Subject: Review: The 6th Day (2000)

From: [email-masked] (Susan Granger)
Date: 14 Nov 2000 01:50:16 GMT

http://www.susangranger.com/

Susan Granger's review of "THE 6th DAY" (Columbia Pictures)
              Beginning with a quote from Genesis - "and God created
man on the sixth day" - this sci-fi fantasy revolves around a
billionaire entrepreneur (Tony Goldwyn) who is determined to conquer
death: "I'm just taking overwhere God left off."  To this end, he's
funded Replacement Technology where genetic research is done by a
highly respected, if conflicted scientist (Robert Duvall). In this
world of the near future, animal cloning is accepted but human cloning
is strictly forbidden. So when an assassination attempt goes wrong and
a charter helicopter pilot (that's Arnold) is unwillingly cloned,
indomitable Arnold teams up with his duplicate to reveal a sinister
corporate conspiracy.  "I'm going to take my life back," he vows. So
much for the plot concocted by Cormac and Marianne Wibberley. What's
likely to catch your interest is the sexy holographic girlfriend that
Arnold's buddy, Michael Rapaport, has created; she's compliant with
his desires and disappears when she's no longer needed. Or perhaps
you'll like director Roger Spottiswoode's ("Tomorrow Never Dies")
mega-budget array of high-decibel explosions, gunfire and car
crashes. Amusing moments occur when the relentless, virtually
indestructible assassins (Michael Rooker, Sarah Wynter) keep
reappearing - "Doesn't anyone stay dead anymore?" - and when Arnold,
the family man, quips, "I don't want to expose (my daughter) to any
excessive violence. She gets enough of that from the media." But the
real humor, or drama, inherent in having someone meet his clone is
never explored. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The 6th Day"
is an action-packed 5. It's ironic that a movie that puts a spin on
the dangers of cloning looks like a clone of other, better Arnold
Schwarzenegger movies like "Total Recall."

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