End of Days was the
most highly publicised, most highly hyped of the "millenium films", but
unfortunately the film is dull and ultimately is just another Arnold Schwarzenegger action
film.
Not that big Arnie's movies are all that bad, but they
certainly are no award winners either, and most people are sick of watching Arnie do
basically the same thing all the time; save the world, kill the bad guy (and as many other
people as he can) and get the girl.
It is a formula that has proved successful in the past
(not just for Schwarzenegger), and it does provide solid entertainment, but there is a
point where you get sick of watching the same thing over and over.
In this film, Arnie plays a former cop, now working as
a high priced security guard, who inadvertently becomes the only man that can prevent the
end of the world. You see, the Devil (played wonderfully by Gabriel Byrne) has come
to New York City in search of the woman who has been chosen to bear his child.
Should this smooth talking Devil be allowed to procreate, it is goodbye to the earth as we
know it. Instead the Devil will rein supreme and earth will become hell.
By the halfway point, it is plainly evident that this
film is average at best. The story just rolls along and at no point do you feel any
real sense of anticipation in what will follow. To be totally blunt, for a lot of
the movie you are just waiting for the end. Not a good thing.
Schwarzenegger is gives his standard admirable
performance, but his presence alone is not enough to get a lot a movie lovers interested
anymore. And please, can we get rid of the smart-arse sidekick character (in this
case played by Kevin Pollack) that has become an unpleasant feature in most recent action
movies. No doubt the character is there to provide some comic relief, but in the end
just comes across as irritating and this film should not have required any attempted
comedy.
Gabriel Byrne makes the best devil ever played on
screen, and his mellow approach to the role (the total opposite to Al Pacino's
over-the-top devil in The Devil's Advocate) makes him all the
more intimidating.
Maybe the movie should have focused more on Brynes'
character, this would have undoubtedly given the movie more substance.
Director Peter Hyams has created an excellent
"feel" to the movie, it is just a shame that the story is not all that
interesting. A "darker" movie, with a little less emphasis on Arnie saving
the world, would have been far more enjoyable. Instead what we get is standard
Schwarzenneger fodder that fails to inspire.
- Adam Matthews
