#Saraj Wynter

[adamwatchesmovies]

The 6th Day (2000)

As far as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s filmography goes, The 6th Day lands near the middle. You’ll get an entertaining two hours out of it but a lot more could have been done with its premise.

In the near future (they say it’s sooner than we think), animal cloning has become routine but human cloning has been outlawed by the “6th Day” laws. Charter pilot Adam Gibson (Schwarzenegger) is hired to fly Michael Drucker (Tony Goldwyn), the CEO of Replacement Technologies. Adam trades places with his coworker Hank (Michael Rapaport) at the last minute but both Hank and Michael are killed by an assassin. To cover up the murder, Replacement Technologies - who has been lobbying for a repeal of the 6th Day laws - clones Michael and Adam (remember, he was supposed to be onboard). With two Adams running around, Replacement Technologies’ big secret will be exposed, unless Drucker’s agents can get to Adam first.

There’s always a certain amount of fun with any movie set in the future. The 6th Day postulates that we’ll have screens on our fridges that will allow us to order groceries the second they start to run low, have (mostly) self-driving cars, holographic girlfriends walking around our homes, interactive dolls that can literally befriend your children, laser guns and of course, cloning. We don't have all of these available yet but some of these prophecies have come true and since the film doesn’t commit to a set date, it isn’t embarrassing itself. Most of these aren’t actual predictions for what the future will be like anyway. The 6th Day isn't really interested in the ethics of cloning or where our civilization might be headed. When it touches upon the topic, it’s so it can highlight this character as being good, or this other one as evil.

If the movie were smarter, the “big twist” that comes during the last third might’ve been less obvious. Oh well. You’re watching this movie to see Arnold in a "Runner" sci-fi film trying to figure out what happened to him, uncover the conspiracy that’s going on, learn why we should hate the bad guys and then cheer when he takes them out. With cloning being Drucker’s trademark, his cronies (they’re played by Michael Rooker, Sarah Wynter, Rodney Rowland and Terry Crews) are never down for long. It seems a little inefficient considering you could probably hire someone to keep quiet for less than the 1.2 million Drucker says it costs him to bring his Team Rocket back to life over and over… but it does allow them to get more personality than the average baddies we see in these kind of films.

Several of Schwarzenegger’s pictures have been remade, rebooted or turned into franchises: Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator, Predator, Total Recall, etc. Why not this one? Because it's no classic. The 6th Day moves quickly, it’s got some neat bits of future tech, and a great premise but it could've been so much more. The funny thing is, this is exactly the kind of film that someone SHOULD redo. I doubt even director Roger Spottiswoode or writers Cormac & Marianne Wibberley would be opposed to the idea. The 6th Day is not essential viewing but if you’re in the right mood, it hits the spot. (August 3, 2022)