Arnold’s Latest Needs Cameron, Or At Least His Focus

A funny thing happened to me as I was preparing to write this week’s column: I found I had nothing on which to write! To be more specific, it seemed the film I had chosen to discuss, Arnold Schwarzenegger’ s latest action opus, The 6th Day, was no longer in our area.

But upon further review, I discovered it had never actually arrived in this region of Connecticut, much as Spike Lee’s film, The Original Kings of Comedy never came our way. Why is that? Do we need another multiplex? Should there be more screens in our immediate future?  Perhaps, but that’s a d debate for another forum.

Here, I will instead forge ahead and tackle the fictional future of The 6th Day.  Although it’s not exactly “now playing” in our area, I confess it’s the only new film I’ve seen other than Unbreakable, which was the subject of last week’s column.

The 6th Day casts Arnie as Adam Gibson, a helicopter pilot who owns a private charter company in the “near future.”  He lives in a world of taco-flavored bananas, cars that drive themselves (I thought only the Batmobile could do that!), refrigerators that remind you when it’s time to get more milk or go to your child’s school play, and widespread cloning has become fairly routine, to the point where your favorite pooch need no longer be relegated to that big doghouse in the sky. However, laws have been passed against the cloning of human beings, due mainly to the scientific complications of such a procedure, but also to its untidy moral implications. Of course, fruit which is forbidden becomes that much more enticing (not the least of the film’s Biblical allusions).

Thus, Replacement Technologies, led by CEO Michael Drucker (Tony Goldwyn) and head scientist Griffin Weir (Robert Duvall), secretly moves forward on its own agenda to have human cloning legalized. Unwittingly caught in the middle of this political maneuvering is family-man Adam, who is mistakenly cloned and arrives at home one night to find that his doppelganger has taken over his life.  Where can Adam turn? Who will believe him? Who can he trust? So many questions and very little time, as Adam quickly discovers when goons from Replacement Technologies come a-callin’… and they don’t exactly want his autograph.

If Adam dies, no one will be any wiser to the company’s illegal activities; but if Adam can stay alive and uncover Drucker’s plans, he may be able to be reunited with his wife and daughter and get his life back.

It becomes clear, sometimes painfully so, while one is in the midst of viewing The 6th Day that Ah-nuld is past his prime. By that I don’t mean he’s getting old (although he is noticeably less limber than in previous efforts… but then, he did have heart surgery not long before making this movie), but that his recent big-screen efforts have been with second-tier, behind-the-scenes talents rather than the high-caliber helmers with which he has been teamed in the past. At the height of his career, Arnold was collaborating with directors James Cameron, Ivan Reitman, Paul Verhoeven and John McTiernan. Now he’s matched with Roger Spottiswoode, a decent director to be sure (Tomorrow Never Dies), but not one to push Arnold to exciting new areas. The 6th Day has some intriguing, near-provocative ideas, but seems unsure whether to fully delve into all the complexities of its premise or, as what ultimately happens, hedge its bets by playing up some dark humor and letting Arnold snap off some more of his traditional, deadpan one-liners.  The humor works when its more self-referentially directed at Schwarzenegger and his iconic persona, but is less satisfying when it turns dark… the tone just doesn’t quite work.

The 6th Day, rated PG-13 for some intense violence, dark humor and strong profanity, is an entertaining watch for Schwarzenegger fans and has its moments of originality. Yet even in the Schwarzenegger canon, it’s not exactly top of the line, either. Maybe next time they can clone James Cameron and he can give this enterprise a bit more focus.