Fim dos Dias

Listen, it's been more than a decade and we don't get movies like this anymore. The movie is dark, doesn't pull it's punches, full of action, VFX sort of holds up. Violence and gore is just the right amount.

I don't know what else to say, it's Arnold vs Satan and it delivers. Arnie gives his best performance of career and other characters don't really matter. Satan is all powerful but in meat body.

Sadly not many people are watching this and it's not popular on Netflix or prime. I had a blast on a weekend watching this with beer and fried chicken. You can do that too!

As we approach the turn of the millennium, the Devil seeks to fulfill the prophecies about the birth of the Antichrist, looking for a bride in New York. Directed by Peter Hyams, with a script by Andrew W. Marlowe, this film has Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel Byrne and Robin Tunney in the main roles.

One of the last films of the past millennium, it precisely addresses the end of it and the apocalyptic prophecies about that. It's a quite grim film, which puts the audience in suspense from the very beginning. The dark picture helps to amplify these feeling, with the most scenes taking place at night or on foggy or rainy days in New York, depicted like a real and decadent "sin city". The darkest character is undoubtedly the Devil, but the police fighting against him (played by Schwarzenegger) also has to face his own demons: alcohol, deep depression, lack of faith and lack of self-confidence, in a double combat, physical and psychological.

The film has great action scenes which strangely cohabit with several heavier scenes, almost terror. In fact, this is the major flaw of the film: it lives in a permanent dilemma between terror and action, thriller and suspense. We cannot say it's a horror movie or a thriller, or action. It's a mixture of all, which ends up easily displeasing the public looking for just one (particularly the terror lovers, as the film never gets to scare us truly). The climax is very interesting, makes good use of special visual and sound effects, manages to surprise and not be predictable, but some of the effects (the monster) are so "cliché" and far-fetched that destroy what was good.

The work of the actors is fairly good. This film marks the end of a comedy decade in Schwarzenegger's career, and he seems convincing in his role and doesn't make mistakes, giving another proof of versatility. He wanted, truly, show that it's not only a lot of muscles, and he succeeded. Robin Tunney looks a bit bland and hysterical in the role of Christine. Byrne made an interesting devil, very calm and cold, able to boot chills through the simple look. The soundtrack doesn't stand out particularly, with the exception of "Agnus Dei", it's main music, combining incidental chords with small arrangements of Gregorian chant.

I liked this film.it's sort of in a similar vein as the original The Omen(1976)and it has a fair amount of thrilling scenes.there's lots of action.the acting is good all around. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars ,with Robin Tunney and Kevin Pollock.Gabriel Byrne who also starred in Stigmata the same year,is in this film as well.the rest of the supporting cast is also very good.for me,this supernatural thriller is exactly that.it's very thrilling and dark,although there are some amusing bits to to release the tension.if you like this movie,i would recommend the original Omen(1976)and the remake (2006 for me,End of Days is a 7/10

Hyped to the heavens when it first came out as Schwarzenegger's comeback movie, this 1999 film steers the Governor away from his attempts at comedy and collaborations with Danny Devito and back into the sort of action packed carnage that made his name in the first place. However, where the likes of Commando had him portraying invincible supermen with a neat array of guns and one liners to hand, End of Days is considerably darker.

Set in New York on the eve of Millennium, the film shows a version of the Austrian Oak previously never witnessed. He plays Jericho Cane, an alcoholic ex-Cop in charge of a security squad who finds himself embroiled in a battle to save a young girl (Robin Tunney) from being raped by the devil (a sadly, rather ineffective Gabriel Byrne) and bringing about Armageddon. As you do.

Cane himself is not the best sort of man for saving all creation either. He is mired in deep depression, has abandoned any faith in God he may have once had and when we first see him, is contemplating suicide. However, saving the girl gives him a drive and determination even when faced with some conflicting views from the Catholic Church about how best to go about this. All of this takes place in a very grim and gritty vision of New York where the rain never stops falling, urban decay is rife and pillars of steam rise from manhole covers. It is a fitting location for the end of all creation to begin and cast a dark veil over the flick.

Of course, that isn't to say the film is all doom and gloom as there are a few glimpses of just how seriously the makers weren't taking their project (the argument between Arnold and Kevin Pollack in the former's apartment is hilarious). Plus, while the story and characters are all developed to match the atmosphere of impending dread during the first hour and a half, the last twenty minutes are made up of the kind of explosive action that strangely doesn't jar against the grimmer nature of the rest of the film, though the CGI devil at the climax is pushing it a little.

All in all, an enjoyable romp for fans of the Governator before his attention was diverted by a political career. It compares well to his classic eighties work by trying to do something different and while it may not gel properly in places, for a good 80% of the running time it does a very entertaining job.

END OF DAYS / (1999) **1/2 (out of four)

By Blake French:

"End of Days" is the first movie to seriously argue that "666" the numerical sign of the devil, is actually a 999 upside-down. Since the film was first released in 1999, the movie could not resist to throw in that little contrivance. What can you expect from a movie when its premise is based on the concept that once every thousand years if Satan impregnates a woman during the hour from 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. on the last day of the millennium, she will give birth to the anti-Christ who will bring the world to an end? I am already thinking that the movie is vulnerable to logic (is the time given in Eastern Standard?) and it will make its own limitations at the convenience of plot. "End of Days" is particularly graphic in its use of violence, but never really scares us, even with such a horrifying premise like the end of humanity.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has not made a good movie in a long time. First "Jingle all the Way," then "Batman & Robin," now we have a movie that bounces back and forth between action and concept. There are the standard "action movie scenes," where a person sways from a helicopter in mid air, where a chase scene takes place at incredible heights, where someone grasps to a high window ledge, where a subway train crashes, where a massive fire erupts in Manhattan, and so on. There are also the false shocko moments followed with a sudden burst of loud, startling music: the its just a cat scene, its just another cop scene, its just a dream scene, its just your imagination scene, he's not really dead scene, and its just maggots suddenly growing out of an apple scene. The movie is also bound by philosophy. The action is focused towards Schwarzenegger saving the world, but he cannot do that all by himself, can he? Sure he can, if he can stop Satan (Gabriel Bryne), from impregnating Christine (Robin Tunney), who was born under the religious sign of a passing comet -- and based on her birth twenty years earlier during the sighting of that comet – is the chosen mother of Satan's child.

"End of Days" begins with an intriguing, although plausible, premise. The bizarre events that transpire a few days before the end of the millennium immediately inspire our curiosity. The action sequences are also fine, intensified by thrilling music and a fast paced style. The movie opens on a good note, and the remainder of the action sequences are also quite exciting. The scenes also inspire a few questions. Satan kills many people in this movie, people just like the hero, so why doesn't he just finish Arnold Schwarzenegger off like he does with so many other characters. On the other side, Schwarzenegger shoots the devil, who pulls his shirt up so we can see the bullet holes immediately healing. When using a machine-gun, the ammunition flings the Prince of Darkness backward and puts him down before he attacks again. There are simply no rules to abide by here.

"End of Days" does not have a whole lot of explanation; it plays sort of like your run of the mill action picture with the gimmick of the week. There just is not a lot of true involvement or engagement after the premise. We do care about Arnold Swarzzenegger's character, and Gabrial Bryne is an especially convincing Satan. He is devilish, with fiendish appeal, proving that tranquillity is the most terrifying evil. Al Pachino did an equally diabolical job in "The Devils Advocate," but Bryne is even more terrifying. Robin Tunney has nothing to do but exchange shameless subtext with Schwarzenegger's character. ("You're better than everyone else, just remember that." "I don't want to be better or worse, I just want to be normal.") She is more of a plot device than an actual character.

Excellent convincing set designs appear frequently, especially near the end where the characters wander through dark chambers and dim hallways. Cinematography also adds a nice touch to the suspenseful, mysterious atmosphere, all done by the movie's director, Peter Hyams ("The Relic"). It is too bad such good filmmaking does not have a story fit enough to back it up. One more thing I just have to mention: Why do the cops always show up at the end of the movie, after the action is over. I am getting very tired of that.