The 6th Day * (2000, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Rapaport, Tony Goldwyn, Robert Duvall, Michael Rooker) – Classic Movie Review 9497

Director Roger Spottiswoode’s 2000 The 6th Day stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as pilot Adam Gibson, who comes home one night to find that he has been mistakenly replaced by his clone. He uncovers a deadly secret involving billionaire power broker Michael Drucker (Tony Goldwyn) and his scientist partner Dr Griffin Weir (Robert Duvall), and Drucker (Goldwyn) sends his henchmen led by Robert Marshall (Michael Rooker) to kill him before he spills the beans.

We know this isn’t what you want to hear, but Arnie’s 2000 movie just sits there on screen and dies. And in 2000 you prayed there would be no clone of it next year, because it was his worst in the 20 years since he became a megastar.

Schwarzenegger plays two roles as a man and his double who is cloned in this Eighties-style sci-fi thriller genre piece that is lousy, unexciting and hollow all through, with little in the way of big action set-pieces, great stunts, car chases, shootouts or huge explosions to distract you from the basic dullness of the piece. Writers Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberley’s anti-technology script is also deadly low on the needed intrigue, suspense and humour.

The post-heart-op Schwarzenegger probably cannot do all the running around and action any more, leaving him left with only his acting prowess for company, and, though he remains an amiable presence, his acting is not much better than Sylvester Stallone’s or Jean-Claude Van Damme’s, actors whom you expect to see in such a routine vehicle. Schwarzenegger does not even manage to look very surprised when he first sees his clone. Duvall is lost in support, when a lesser actor could be campy and outrageous, and make it fun.

Also in the cast are Wendy Crewson, Michael Rapaport, Sarah Wynter, Taylor-Anne Reid, Rod Rowland and Terry Crews.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9497

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com