Schwarzenegger shines again in ‘The 6th Day’

Max Jacobson

Friday, Nov. 17, 2000 | 9:53 a.m.

Grade: *** 1/2

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tony Goldwyn, Robert Duvall and Michael Rapaport.

Screenplay: Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberley.

Director: Roger Spottiswoode.

Rated: PG-13 for strong action violence, brief strong language and some sensuality.

Running time: 124 minutes.

Playing at: UA Showcase 8, UA Rainbow Promenade 10, Century Orleans, Century Desert 16, Century Cinedome 12 Henderson, Rancho Santa Fe 16, Las Vegas Drive-in, Century Sam's Town, Regal Cinemas Sunset Station, Regal Cinemas Colonnade 14, Regal Cinemas Texas Station 18, Regal Cinemas Village Square 18.

"The 6th Day" is the newest sci-fi, special-effects spectacular for Austrian-born bodybuilder and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is one of Arnold's best films to date, yet some of us continue to puzzle at how he became flag-bearer for this genre.

In the best tradition of his previous sci-fi hits such as "Total Recall" and "The Terminator," this taut thriller deals with the near future, framed by the shrill impersonality of high technology and the chilling implications of messing around with nature.

Arnold plays Adam Gibson, a likeable helicopter pilot and family man, who gets sucked into a vortex that involves the powerful head of a sinister corporation called Replacement Technologies (Tony Goldwyn), and his partner, a latter-day Dr. Frankenstein named Griffin Weir (Robert Duvall). The plot is complicated, and viewers will have to follow it carefully in order to make sense of all the twists and turns. What's more, to describe too much would be to give away elements critical to the story.

But the story is essentially this: One night Gibson comes home to discover that his entire life has been turned upside down. As he walks up the driveway at his bucolic suburban home, he sees a clone of himself blowing out birthday candles.

Before he can burst in to find out just what in the world is going on he is attacked by a pair of futuristic-looking contract killers, Marshall (Michael Rooker) and Talia (Sara Wynter). The remainder of the film is essentially one long, beautifully choreographed chase, with Gibson trying to elude his would-be killers while simultaneously attempting to get to the bottom of the mysterious events that have violently reshaped his life.

At the crux of the film are the moral implications revolving around human cloning. The title refers to the day on which God created Man, and the film repeatedly makes references to a "Sixth Day Law," which expressly forbids any human cloning.

It doesn't, however, forbid animal cloning, and there are several scenes at Replacement Technologies RePet stores, retail outlets in futuristic malls, where a dying pet can be scanned and replaced by something the movie calls DNA infusion.

If that idea isn't creepy enough, the screenwriters go cloned pets one better when they introduce a live doll called Sim-Pal. The Sim-Pal doll is supposed to appeal to the humans and children in the film, but to the audience, the doll, which talks, cries and cuddles, is clearly intended to be Barbie from hell.

Cloning a human is far more complicated, though. That requires a process that is known as Syncording, sort of a DVD tape of the human brain. A Syncord has all the thoughts and memories of a human subject on a gadget around the size of an old-fashioned floppy. Duvall's character keeps a library of them on file, in a fortress-like lab on an upper floor of his corporation.

There are several nicely futuristic touches in this film. One involves Gibson's pal Hank (Michael Rapaport), who lives with a Virtual Girl, every guy's dream. Virtual Girl is a gorgeous hologram who does anything Hank wants at any time. Dream on, fellas.

Also impressive are the Whispercraft helicopters that Gibson and Hank pilot. In that way, the sci-fi extravaganza of the year is rather like Comdex. There is always a handful of new toys to play with.

But "The 6th Day" isn't just an exercise in the newest special effects. The film, which has elements of Hitchcock's "The Wrong Man," as well as "Blade Runner," is both suspenseful and wry, well-directed by veteran action director Roger Spottiswoode ("Tomorrow Never Dies").

And the story's core, human cloning, is a subject that resonates deeply in this era of over population, wealth and the genome. Many of us have pondered the idea of immortality. With the possibility of actual cloning just around the corner, this is a fantasy that could actually come close to reality.

If it ever does, perhaps studios are already planning their strategies. Arnold, who is more likeable than ever these days and still has a bicep or two to flex, is getting a bit long in the tooth for these roles. So if real cloning is ever legalized, perhaps someone will clone a younger version of him to play in his next action thriller.

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