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Technical Information
Studio:
Columbia Tristar Home Video
Year of Theatrical Release: 2000
Disc Format: 1
single-sided, Dual Layer
Image Format: Anamorphic
(16x9 enhanced)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Region Encoding: 1
Sound Format: Dolby
Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 (Pro Logic)
Running Time: 124
minutes
Director: Roger
Spottiswood
Stars: Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Michael Rapaport, Tony Goldwyn
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Disc Supplements:
- Audio Commentary by composer Trevor Rabin with
isolated music score.
- Re-Pet infomercials.
- Talent files and production notes.
- Theatrical trailers.
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What could possibly top a high-budget action
movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger? How about a high-budget
action movie starring two Arnolds? That must have been the thought
going through the producers' minds when they read the script
for The 6th Day.
The movie takes place in "the near future,"
when cloning has become commonplace. The popular (and legal)
form of cloning is of deceased pets and a company cleverly named
RePet provides this service, with boutiques in your local mall.
Human cloning, on the other hand, is strictly
illegal, but this wouldn't be a science fiction action movie
if everyone let a few little laws stop them.
A corporation has decided that it can make
a ton of money by illegally cloning humans. Imagine the possibilities.
For instance, what football team wouldn't want the "insurance"
that the hot new quarterback they just signed to a life time
contract won't ever get injured?
In what can only be considered a blunder of
colossal proportions, the corporation accidentally clones Arnold
Schwarzenegger and fails to destroy the original, leaving two
Arnolds. The remainder of the movie finds Arnold (and Arnold)
trying to determine who cloned him (them?) and why.
After some of the disappointing recent efforts
by Schwarzenneger (such as Eraser and End of Days), The 6th
Day turns out to be a breath of fresh air. It's not up to the
standards of some of his earlier action films, but it's very
well made and entertaining. There are some obvious similarities
between this film and one of Arnold's all-time best, Total Recall,
though the likeness isn't distracting. Rather, The 6th Day seems
to be paying homage to the earlier film
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top |
The DVD presentation is pretty slick, though
due to an inexplicable decision on the part of Columbia Tristar,
the North American audience has been snubbed in terms of extras.
The video side of this disc is outstanding. The
studios keep raising the bar in terms of image quality and The 6th
Day is simply stunning. The colors are rich and vibrant and the
black levels are perfect, keeping the dark scenes dark without losing
detail.
:::back to top |
The Dolby Digital soundtrack is
of comparable quality. There is some nice use of the surround channels,
a lot of booming LFE sound and through it all, the dialog remains
crisp and
clear.
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The extras, as I alluded to above, are a little
weak. I say this only because initial announcement had this title
pegged to be a full-blown special edition. The fact that many of
the expected extras were omitted wouldn't be nearly as irritating
if it didn't appear that they will show up on the overseas version.
What we do get is an isolated music score along
with commentary by composer Trevor Rabin. Also included are two
RePet features, an informercial and a television commercial. These
are simply the full versions of what already appears in the movie
and they are rather amusing. Finally, be sure to check out the theatrical
trailers section for a very cool trailer for the upcoming Final
Fantasy movie.
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I was pretty impressed with The 6th Day the
first time I saw it and this DVD isn't too bad either. With the
lack of extras aside, this is a fine disc and a worthy addition
to any action fan's collection.
:::back to top |
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| It's an Arnold movie, so
you can expect quite a bit of violence. The language isn't overly
harsh, but some of the cloning stuff my be visually unsettling. Supervision
is definitely required for the younger crowd. |
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| -- By Robert Wurth. Copyright
© 2003. |
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