DVD Movie Rating for: The 6th Day

4 out of 5

Movie Plot of: The 6th Day

A helicopter pilot survives a near-fatal accident and returns to his home - to find that he's been replaced by an exact duplicate of himself, a clone. When the clone's creators find out the pilot didn't die in the crash, the hunt is on.

In the world of the very near future, cattle, fish, and even the family pet can be cloned. But cloning humans is illegal - that is until family man Adam Gibson comes home from work one day to find a clone has replaced him. Taken from his family and plunged into a sinister world he doesn't understand, Gibson must not only save himself from the assassins who must now destroy him to protect their secret, but uncover who and what is behind the horrible things happening to him.

DVD Production Details of: The 6th Day

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Rapaport

Director: Roger Spottiswoode

Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby

Studio: Columbia/Tristar Studios

DVD Release Date: January 22, 2002
DVD Features:
Commentary by composer Trevor Rabin with 5.1 isolated music score

Production notes

Theatrical trailer(s)

2-disc set

"On the 6th Day": 9 behind-the-scenes featurettes

Showtime special: "The Future Is Coming"

3 storyboard comparisons

2 animatics

RePet infomercial and TV spot

Filmographies of Roger Spottiswoode, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Duvall, Michael Rapaport, and Tony Goldwyn

Widescreen anamorphic format

Cast of the movie: The 6th Day

• Arnold Schwarzenegger .... Adam Gibson
• Michael Rapaport .... Hank Morgan
• Tony Goldwyn .... Michael Drucker
• Michael Rooker .... Robert Marshall
• Sarah Wynter .... Talia Elsworth
• Wendy Crewson .... Natalie Gibson
• Rodney Rowland .... P. Wiley (as Rod Rowland)
• Terry Crews .... Vincent
• Ken Pogue .... Speaker Day
• Colin Cunningham .... Tripp
• Robert Duvall .... Dr. Griffin Weir
• Wanda Cannon .... Katherine Weir
• Taylor Anne Reid .... Clara Gibson
• Jennifer Gareis .... Virtual Girlfriend
• Don McManus .... RePet Salesman

Photo Gallery of the movie: The 6th Day

Click on one of the thumbnails to see the full size, high resolution photographs

Reviews of the movie: The 6th Day

For a movie about cloning, it's only appropriate that The 6th Day, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, is instilled with a strong sense of déjà vu, namely from Arnold's previous "Who am I?" outing, Total Recall. In that movie, Arnold is a normal Joe who discovers that his entire reality has been co-opted by an evil conspiracy, and has to take his life back by force. The same premise applies here for Roger Spottiswoode's clever if overlong sci-fi thriller--Arnold thinks he's a regular guy leading a regular life, until a twist of fate puts him on the lam from a vast conspiracy that's replaced him with a clone. While he's trying to evade the evil genetics corporation--and its trendy, deadly, clone-friendly assassins (who don't care how many times they're killed: there's more where that came from)--his double is snuggling at home with his wife and daughter. And new legislation outlaws the existence of human clones, so somebody's got to go. But who gets to be live and who gets to be the dead Memorex man?

Why does said genetics corporation want to clone people? How does the kindly scientist (Robert Duvall) fit in? What's the mystery behind the slick billionaire (Tony Goldwyn) who runs everything? It's all kind of irrelevant in the end, as long as it provides a chance for Arnold to indulge in some energetic mayhem and explosive action. What distinguishes The 6th Day is its sneaky, humorous--and chilling--look at the near future, taking everyday technological advances and turning them up just a couple notches, envisioning an era with cloned pets, virtual girlfriends, and computers running most everything, from the refrigerator to your car. Arnold is supposed to be a throwback to the "real" world--you can tell because he cherishes his vintage, navigation-system-free Cadillac--but as usual, he just brings his behemoth presence to the role and not much else. Still, he's a friendly enough hero, and he rolls with the punches (literally) all the way through to the end. Too bad the film overstays its welcome by about half an hour--a little shorter and it could have been a breezy sci-fi/action romp. With scene stealers Michael Rooker, Sarah Wynter, and Rod Rowland as the trio of cloned assassins who always come back--again and again

I recently had the pleasure of teaching the wonders of film criticism to an English composition class at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio. The experience was enjoyable, and the class posed a number of questions. One of the more interesting questions concerned the films I had seen that I believed had potential, but ultimately failed in execution. While I have seen a number of films that fit into this category, I couldn't think of a decent example. This was because I hadn't seen "The 6th Day" yet. What could have been an interesting and exciting look at the evils of cloning was a "B" grade action film at best, despite an above-par script and one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's better roles to date.

The film's premise is heavily based in TRUE science fiction; that is, fiction having its basis in scientific truth, using projections of the future to fully examine some aspect of our society. Sorry to go into such an elaborate definition, but I believe a lot of stuff gets swept into the category of science fiction simply because it has a robot, or takes place in outer space. But I digress.

This fictional reality here deals with cloning. In the film, which takes place in the "near future," cloning is an every-day practice, but only with pets and animals. Cloning people has been outlawed, as the original human cloning project went horribly wrong. Schwarzenegger plays Adam Gibson, a decent family man and helicopter pilot chartered to fly Michael Drucker (Tony Goldwyn), a rich businessman who owns Replacement Technologies. This corporation is at the height of cloning technology, running everything from a fish cloning company to help repopulate the oceans, to "RePet," a company that clones dead family pets. There's even a rumor that the company's head doctor (Robert Duvall) is experimenting with illegal human cloning. Something goes terribly wrong on Drucker's first flight, and before he knows, Gibson discovers he has been cloned. Its up to him to discover the secret controversy, and get his life back.

With this premise, the film is wide open to make many social observations, and does so very well, on occasion. Much of the legalities concerning cloning, as well as the ethical concerns, are discussed and examined by the characters. Even though the technology exists in the future, it is not widely accepted. Some of these observations are stated with all the eloquence you could expect from an Arnold/action film, but others are done so subtly, and surprisingly, with biting humor. Much of the concept of "RePet" is quite amusing.

However, if science fiction is the film's basis, lame action sequences are its filler. In between these intriguing dialogues are shoddy, cookie-cutter action scenes one should expect from a made for TV film. No matter if it's a car chase, a laser gun shoot-out, or a helicopter battle, it all feels very dull. It's not that I'm knocking these things, because they have to appear in action film; I just wish they were done well. Ultimately, the action suffers from a lack of creativity, which ironically, is where the rest of the script excels.

And one can't blame Arnold for not trying, as he is both charming and believable in his part. His is a performance with a surprising level of humanity, especially in scenes where he's going about his daily life. One almost forgets he's an action star and begins to take him a little seriously. But don't worry, after the first half-hour he's picked up a laser gun and is fighting and one-lining his way to the climax.

I guess my one qualm with "The 6th Day" is its failed potential: with some better action sequences (like those found in "The Matrix"), this could have been a very decent film, one I would be sending you to right away. Instead, it's simply a wait-for-video flick, and by my guess, that wait won't be long.