End Of Days
Cinematic portrayals of The Devil have been far ranging over the years going back to the silent movie days and continuing up until now where at one point or another it seemed that every top name actor wanted to take a crack at it whether it be Jack Nicholson going completely over the top in Witches Of Eastwick or Robert DeNiro’s much more cerebral (and effective) approach in Angel Heart or Al Pacino’s life of the party with a touch of self awareness in Devil’s Advocate (arguably the best of the bunch and certainly the most entertaining). When it came time to do a Devil themed horror film in 1999 (the end of the millennium when people were legitimately freaking out over the apocalyptic possibilities of such a time) with a director like Peter Hyams (a journeyman for sure who at least had the balls to do a direct sequel to a Kubrick movie with his 2010) at the helm, they decided to go with Gabriel Byrne, certainly a very accomplished name who had more than proven himself in the years prior to this, establishing his presence early on in the film as being somebody who could intimidate at will with merely a stare. However, Byrne was not really somebody whom people would stand in line around the corner to see him play the part (as they most certainly did with Pacino). But then again, Byrne was not to be the top billed star in what would actually be an action / horror film. That distinction would go to none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger (certainly the greatest action star of all time and also very underrated as an actor given his still lingering Austrian accent) cast in the hero role here which enabled the advertising campaign to hype up the film by proclaiming “Arnold vs The Devil!” and which even saw Schwarzenegger go on WWF Smackdown and have a confrontation with Triple H resulting in Arnold beating the pro wrestler down in order to promote the film. For Schwarzenegger, the whole thing amounted to being a major comeback for him as not only had he not made a movie in 2 years at that point, but the previous movie in question had actually been Batman And Robin, an unmitigated disaster on every level that had both destroyed The Batman Franchise AND every other potential comic book superhero property at that time and caused untold embarrassment to himself, Clooney and the other big names involved (not to mention effectively killing Alicia Silverstone’s blossoming career stone cold dead). On a personal level, Arnold had also recently had heart surgery which had precluded many producers from offering him action roles even though he had gotten a clean bill of health until finally he received the offer for this film. The movie opens in 1979 with The Pope (character acting legend Mark Margolis) being informed by his people that a certain alignment in the stars has occurred which means only one thing: that the birth of the baby girl who is to bear the child of Satan which will bring about the end of the world has occurred. As The Pope sends emissaries worldwide to seek the girl out with orders to protect her and not to kill her, we notice a fat, scary looking nurse (Miriam Margoyles) sneaking the baby down to the hospital basement where an apparent Satanic High Priest (Udo Kier) who also appears to double as being another doctor at the hospital slices open a live snake and forces the little baby to taste its blood, thus deeming her as “the one” to take Satan’s seed when she grows older. Flash forward 20 years as the girl (Robin Tunney) is now grown and being raised by the same fat nurse whom it appears had 1) murdered her mother, 2) married her father to become her stepmother and 3) murdered her father to become the sole legal guardian of her. Meanwhile, we finally meet Schwarzenegger’s Jericho Cane (ha), a suicidal ex cop who it appears puts a gun to his head daily after his family had been murdered by criminals whom he had testified against in order to put them away. Now he works as the chief badass at a private security firm alongside his best friend and partner (Kevin Pollak) with their latest assignment being to watch the back of some random Wall Street stockbroker who apparently has an enemies list (Byrne, whose actual character name remains anonymous and for good reason as it adds to his mystique) not knowing that this same guy (like Tunney) was really born for a specific purpose, that being having Satan’s spirit enter him just days before New Year’s Eve, effectively killing the original person he had once been but now appearing to be able to do whatever he feels like doing including kissing another man’s wife in public while grabbing her tit before sealing the deal and quelling any hard feelings by inducing the restaurant to blow up mere seconds after walking out of it. Eventually he locates Kier’s doctor / high priest (and proceeds to help himself to both the man’s wife and daughter) while Schwarzenegger and Pollak after foiling an assassination attempt on Byrne’s life track down the shooter only to discover that he’s really a former high level priest gone completely insane (Derrick O’Connor) and eventually finds the intended girl herself, scared out of her wits from having suffered through dreams and visions her whole life but now knowing that whatever dark purpose which she was meant to be a part of is now about to come true. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Hyams’ work as a director here is that despite the obvious horror movie premise, he still manages to utilize Arnold correctly, employing a number of high octane action scenes to play up his star’s strengths while at the same time mixing it successfully with the horror elements at work. In fact, if it wasn’t for the action movie components, this would actually play out as being a pretty dark, depressing movie with just a touch of nihilism to it. It’s certainly shot with a lot of dark lighting by Hyams (who also does DP work on all of his movies) which was something that Arnold actually objected to when it came to the look of the film. But it’s appropriate in many ways as it pertains to portraying Arnold as a somewhat “dark hero”, having become an atheist over the death of his family and still clinging to that disbelief when he clashes with a priest (Rod Steiger bringing a ton of acting credibility to the table here) whom it turns out is a key player in trying to prevent the apocalypse from happening. Schwarzenegger does falter a bit in some of his more emotional scenes here whereas a more polished actor might have done better (although his usual commanding screen presence is undeniable) while Byrne excels at keeping his version of The Devil rather understated to say the least, possessing the ability to whisper in other people’s ears from afar and even non chalantly killing off his own followers when they fail to do his bidding even though he does seem to almost find a kinship with Arnold’s bitter, darkened soul (easily the most potent element of the script). But when Byrne’s Devil is given the chance to monologue a bit on his views of God and The Bible, he does come dangerously close to copying Pacino’s legendary speech from Devil’s Advocate all while offering Arnold the seemingly impossible feat of reuniting him with his wife and daughter in exchange for his cooperation and the chance to serve at his side. As good as the mindgames are at times between the two main characters, the story does offer up the ridiculous sight of Byrne’s Devil having Arnold dead to rights (or rather just plain dead) for not wanting to do business and deciding to let him live instead by subjecting Arnold to a “punishment” that is more symbolic and stupid rather than doing the smart thing which would have been to finish his adversary off (although some may connect these actions as to being Byrne’s Devil wanting to leave Arnold as still “available” should he decide to change his mind), a plot ploy which has ruined many a lesser movie and does come close to sinking this one were it not for Arnold mounting up his usual weaponry and engaging in World War 3 with his Satanic opponent on the streets and subways of New York City making for a wild and surprisingly emotional finale that certainly separates it from a lot of Arnold’s other work and really solidifying the idea that much of Arnold’s success in the cinematic realm can be attributed to him working with those people who straight up just had some great CONCEPTS for him to work with in his (mostly) action oriented filmography and here he scores yet again with one of his better (and darker) efforts…
8/10