Oh dear. An Apocalyptic movie. End of the World is nigh - run! RUN! The Devil is loose and only Arnie, as Jericho Cane, can stop the devil (in the form of Gabriel Byrne) from consummating with Christine York (Robin Tunney) and bringing about `the end of days'. Ho-hum.
Acting. It's Arnie. Here he's not quite trying to be the cardboard-cut out action hero. Instead Cane is the washed-out alcoholic-dead-family cop, lifted from the book of Character Clichés. He's not all that sympathetic, and I ended up not caring all that matter if the world was over-taken by Satan. Arnie uses all his power to invest something into a character with more dimension than his typical role and he succeeds. well actually he doesn't really. He's Arnie, and couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. Who cares though, we didn't expect the loveable lug to succeed. Better is Gabriel Byrne, playing the calm and collected devil whispering sweet temptations into Arnie's ears. It's a melodramatic, and reminiscent of Pacino in `The Devil's Advocate' but Byrne seems to be having a bit of fun with the Satanic persona, and it's a laugh to watch. Tunney deserves mention only for the fact she appeared in a movie and did very little with her flat, weak, portrayal of the devil's bride. She's very forgettable.
Plot wise the story is a bit of a joke. It rambles and mutters about the forthcoming end in a cryptic manner. It tries to pass of an act of obfuscation as hiding something more intelligent than is actually there. The truth is that there's a weak mess of contrived coincidences, pointless plot devices, and clammy characterisation being desperately sold off as eerie and creepy. Sorry, showing some religious iconography and blathering about mystical conjunctions doesn't create substance and only thinly disguises the lack of meat beneath. Later on in the movie things happen with even less-of-a-reason, with greater and more momentous events flung about in an attempt to give a sense of scale. It doesn't quite work because the whole thing does not gel well together, and you're left feeling that people are milling about the place, waiting for the final showdown (which is reasonably entertaining).
The directing isn't up to much. The lighting is too murky at times and, in one scene, dreadfully confusing. This is further hampered by some overly-zealous editor, who tries to spice up some fights by cutting every few seconds. Thus the film seems disjointed at times, confusing not in plot, but visually. Sure we need darkness and religious paraphernalia dotted all over the place. but do we need such an abundance of them? Is there a need for a million candles? It's not like they're used as effectively as a lighting source as they were in `Barry Lyndon' now.
`End of Days' is not a disaster. It's just not very good. Arnie's acting is laughable, and the movie is not nearly as cohesive as it should be. The action scenes, due to some poor directing, are never exciting and I didn't really care too much about the characters. There are some fun moments, but in a cheap-forgettable sense. A 3/10 seems more than fair. Don't push yourself to catch this one.
Acting. It's Arnie. Here he's not quite trying to be the cardboard-cut out action hero. Instead Cane is the washed-out alcoholic-dead-family cop, lifted from the book of Character Clichés. He's not all that sympathetic, and I ended up not caring all that matter if the world was over-taken by Satan. Arnie uses all his power to invest something into a character with more dimension than his typical role and he succeeds. well actually he doesn't really. He's Arnie, and couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. Who cares though, we didn't expect the loveable lug to succeed. Better is Gabriel Byrne, playing the calm and collected devil whispering sweet temptations into Arnie's ears. It's a melodramatic, and reminiscent of Pacino in `The Devil's Advocate' but Byrne seems to be having a bit of fun with the Satanic persona, and it's a laugh to watch. Tunney deserves mention only for the fact she appeared in a movie and did very little with her flat, weak, portrayal of the devil's bride. She's very forgettable.
Plot wise the story is a bit of a joke. It rambles and mutters about the forthcoming end in a cryptic manner. It tries to pass of an act of obfuscation as hiding something more intelligent than is actually there. The truth is that there's a weak mess of contrived coincidences, pointless plot devices, and clammy characterisation being desperately sold off as eerie and creepy. Sorry, showing some religious iconography and blathering about mystical conjunctions doesn't create substance and only thinly disguises the lack of meat beneath. Later on in the movie things happen with even less-of-a-reason, with greater and more momentous events flung about in an attempt to give a sense of scale. It doesn't quite work because the whole thing does not gel well together, and you're left feeling that people are milling about the place, waiting for the final showdown (which is reasonably entertaining).
The directing isn't up to much. The lighting is too murky at times and, in one scene, dreadfully confusing. This is further hampered by some overly-zealous editor, who tries to spice up some fights by cutting every few seconds. Thus the film seems disjointed at times, confusing not in plot, but visually. Sure we need darkness and religious paraphernalia dotted all over the place. but do we need such an abundance of them? Is there a need for a million candles? It's not like they're used as effectively as a lighting source as they were in `Barry Lyndon' now.
`End of Days' is not a disaster. It's just not very good. Arnie's acting is laughable, and the movie is not nearly as cohesive as it should be. The action scenes, due to some poor directing, are never exciting and I didn't really care too much about the characters. There are some fun moments, but in a cheap-forgettable sense. A 3/10 seems more than fair. Don't push yourself to catch this one.