Plot
At the end of the century, Satan visits New York in search of a bride. It's up to an ex-cop who now runs an elite security outfit to stop him.

Release Year: 1999

Rating: 5.5/10 (53,025 voted)

Critic's Score: 33/100

Director: Peter Hyams

Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel Byrne, Robin Tunney

Storyline
On December 28th, 1999, the citizens of New York City are getting ready for the turn of the millennium. However, the Devil decides to crash the party by coming to the city, inhabiting a man's body, and searching for his chosen bride, a 20-year-old woman named Christine York. [If he bears her child between 11:00 PM and midnight on New Year's Eve], the world will end, and the only hope lies within an atheist ex-cop named Jericho Cane, who no longer believes in God because of the murder of his wife and daughter.

Cast:
Arnold Schwarzenegger - Jericho Cane
Gabriel Byrne - The Man / Satan
Robin Tunney - Christine York
Kevin Pollak - Bobby Chicago
CCH Pounder - Detective Margie Francis
Derrick O'Connor - Thomas Aquinas
David Weisenberg - OB / GYN
Rainer Judd - Christine's Mother
Miriam Margolyes - Mabel
Udo Kier - Head Priest
Victor Varnado - Albino
Michael O'Hagan - Cardinal
Mark Margolis - Pope
Jack Shearer - Kellogg
Rod Steiger - Father Kovak

Taglines: The end is near

Official Website: Universal [United States] |

Release Date: 24 November 1999

Filming Locations: Altadena, California, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $83,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $20,523,595 (USA) (28 November 1999) (2593 Screens)

Gross: $209,300,000 (Worldwide)

Runtime: 121 min

Trivia:
Was the last movie to be pressed in the laserdisc format in the United States.

Goofs:
Factual errors: In talking about the End of Days, Father John says that the Gregorian Monks created the Gregorian Calendar in order to be able to correctly identify when the Apocalypse was going to happen (1999). In reality, there is no such monastic order as the Gregorian Monks. The Gregorian calendar was actually named for Pope Gregory XIII, who was Pope when the calendar was first implemented in 1582. The calendar was adopted because the old Julian calendar was slightly too long, and the date of Easter was slowly drifting forward.

Quotes:
Father Kovak: Do you believe in God?
Jericho Cane: Maybe once, not anymore.
Father Kovak: What happened?
Jericho Cane: We had a difference of opinion. I thought my wife and daughter should live. He felt otherwise.

Darker than your average action film

Rating: 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.

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