End of Days (1999)

1 Star (out of 4)

End of Careers

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Director Peter Hyams would have done better to cast Jean-Claude Van Damme in the lead role instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He would then have at least achieved the camp value he captured with the Van Damme vehicles Timecop (1994) and Sudden Death (1995). This End of Days is played straight. And it's no fun. End of Days starts by stealing bad ideas from other movies, then it puts them together in the wrong order and casts the wrong actors to play the parts. In other words, it's one of the worst movies I've seen this year.

Does this sound like a plot that should be played straight? It's New Year's Eve, 1999, and the Devil (Gabriel Byrne) must mate with The Chosen One (Robin Tunney) so that he can take over the world in the next millennium. It's up to suicidal, drunk, ex-cop Schwarzenegger (aptly named "Jericho Cane") to stop him. The story is bad enough, but Hyams (who acts as his own cinematographer) chooses to shoot every scene, even the simplest and most mundane moments, in an excess of short, jumpy shots, giving me a headache instead of a clear look at the action. It's probably just as well though. I don't think I would have liked to get any closer to this movie than I already did. If you're looking for an original film for the millennium see Don McKellar's Last Night instead.