6th Day, The

2 bone dog

PG13
Stars:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wendy Crewson, Tony Goldwyn

Set in the near future, The 6th Day is an Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi/action film that takes on the issue of human cloning, both seriously and humorously.

Schwarzenegger plays Adam Gibson, a helicopter pilot and family man to wife Natalie (Wendy Crewson) and daughter Clara (Taylor Anne Reid). He lives in a world where smoking is illegal and cars are computer-driven, giving the occupants a chance to chat safely and where pets are routinely cloned by a company called RePet. But what’s good enough for our pets is not good enough for humans, because human cloning is illegal after some disasterous early experimentation. That’s okay with Adam because he has no respect for the concept anyway. When his family’s beloved dog dies and wife Natalie suggests a RePet, Adam doesn’t go for it. It’s unnatural and doesn’t teach his daughter anything about the natural process and how to deal with grief. It’s a good point. So when Adam discovers that he himself has been cloned, you can sure bet that he’s more than a little bit ticked off. He spends the rest of the movie trying to ‘get his life back’ as he watches his clone spend loving hours with wife and child and then have to defend himself against villains out to kill him.

Apparently, human cloning is being highly advocated and practiced surreptitiously by tycoon Michael Drucker (Tony Goldwyn) with the help of Dr. Graham Weir (Robert Duvall). Why they cloned Adam is unclear at this point. But we do know that there’s one too many of him and Drucker can’t let the government find out. So, he sends in his goons against Adam. The funniest bits are when Adam kills the goons, they just keep coming back as cloned versions with memories intact, madder than hell to get even.

Lotta says
: Look for good action sequences, lots of car chases. We’ve certainly seen Arnold make his way through this kind of action before. If you liked Total Recall, you’ll probably like this one too. It’s typical Arnold, fast and furious but well done and a fun escape.

Reviewed 3/20/01


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