compassion for the characters and their struggles. To its credit, it's an entertaining two hours. But wait for the video.
--3 out of 5 shamrocks
All Scene Stories for Thursday, November 30, 2000
