As he's currently retired from films, let's assume for the moment that Arnold Schwarzenegger is done with acting. (Insert obligatory "When did he start acting?" joke here.) The man is thought of a big movie star, and there's no doubt that he's been in some huge movies. But, if one examines the end of his career, there are some forgettable films on his resume. Terminator 3 aside, Schwarzenegger's last two starring roles were The 6th Day and Collateral Damage. Given that he was one of the biggest stars in the world, I guarantee that there are people who have never heard of those movies. Before these two films, Arnold made what is arguably the worst film of his career as a star, End of Days.

It's December 1999 in New York City, and the world is preparing for the end of the millennium. Twenty years earlier, a child, bearing a strange mark, was born. The Vatican has been searching for the girl, for it has been prophesized that she will be impregnated with the Devil’s child in the last hour before the start of a new century. Satan arrives in New York and possesses the body of a man (Gabriel Byrne). Persona security guards Jericho Cane (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Bobby Chicago (Kevin Pollak) (Are they serious with these names?) are assigned to protect this man. When an assassin attempts to kill the man, Jericho is surprised to find that the assailant is a priest. Investigating the priest’s shabby home, they find a picture of a young woman. That woman, Christine York (Robin Tunney), is the object of Satan’s desire. Jericho soon finds Christine and stumbles into a world where priests do battle with Satanists. Will this professional bodyguard be able to protect Christine until the stroke of midnight on the 31st?

I can only imagine that the thought process behind End of Days went something like this, “People are already terrified about Y2K, so let’s throw in The Omen for good measure.” If that sounds like an odd combination, it's only an indication of how uneven and confused this movie is.

I don't know much about the making of End of Days (and this release isn't helping), but I know that the script had been around for a while before it was finally produced. I can't help but wonder if the script went through changes once Arnold was attached, because here we have an apocalyptic horror film, complete with all of the trappings...which also happens to be an action movie. There's nothing wrong with mixing genres, but they simply don't gel here. This movie contains a scene in which a Satanic cult sacrifices a snake in order to feed its blood to a baby and a scene in which Schwarzenegger jumps out of a helicopter. I felt as if I were channel-surfing.

And then we have the story itself. With the end of the millennium approaching, it was most likely irresistible to make a movie with a plot like this, and the countdown to the new year is a good plot device. However, the bulk of the movie plays like a rehashing of Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, The Seventh Sign, and The Eighteenth Angel, as it contains all of the cliches from biblical horror movies. Speaking of cliches, how many times have we seen the alcoholic ex-(fill in the blank) who has lost his faith due to a tragedy. In addition, this is yet another movie where the evil powers don't make any sense. Satan can take over the body of a man, cloud the minds of others to do his bidding, and yet he has to torture people to learn Christine's location. Wouldn't he simply know this?

The oddest thing about End of Days is the presence of Arnold himself. Sure, he's made some very violent movies, but this film has a sheen darkness and slime which is palpable. There is no levity to the movie and it only seems to exist to show people being tortured. The film gets no help from yet another film from Director Peter Hyams which is far too dark. It was surprising to see "The Terminator" in this movie nearly a decade ago, and it's even more surprising to see "The Governator" in it today.

The only special feature on the End of Days Blu-ray Disc is an AUDIO COMMENTARY by Director Peter Hyams, who sounds a lot like Gene Hackman. While he leaves some notable gaps in his talk, Hyams does keep things moving. I was very surprised when he said "I've been accused many times of making things too dark." and "I'm in love with shadow." Of course, he didn't admit that it was a flaw, but it was good to hear him say it. He does talk a lot about how the film was shot, but he also comments on the actors and the locations. However, there's not a great deal of attention given to the story.