Movie Review by Nigel A. Messenger
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel Byrne, Robin Tunney, Kevin Pollak, Renee Olstead
Director: Peter Hyams
Arnie is back, at last, and with the action blockbuster he needs to stay at the top as the last action hero of the millennium.
But don’t worry this is not another LAST ACTION HERO, although that movie wasn’t as bad as some would like to believe, this is closer to the excellence of TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY.
Satan is out to impregnate his intended bride in the final hour of the century. Arnie is thrown in the middle and must save the girl or Satan will walk the earth and it will be the ‘end of days’.
In fact some of the themes of TERMINATOR 2 are clearly paralleled in END OF DAYS. Satan (Gabriel Byrne) could easily be the near indestructible android robot sent back in time to kill John O’Connor in TERMINATOR 2, as he walks away from otherwise fatal death blows served out to him by Arnie with his wounds sealing up. Christine York (Robin Tunney) is the pursued young girl, not as young as TERMINATOR 2’s John O’Connor though, as she is the innocent on the run. In fact Arnie himself, as ex-detective and now security specialist Jericho Cane, is once again the protector of the intended innocent victim, and if he succeeds, will be the saviour of the world as we know it, or otherwise the ‘end of days’ will come about, and Satan will cause destruction to mankind, as the machines in TERMINATOR 2, were due to take over the world.
But for all these parallels, END OF DAYS succeeds in being an excellent movie. A thoroughly enjoyable two hours worth of movie escapism. There are some really funny one liners, although halfway through there is a terribly corny piece of dialogue when a piece of the plot is being summarised by one of the characters.
Ignore this 10 seconds though, it’s made up for so many times elsewhere in the movie, one of the best moments being when Arnie bursts into a church where Christine York is about to be sacrificed, and as he blasts his gun shattering the blade, then blasts it again disabling the hand of the attacker, he coolly states “Let her go, I can do this all day”.
In fact he can, has, and hopefully will continue to do this for a long time to come.
END OF DAYS is almost as good as TERMINATOR 2. It’s sort of TERMINATOR 2 for the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER generation. There are no vampires, but there is a very evil Satan, fantastic effects and nail biting action, violence and even sex.
What more can we want? Great stuff. If you want escapism and entertainment this is it.
