The 6th Day (2000)

To be more than brutally honest: I have an enormous soft spot for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not only do I admire the fact that the man has worked tirelessly to achieve greatness, but there are few films he has starred in that fail to disappoint me. Naturally, they are not all considered classics and in some cases that is most definitely correct, nevertheless the man's charisma, delivery and enjoyment of the roles he plays rub off on me.

I am fairly certain that if I ever had the chance to cuddle this man, I would be hard pressed to let go.

But adoration aside, there are some of his films that have not gained the status of say a 'Terminator' or even 'Commando' and 'The 6th Day' is one of those. Not that this one is a bad film, far from it. But it does offer a slightly different beast than what most people are used to when thinking of an Arnold-vehicle.

The subject at hand is cloning, which is made abudantly clear from the opening credits that start off with the infamous sheep Dolly and then go into more of a science fiction territory concerning the cloning of human beings and the prohibition thereof. Right off the bat, you know what will happen here. Seriously, you do not need to be a rocket scientist. Or a geneticist. Or any type of -ist for that matter.

Arnold is the proprietor of a firm that drops people off on the top of a mountain so they can ski or snowboard down. That is apparently really a thing. Personally, I never understood the need to get up high on a mountain somewhere only to go down again as fast as possible, but to each his own, I suppose. Why go up if you are only coming down again? Staying down gets rid of the middle man, so to speak. But I digress. Because of a birthday party (needless little setup, but you need one), Arnold switches places with his partner for one trip and then the proverbial poop hits the proverbial fan. There is an assassination and Arnold returns home, only to find there is already an Arnold there. It turns out that human cloning, though illegal, is already happening. But what is our hero to do now? Except find out what happened and punish the evildoers along the way of course.

Curious to find a film about illegal practices where greed motivates people and companies to do illegal things. Talk about far fetching fiction...

Social commentary? What do you mean?

For most Schwarzenegger-films, the action in this one is downplayed a lot. Yes, there are explosions and lasergun fights and some fisticuffs, but all in all it is not the no-holds-barred slugfest most viewers would expect and maybe that is one of the reasons this film slightly underperformed.

On the upside, this film does have heart and decent acting. Arnold has proven that he can actually act beyond He-Man skill or self awareness and you get the first glimpses of that here. It is not Shakespeare by far (he would save that for 'Last Action Hero'), but this film does not use him as an indestructible warmachine. Sure, you know he will prevail in the end because it is Arnold, but still.

The thing that is also surprising, is the remainder of the character roster. For the sidekick, you get eternal sidekick actor Michael Rapaport, whom I usually find insufferable but here he is at least mildly annoying and not enough in this film to leave a grating impression. Besides, he dies twice, so you can get some enjoyment out of that. But the role I really like here is that of heavyhitter Robert Duvall. Duvall plays a scientist who perfected the cloning technology and does have a nice turnaround when his wife dies. Duvall is perfectly believeable and he brings a reality to this otherwise slightly crazy film that was needed. His motivations are clear and very human and he steals every scene he is in, often by just being there. That is what makes a great actor.

And Michael Rooker. All hail Michael Rooker. Sure, he is reduced to a bit part here, the leader of the company's band of thugs, but he is always a hoot. And if you are like me, you will probably enjoy the running gag of one of his henchmen getting killed several times in a row, because that is a lot more funny than it sounds.

The film moves at a brisk pace, which is good, because in the end, the premisse is a little bit thin for a lengthy film and that is possibly its biggest detractor. You know how it is all going to play out and there is never any twist to the story. It is what it is, which is an entertaining film that is slightly marred by not being overtly memorable. But give it a watch, if only for Duvall and Rooker.