The Sixth Day on DVD

Making Your Own Friends...

Arnold's back in another rip roarin' sci-fi mind game reminiscent of "Total Recall."

This time, he turns out to be his own best friend, as he's cloned against his wishes (and against the law) in a coverup plot to save the multiple lives, reputations, and fortunes of a wealthy entrepreneur.

Schwarzenegger plays Adam Gibson, a futuristic heli-ski tour operator whose life is wonderful until he arrives home on his birthday to find he's been replaced in his own family by that darn clone you heard about in all the commercials. Not only that, but there are some really nasty assassins after him, apparently trying to ensure that only one of the Adam Gibsons lives through the night.

Thrown onto his own resources, Adam must fight to save - and regain - his life, in the process uncovering a vast, illegal cloning operation that needs him dead in order to hide the evidence.

The Sixth Day (from Genesis, the day on which God created Man), is a nifty roller coaster that, while more predictable than "Total Recall" on the whole, is still a wonderful vehicle for Schwarzenegger fans and action aficionados. For most of the movie, you're never really sure exactly who's who, though the lights go on a little bit before the writers and director would like them to.

One improvement over "Total Recall" is the toned down violence. Sure, there's plenty of shooting and enough people get killed (well...) to keep violence buffs happy, but it isn't as graphic or gratuitous as "Recall" was in places.

Arnold does his usual workman's job in his character. It would be nice, just once, though, if the producers would give his character a European name, to more realistically exploit his accent. He could be an immigrant, you know! The supporting cast is very good, including Robert Duvall as the eventually-reluctant scientist, Tony Goldwyn, Michael Rapaport, Michael Rooker, Wendy Crewson, and Sarah Wynter.

The special effects and production design are also first rate and, for the most part, they've done a good job of turning present day Vancouver into "near future" somewhere else. The skyline is definitely not Vancouver, but some more close up shots give it away to people who've been to that British Columbia city. It never gets in the way of the film, though.

Some neat sci-fi technology is on hand as well, especially the "Whispercraft" combination helicopter/jet planes that Gibson uses for his tour business.

The DVD quality is excellent. The anamorphic widescreen picture is sharp and clean, with bright colors, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is rich and full, with good surround effects.

Extras include a decent liner essay, an audio commentary by composer Trevor Rabin, an isolated musical score track, and an "infomercial" and TV commercial for the film's RePet concept. There's also the trailer, and talent files.

If you like Arnold, you'll like "The Sixth Day."

The Sixth Day, from Columbia Tristar Home Video
124 min, widescreen (2.35:1), 16x9 compatible, Dolby Digital 5.1
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Rapaport, Tony Goldwyn, Sarah Wynter and Robert Duvall
Produced by Mike Medavoy, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jon Davidson
Written by Cormac Wibberley & Marianne Wibberley, Directed by Roger Spottiswoode.

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