And on the sixth day god created man....
The sixth day is an action packed yet thoroughly predictable sci-fi action movie, which although it won't make you believe Arnie can save the world (again), it will make you laugh and keep you entertained for its duration.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is Adam Gibson, a happy family man living in the near future; in a society where it is perfectly acceptable replenish the sea with stocks of cloned fish, and to clone your household pets. There is even a specialised department store called "Re-pet" where you can have your pet cloned while you wait.
Although the technology is available, the sixth day law has ruled it illegal and highly dangerous to clone human beings. Replacement Technologies are at the forefront of cloning and they baffle the general public with science in order to keep undercover the full extent to which human cloning is actually taking place.
Replacement Technologies clone humans. They use blanks- human life form stripped of all DNA which are stored in embryonic tanks, a mind scan which collects all memories, thoughts and characteristics and a sample of the DNA make up is taken from the real life person and imputed into the blank - this creates a direct replica of the human being. This entire world is top secret with some of the most powerful people in society being clones; the future of Replacement Technologies is under threat if the secret ever gets out.
Adam Gibson is a helicopter pilot who has been commissioned to fly the head of Replacement technologies Michael Drucker (Tony Goldwyn) to his destination. During the flight due to a case mistaken identity Gibson accidentally gets cloned.
When Adam returns home that evening to his surprise birthday party he finds his clone eating his birthday cake and kissing his wife, determined to get his life back and to find out the reality that is human cloning, Gibson sets out to find the truth
The Sixth Day is visually very diverse and certainly delivers the action it promises, from high speed helicopter chases reminiscent of Star Wars: Episode 1 to laser gun shoot outs in the Replacement Technologies HQ, true Arnie action fans will not be disappointed. The highlight being Arnie and Arnie clone hanging from a helicopter with the baddies in hot pursuit, and their simultaneous delivery of one-liners.
The special effects and ideas for the future of technology are also very cleverly thought out and more scarily, entirely plausible, from the Chuckie style "Sim-Pal" the freaky looking interactive child's doll, to the virtual girlfriend who can even undo your fly and get you a beer, to the self driving cars and self stocking refrigerators.
Arnie delivers a really good performance in the role of Adam Gibson, the action hero crossed with regular family guy and shows he is unafraid to laugh at himself using the line " I might be back". Robert Duvall is also excellent in the role of Dr Weir
All in all, The Sixth Day does entertain; it deals with a very sensitive subject on a surface level without making a political comment. Which is necessary to achieve the ultimate objective of the film - entertainment!
