END OF DAYS - Blu-ray review

I remember going on a double date on the opening of "End of Days." I believe it was my friend Jon who managed to persuade everybody into going to see this particular film, which is quite an achievement considering getting not one, but two women to see an Arnold Schwarzenegger film is pretty darn impressive. Jon is a charismatic person, but I think he lost a bit of trust among the rest of us when the closing credits began to crawl. From what I remember, I do not believe anybody particularly enjoyed the film, but Jon and I both agreed that being Satan might not be all that bad after watching Gabriel Byrne's performance.

For the second time in two years I revisit this demonic film; this time around on the Blu-ray format and just a couple years after watching it on HD-DVD. Much of the details of the film had escaped me since the film opened and I had remembered most of the details two years ago and now I am discovering little details I did not see before. "End of Days" is the centerpiece of a trilogy of bad films in the Governator's career is something that cannot be forgotten. "Batman & Robin," "End of Days" and "The 6th Day" was a far cry from the days of "True Lies," "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and "Total Recall." But with the muscular Austrian taking residence in the Governor's Mansion in California, we have been deprived of his heavily accented one-liners and I was eager to see a film by the action star that I had only seen once before.

Watching the film a third time, "End of Days" has moved beyond being a painful experience to being more of a guilty pleasure. It has become entertainment. Kevin Pollack is a highly affable sidekick as Bobby Chicago. The actor has made a career out of playing second fiddle and his role in this film is just as good as his parts in "A Few Good Men," "The Usual Suspects," and other films over the past two decades. Gabriel Byrne played as suave a Satanic Lord as you will ever see on film. I love the scene that occurs just after he is possessed by Satan. Byrne's character leaves the bathroom, grabs the breast of an attractive blonde and offers her a highly passionate kiss while she dines with her husband. If I were the Devil, I think that is how I would walk the Earth. Robin Tunney is a weak love interest as Christine York and admittedly, I was far from impressed with her performance. Rod Steiger has a great cameo as the helpful and prophetic knowing Father Kovak.

Arnold is Jericho Cane, a police officer that has fallen from grace after the murder of his wife and daughter. He forms up a security service with his best friend Bobby Chicago and the two are highly successful, but the opening scene finds Jericho contemplating suicide. His emotional existence has hit rock bottom and what better way to life one's spirits than to have to do battle against Lucifer, himself. Satan has come to take a flesh vessel (Byrne) and produce a human offspring within a one hour timeframe that happens only once in a millennium. The one who is chosen to be the mother of Satan's child is Christine. She has dreamed of making love to the Devil since she was a child. Though his thick accent, Jericho Cane becomes the only person who can stop the devil.

The plot and action sequences are pretty much over the top in "End of Days." Gabriel Byrne's character has the physical ability to strike a mortal human and completely destroy their physical form. However, the Termin… err… Jericho can sustain a tremendous amount of physical damage from Dark Lord. The fact he can stand up to Byrne's Satan for any amount of time is extremely amazing, but completely against everything else detailed in the film. The final sacrifice, when Jericho finally defeats Satan after the clock has struck the top of the hour does make a bit of sense, but the entire conflict between Jericho and Satan is just poorly written and since these moments represent a solid third of the film and once you understand the rest of the ‘Prophecy,' the rest becomes redundant, "End of Days" ends up being a repetitious and silly action film.

Arnold is not provided with a lot of cool guns or weapons. He gets to brawl around with Gabriel Byrne onscreen and I'm sure that is something most people find as entertainment – Conan vs. Uther Pendragon. Keanu Reeve's recent "Constantine" has similar themes, but makes the idea of conflict between mortals and demons far more entertaining. There are still some snappy one-liners from Arnold and Rod Steiger, Kevin Pollack and Gabriel Byrne add light to a dark film as they all portray curious characters who provide enough entertainment to sit through the film until it ends. Arnold is Arnold, but we've all come to like his standard ‘Action Hero' template that he has perfected. Had the large Austrian replaced Keanu Reeves in "Constantine," we would have had one hell of a fun film.

Video:

"End of Days" is a very dark picture. Much of the film takes place at night – notably between Eleven PM and Midnight on December 31st, 1999. There is a scene or two early in the film that takes place in daylight, but after that, practically everything takes place in the shadows. That is where demons prefer to walk. The 2.35:1 framed film looks very good in its MPEG-4 transfer. Relying heavily on dark scenes and demanding strong shadow detail and black levels, "End of Days" succeeds. There are a few instances where color is allowed some screen time and the transfer displays the pretty colors rather nicely, but there is a lot of blacks and browns in "End of Days" and Arnold and Byrne are both clad in dark clothing throughout the film. Detail is fairly strong, but during many of the darker scenes, the lighting does not allow for the strongest level of detail. There are some moments that are quite striking – the scene involving Arnold being ‘crucified' comes to mind as looking extremely good. Comparing this release to the HD-DVD title, "End of Days" looks identical.

Sound:

The film was released onto HD-DVD with an early Dolby TrueHD soundtrack and it sounded fairly impressive. Universal has moved towards the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 format and I did not notice much difference, if any, between the two high definition releases. The front channels are active throughout the film and deliver strong sound. The mix is quite bass heavy and the .1 LFE channel is given a lot to do during the film. However, the film does not utilize the rear surrounds as much as one would expect a horror/action film, but there are a couple nice ambient moments when the rear surrounds come alive. Dialogue is fairly strong and the bigger problem is deciphering some words with Arnold's heavy accent. The soundtrack for "End of Days" is not as aggressive or enveloping as many other high-budget action films, but it still sounds pretty good.

Extras:

The bonus materials are a disappointment when you compare the film to its previous incarnations and many of the items from the HD-DVD release did not make it to the new Blu-ray version. Only the Feature Commentary with Director Peter Hyams is included on the BD-25 platter. Hyams does a good job on the commentary track and is very personable and interesting and gives a lot of information on the making of the film. Missing are the trailer, some promotional and making-of features and the interesting "Book of Revelation" feature. Universal does tout the My Scenes feature, but I consider that basic function these days. Bonus materials are definitely a disappointment.

Closing Comments:

I have now watched "End of Days" three times. I first saw it in theaters and was not overly impressed with the title. When I watched it a second time on HD-DVD I found it to have become passable entertainment since my first experience with the film. The third time was the charm and I found it to be a guilty pleasure and worth passing my time with. However, the new Blu-ray release is a bit of a disappointment as Universal has crammed the title onto a single Blu-ray platter and tossed aside the bonus materials that were previously included. The technicals are different, but the sound and video are essentially identical. If you have the ability to play the HD-DVD version of the film, I'd recommend you try and find that one before it disappears forever, because this Blu-ray release just isn't as good as the previous HD-DVD release.