THE 6TH DAY

The 6th Day is an action movie with brains. Or make that more brains than your average action flick. It's not The Terminator, but thankfully it's not Universal Soldier - The Return either. Think a Total Recall lite version of Gattaca and you'll have an ideas of what Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest action flick is like.

Like Gattaca, The 6^th Day deals with cloning, in this case, human cloning. A knowledgeable friend tells me that there are lot of scientific inaccuracies in The 6^th Day (just as there was in Gattaca apparently), but that doesn't stop 6^th Day from being intriguing or thought provoking. There are some nice ideas and concepts in this movie, just a pity that they are never more fully developed - unlike Gattaca the movie's ideas take backseat to the action.

If you're an Arnie fan, you'll find The 6^th Day to be more than adequate in the action stakes. While not as intense or violent as previous Schwarzenegger vehicles, The 6^th Day isn't anywhere as bad or unintentionally funny as End of Days. Speaking of which, The 6^th Day didn't fare particularly well at the US box office. Maybe the Americans are tired of Arnold. I don't know. Who wouldn't be after recent career low points like Batman & Robin, Jingle All the Way and End of Days? Okay, "career low-points" is a bit of an understatement - crud is the correct term . . .

One cannot help but think that this movie, instead of End of Days, should have been Schwarzenegger's return to the action movie genre. The 6^th Day had us discussing some of the more philosophical and ethical points it raises such as would you have a loved one cloned when said person is dying of an incurable disease? Is human cloning ethical at all? And so on. (Like Blade Runner, The 6^th Day also brings up the question of what makes us human.) Now, let's be honest: when last did you actually discuss an action movie you just walked out of (beyond a cursory statement that it sucked or was cool)?