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| The packed, apocalyptic poster for Peter Hyams' End of Days |
QUICK REVIEW:
A New York ex-cop gets his work cut out from him, as Satan comes to the city in search of a bride.
With End of Days, it's easiest to sum up the film's good parts first: For a fan, Arnold Schwarzenegger (Maggie (2015)) exchanging lines such as these:
[Bad guy]: "I'm not afraid to die!"
[Arnold]: "Good! - 'Cus I'm not afraid to kill you!"
- That's good fun. The film also has Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night (1967)) adorning a supporting role, - and some fair action.
But the story is a semi-religious bungle of millennial paranoia and satanism that doesn't really levitate, and some of the elements of the film are simply too kitsch: SPOILER Like Schwarzenegger getting beaten up by an old lady, or Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment (2008-10)) playing Satan, pissing fuel. Also Robin Tunney (Supernova (2000)), the main actress in the film, shows pretty much just one facial expression throughout the film. - And the ending lasts over 40 minutes!
End of Days is written by Andrew W. Marlowe (Hollow Man (2000)) and directed by Peter Hyams (Timecop (1994)).
Related post:
1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Cost: Estimated 83 mil. $
Box office: 211.9 mil. $
= Minor hit
[End of Days premiered November 16 and runs 123 minutes. Sam Raimi, Guillermo Del Toro and Marcus Nispel were in talks for the director's seat for the film before it came down to Hyams, who had a good time directing it. Schwarzenegger hadn't been in a film for two years, since Batman & Robin (1997), reportedly due to a health issue, and was ready to mix it up. He received a hefty 25 mil. $ paycheck for it. The film opened #3 to a 20.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, behind Toy Story 2 (57.3 mil. $) and The World Is Not Enough (23.2 mil. $), and grossed 66.8 mil. $ domestically (31.5 % of the total gross). End of Days is rotten at 11 % with a 3.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of End of Days?
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