End of Days

END OF DAYS / (1999) **1/2 (out of four)

By Blake French:

"End of Days" is the first movie to seriously argue that "666" the numerical sign of the devil, is actually a 999 upside-down. Since the film was first released in 1999, the movie could not resist to throw in that little contrivance. What can you expect from a movie when its premise is based on the concept that once every thousand years if Satan impregnates a woman during the hour from 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. on the last day of the millennium, she will give birth to the anti-Christ who will bring the world to an end? I am already thinking that the movie is vulnerable to logic (is the time given in Eastern Standard?) and it will make its own limitations at the convenience of plot. "End of Days" is particularly graphic in its use of violence, but never really scares us, even with such a horrifying premise like the end of humanity.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has not made a good movie in a long time. First "Jingle all the Way," then "Batman & Robin," now we have a movie that bounces back and forth between action and concept. There are the standard "action movie scenes," where a person sways from a helicopter in mid air, where a chase scene takes place at incredible heights, where someone grasps to a high window ledge, where a subway train crashes, where a massive fire erupts in Manhattan, and so on. There are also the false shocko moments followed with a sudden burst of loud, startling music: the its just a cat scene, its just another cop scene, its just a dream scene, its just your imagination scene, he's not really dead scene, and its just maggots suddenly growing out of an apple scene. The movie is also bound by philosophy. The action is focused towards Schwarzenegger saving the world, but he cannot do that all by himself, can he? Sure he can, if he can stop Satan (Gabriel Bryne), from impregnating Christine (Robin Tunney), who was born under the religious sign of a passing comet -- and based on her birth twenty years earlier during the sighting of that comet – is the chosen mother of Satan's child.

"End of Days" begins with an intriguing, although plausible, premise. The bizarre events that transpire a few days before the end of the millennium immediately inspire our curiosity. The action sequences are also fine, intensified by thrilling music and a fast paced style. The movie opens on a good note, and the remainder of the action sequences are also quite exciting. The scenes also inspire a few questions. Satan kills many people in this movie, people just like the hero, so why doesn't he just finish Arnold Schwarzenegger off like he does with so many other characters. On the other side, Schwarzenegger shoots the devil, who pulls his shirt up so we can see the bullet holes immediately healing. When using a machine-gun, the ammunition flings the Prince of Darkness backward and puts him down before he attacks again. There are simply no rules to abide by here.

"End of Days" does not have a whole lot of explanation; it plays sort of like your run of the mill action picture with the gimmick of the week. There just is not a lot of true involvement or engagement after the premise. We do care about Arnold Swarzzenegger's character, and Gabrial Bryne is an especially convincing Satan. He is devilish, with fiendish appeal, proving that tranquillity is the most terrifying evil. Al Pachino did an equally diabolical job in "The Devils Advocate," but Bryne is even more terrifying. Robin Tunney has nothing to do but exchange shameless subtext with Schwarzenegger's character. ("You're better than everyone else, just remember that." "I don't want to be better or worse, I just want to be normal.") She is more of a plot device than an actual character.

Excellent convincing set designs appear frequently, especially near the end where the characters wander through dark chambers and dim hallways. Cinematography also adds a nice touch to the suspenseful, mysterious atmosphere, all done by the movie's director, Peter Hyams ("The Relic"). It is too bad such good filmmaking does not have a story fit enough to back it up. One more thing I just have to mention: Why do the cops always show up at the end of the movie, after the action is over. I am getting very tired of that.

The 1999 movie "End of Days" from writer Andrew W. Marlowe and director Peter Hyams is definitely a noteworthy addition to Arnold Schwarzenegger's impressive movie career, especially since it is a nice change of genre for the action star.

Oddly enough, I think I've only seen "End of Days" three times since 1999, with the most recent being just now here in 2022. But I will say that this movie is very enjoyable and entertaining, and I like that there is much more to the storyline than just having Arnold beat up a bunch of henchmen while getting to the final showdown against whomever wronged him at the end of the movie. So thumbs up to writer Andrew W. Marlowe for the script and storyline in "End of Days". You should keep in mind that this movie is heavy set with a religious theme, just as a heads up.

Visually then "End of Days" is a good movie, lots of great special effects, which were necessary for a fantasy horror movie of this caliber.

I will say that the leading roles of Arnold Schwarzenegger (playing Jericho) and Gabriel Byrne (playing The Man) were interesting casting choices, but they worked out quite well. It was refreshing to see Schwarzenegger in a movie such as "End of Days". And needless to say that the charismatic Gabriel Byrne was just phenomenally well-cast for his role. The movie also have the likes of Udo Kier, Rod Steiger and Luciano Miele on the cast list. Good acting performances from all involved in the movie helped bring the movie to life in a believable manner on the screen.

"End of Days" is a movie that is very much watchable and enjoyable today, 23 years after it was initially released. If you enjoy Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, and haven't already seen "End of Days", then this is definitely a movie I will recommend you track down and watch. It is a way more dark and gritty movie than Schwarzenegger usually starred in.

My rating of "End of Days" lands on a seven out of ten stars.

Peter Hyams' End of Days stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a fired and alcoholic police officer, who is on the edge of sanity and tries to commit suicide very often. He is now private security guard and traps a mysterious sniper who tried to kill one of his clients. Soon he learns that there are some very bad things going on in the city, and the new millennium is very close..It is the last days of December, 1999.

I really liked the scare department in this demonic little horror thriller from this talented director and director of photography, Peter Hyams. This film is full of effective and very ominous images and scenery and the film is very dark. I appreciate perhaps most the shots above the city and the twisted use of camera up there. That really creates a feeling of evil and that something very powerful and wicked is "above the city" and is about to get power. Hyams once again shows his talent as he has been the director of photography many times earlier in his own films. End of Days reminded me occasionally of Alex de la Iglesia's great horror film El Dia de la Bestia (Day of the Beast), a brilliant mix of black comedy and VERY dark imagery and atmosphere. As incredible as it sounds, this mainstream produced film is that effective, thanks to the talented men behind the camera.

There are some flaws, too, and the most irritating things is perhaps the cliche ending, which I definitely won't spoil here, but is without a doubt there only to satisfy the audience and create the safe and familiar Happy Ending. If this was made 20 years ago, the ending would definitely have been different; it would've been how the director wanted to, not hot the audience wanted to. That tones the otherwise great and exciting finale a little bit down, but fortunately it is not as syrupy as possible. Another negative thing that I can tell is the editing which is very fast, unstylishly and ineffectively fast and restless. Fast edits can be great elements if used right and with skill, but in this film, they are in my opinion gratuitously fast and too plenty. Just watch the action scenes and count how many edits there are in one minute. The editors should have realized that sometimes - and in this case - less is more. These "flaws" are still tolerable especially when I keep in mind how many positive points there are in this film.

End of Days is also very exciting and fast paced. The train segment is great and especially the clock ticking finale when the millennium is about to change, is very skillfully created and hold my full attention. The finale is pretty similar to the finale in Kathryn Bigelow's own millennium related film, a paranoid and effective thriller Strange Days (1995). In End of Days, there are also couple of genuinely frightening, scary, sudden and loud "shocks" that require a movie theatre to fully work. The nightmare sequences are also chillingly original and brought to my mind the great horror classics that even Hollywood sometimes produced. The demon which Christine sees in her dreams is very scary and almost as frightening as the similar character in David Lynch's masterwork Lost Highway.

As a horror film, End of Days works fine and creates an atmosphere that is so rare in mainstream films nowadays. I didn't have any expectations when I placed the VHS in my VCR, and so I was pleasantly surprised of what I saw and experienced. If we stay in the 90's, I could say that End of Days is kind of tamer version of Day of the Beast and without its comic elements. There are comic elements in End of Days, too, but those are not, fortunately, the usual Hollywood one-liners and stupid bits of dialogue. Gabriel Byrne over-acts occasionally little, but many guys who play devils seem to have this problem! He is almost as "cool and modern" devil as Al Pacino in Taylor Hackford's Devil's Advocate, a film which also has great atmosphere but is more restrained and drama oriented.

End of Days gets 7/10 from me. Great work again Peter!

Arnold does some good work in this movie. I liked his role as a suicidal/alcoholic/wiseass. I think some people were shocked to hear Arnold speak more than one line at a time in an action movie. ..But for the one-liner lovers you get some good ones like -- Arnie(to the devil)"You're a *bleep*ing CHOIRBOY compare TO ME!!" ...and... Arnie(to his best friend) "Stop being such a P*SSY!"

Also, a good performance was put in by the guy who played Satan. The way he blew up the van....very creative.

The only thing i didn't really like about this movie was the ending. I would have liked to see Arnold win in a different way.

Overall and 8/10. Didn't deserve the bad press it got. There are other action movies like this one that are so much better received for some reason. Religion's a very sensitive subject, so maybe that's where the negative stuff came from.

End of Days is a good movie with a very different storyline and a good cast,with a very strong performance from the always brilliant Arnold Schwarzenegger.I expected this movie to be an action packed movie with an Armageddon type of theme to it,and I wasn't disappointed,but I really didn't expect it to be scary,there are actually some very frightening scenes in this movie,mainly any of Gabriel Byrne's scenes,and its a lot scarier than some of the ridiculous horror movie you would see today that aren't at all frightening.The movie is very unpredictable,and I was surprised it got such bad reviews,I really enjoyed it,it certainly wasn't perfect,but it didn't deserve any Razzie nominations.Arnold Schwarzenegger did a fantastic performance,Gabriel Byrne was very creepy and believable,and Peter Hyams did a great job directing this movie,it looked beautiful,none of them deserved Razzie nominations.Its certainly not Arnold Schwarzenegger's finest film,but fans of the actor will get a great kick out of this movie.

As the world reaches the year 2000,the Devil (Gabriel Byrne) is in search of Christine York (Robin Tunney) to make her his bride,its not up to police officer Jericho Cane (Arnold Schwarzengger) to keep her safe.