| Reviews & Columns |
|
Reviews DVD TV on DVD Blu-ray 4K UHD International DVDs In Theaters Reviews by Studio Video Games Features Collector Series DVDs Easter Egg Database Interviews DVD Talk Radio Feature Articles Columns Anime Talk DVD Savant Horror DVDs The M.O.D. Squad Art House HD Talk Silent DVD
|
 DVD Talk Forum |
|
|
| Resources |
|
DVD Price Search Customer Service #'s RCE Info Links |
|
Columns
  
 
|
|
|
6th Day, The
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Like John Travolta, it's not been a particularly good last few years for Arnold Schwartzenegger. Although the action star has several strong successes a few years back with "True Lies" and "Eraser", "End Of Days" and other recent efforts have left his star power at a somewhat questionable level. Although "The 6th Day" didn't particularly do the kind of business that was expected of it, the film showed at least a strong-step in the right direction as Arnold joined with respected director Roger Spottiswoode ("Tomorrow Never Dies") and a strong supporting cast including Robert Duvall.
The film stars Arnold as Adam Gibson, a normal, everyday guy spending time in the future with a nice family and life's usual events arriving. Unfortunately, the family pet passes away and the choice comes up to have the pet taken to "RePet", which offers to bring the passed pet back. Such technical advances as cloned re-pets, creepy dolls and virtual girlfriends are the deal of the day in this "not-too-distant-future".
'
Unfortunately for Adam, he also finds himself in the middle of a scientific plot as he finds that he's been cloned by a secret agency headed by Drucker(Tony Goldwyn). Adam comes home to find...himself, and three of Drucker's drones (Michael Rooker, Rodney Rowland and Sarah Wynter) are after him to erase the original. At this point, the build-up stops and the usual Arnold-style action begins.
"The 6th Day" is not a fantastic picture, but it's certainly a return to form for the action star and slightly better than the usual genre offers. The film's discussion of cloning generally isn't too detailed, and certainly not as fascinating as Andrew Niccol's look at the human gene in "Gattaca", but makes for a film that's not completely without some minor thought-provoking moments. Some of these dialogue-driven sequences are a bit on the lengthy side though, and at 124 minutes, "The 6th Day" could have used an occasionally snappier pace - some of the middle of the films does drag. That, and the special effects and story involved with all of the neat little gadgets that are available in the future are realistic and well-done.
The performances are not stand-outs, but even Schwartzenger is noticably better than he has been in the last couple of films he's starred in - funnier, less wooden. The great Robert Duvall is underused as the scientist who does all of the cloning and the supporting performances by Michael Rooker, Rodney Rowland and Sarah Wynter are decent, but not great. Michael Rappaport also turns in a decent performance as the sidekick. Tony Goldwyn as Drucker doesn't make much of a bad guy, but all of the equipment (neat lasers, etc) that they go after Arnold's character with defnitely are exciting enough.
"The 6th Day" is a an above-average picture - and, actually, a little bit of fixing and it could have been even better. Still, it's a return to form for the action star and an occasionally interesting lok at one vision of what the future might be like.
The DVD
VIDEO: "The 6th Day" is presented in the film's original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and the often breathtaking visual look of the movie is presented quite well with Tristar's impressive anamorphic transfer. Sharpness and detail are never less than excellent, lending the picture a very nice, often "three-dimensional" look. Even the film's night sequences look sharp and well-defined.
I didn't see any glaring imperfections throughout Tristar's presentation of "The 6th Day". A couple of very minor instances of shimmer and a slight speckle or two on the print are the only things that I noticed and even those tiny problems were certainly not distracting. No instances of pixelation or other flaws were noticed.
"The 6th Day" really isn't a very colorful picture, although the color palette used looked accurate and didn't show any flaws. With most of the film's action taking places in offices and cold rooms, colors remain blue and metalic for a good deal of the movie. Some scenes offer a wider range of colors, though. Overall, "the 6th Day" is more of the usual from Tristar, a studio who continues its reputation of providing excellent image quality for their DVD efforts.
The layer change was noticed at 1:11:19.
SOUND: The combination of Schwartzenegger and sci-fi should make for a pretty amazing presentation in Dolby Digital 5.1 and often, "the 6th Day" lives up to expectations. The film is not a consistently action-packed feature, and certain periods of the movie offer a more dialogue and score driven experience than others. Still, when the action becomes more intense, the sound boasts some terrific instances of agressive audio use.
During the film's chase/action sequences, gunfire (or, more specifically, laser fire) and action envelop the viewer with the surrounds agressively offering effects and Trevor Rabin's enjoyable, occasionally intense score. These scenes are presented with an engaging amount of activity and usually do their job at bringing the viewer into the middle of the action. The film's few explosions and more intense sequences also provide solid, if not overpowering, bass. Dialogue also sounded clear with no issues. Not a consistently thrilling presentation, but exciting at its best.
MENUS:: The main menu contains some slight background animation and there are transitions between the main and sub-menus, but nothing too remarkable.
EXTRAS: Originally announced as a special edition with several additional features, an announcement was made sometime later that these features would not end up on the DVD, for reasons unknown. The features that remain are listed below.
Isolated Score/Commentary: This is an isolated score in Dolby Digital 5.1 with commentary from composer Trevor Rabin, who is widely known for his work on several recent Jerry Bruckheimer pictures such as "Enemy Of The State", "Armageddon" and "Remember The Titans". He does provide a fairly good deal of discussion throughout, considering there are breaks in the discussion for some of the pieces of score. Sometimes, he does slightly talk over a bit of music, but really does provide a lot of insight not only about working on the production, but his work in general as a composer. Although not a full-length discussion, Rabin does bring some insight and information to the table and I enjoyed listening to much of what he had to say.
Repet: A Full "Re-Pet" Informerical (2:35) and TV Spot(:46) are included.
Trailers: Trailers are included for "The 6th Day"(Dolby Digital 5.1), "Hollow Man"(Dolby Digital 5.1), "Final Fantasy"(Dolby Digital 5.1) and, one of my favorite movies of the past few years, "Gattaca"(Dolby Digital 5.1).
Also: Talent files.
Final Thoughts: Although the film has its flaws (could have used a bit of editing, etc), it's certainly much better than Arnold's other recent pictures and worth a rental for action fans. Tristar's DVD doesn't dissapoint in terms of audio/video quality, although it isn't quite the special edition it was originally thought to be.
|
| Popular Reviews |
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Release List | Reviews | Shop | Newsletter | Forum | DVD Giveaways | Blu-Ray | Advertise |
|
Copyright 2024 DVDTalk.com All Rights Reserved. Legal Info, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use,
Manage Preferences,
Your Privacy Choices 
| |||||||