Main cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Adam Gibson), Tony Goldwyn (Michael Drucker), Michael Rapaport (Hank), Michael Rooker (Marshall), Sarah Wynter (Talia Elsworth), Rod Rowland (Wiley), Terry Crews (Vincent Bansworth), Wendy Crewson (Natalie Gibson), Wanda Cannon (Katherine Weir), Colin Cunningham (Tripp), and Robert Duvall (Dr Griffin Weir)
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Surprise – this movie isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I was half expecting another bungling Arnold Schwarzenegger movie like Jingle All the Way or the horrific End of Days, but The 6th Day isn’t bad at all. It even tries to say something intelligent about human cloning, although like everything Hollywood, it bungles up in making judgmental statements. And as the movie progresses, human cloning and re-cloning and re-re-cloning and re-re-re-cloning make the plot increasingly convoluted and annoying.
The story is set in the future when cloning is a way of life. If your pets are dead, no problem, get a few of its cells and wham! – you get the pet all over again. Since the UK has just passed a law allowing wider experimentation on human cells, this scenario isn’t that unlikely in the near future.
Of course, our hero Adam Gibson scoffs at the whole idea. Let those critters – people too, yes – just die and let them stay dead. But when he got cloned by some underground black market human cloners, oops. Both Adams think they’re the real thing, and now Real Adam has to figure out a way to get his life back using the good old macho methods of tons of ammo and lots of force.
Glass shatters, bullets spray everywhere, buildings explode, cars flip over highways, everything necessary for a jolly wholesome family fun two-hour of violence and thrill is present in super doses. It’s fun, until I realize the script has long run out of steam by the second hour.
How else could I explain why they keep re-cloning the bad guys again and again and again and again and again and again and again…?
Still, not a bad movie. Perfect for an evening of no-nonsense entertainment of the blood and guts sort.
