End of Days Review

Jericho Cane, Big Arnie, an ex-cop turned security guard, is assigned, along with his sidekick Chicago, (Kevin Pollak), to protect a rich businessman, Gabriel Byrne, when there`s an assassination attempt - a raddled old priest is the would-be killer. The businessman, it seems, is the Devil in disguise, come to New York to impregnate Christine York, (Robin Tunney), who was born 20 years ago for this very purpose - Satan has to do the dirty deed in the hour before the millenium - eastern standard time, of course. Peter Hyams` film is a trashy, silly, overly violent but not unentertaining end-of-millennium shlocker involving homicidal priests, a lascivious Satan, some muddled bits of plotting, and a lot of special effects. It also has Rod Steiger hamming it up as usual as a good priest - at least I THINK he was a good priest. And then there`s Arnie, back and tougher than ever- any prizes for guessing he`ll save the world?Margaret`s comments: Well, now we`ve seen it all - Arnie as JC. In this ludicrously melodramatic rendition of what at heart is quite an interesting futuristic plot Peter Hyams as director - he was the cinematographer as well - overplays every hand he`s dealt. The lighting - yes, we notice the lighting and we shouldn`t - just reinforces the melodramatic elements. It should have been taken a bit more seriously than it actually has, there`s a cynicism at the heart of this film that works against its theme. It`s not all bad, in fact it`s quite entertaining during some of the more exhilarating action sequences, but its silliness ultimately works against it.