Arnold Swarzenegger is back on the screen in a different action role. In End of Days, he plays a vulnerable, down and out ex-cop, Jericho Cane, who numbs his grief and guilt over the murder of his wife and daughter by drinking himself into near suicide. Jericho, who supervises a crew of highly trained security mercenaries, reluctantly winds up protecting a young woman, Christine York (Robin Tunney), who is destined to be the ritual bride of Satan (Gabriel Byrne). If the dark lord consummates with Christine, she will bear the anti-Christ, and our world will be cast into evil. This opportunity only arises at the turn of every millennium.

The film's early stages unfold with original and gripping action. In one sequence, Arnold goes through stunt hoops galore dangling from a Helicopter while it whips him around and up and down.

The film ends in an ultimate heroic sacrifice to save Christine and all of us from an unspeakable fate. In a moment of revelation, Jericho sheds his despair and rage to obtain the purity of heart and realize the right action to defeat Satan. This is powerful and symbolic. Combining deeper spiritual and psychological issues, including an action star who questions the way he uses his guns and fists, with a great fiery spectacle delighted and terrified us. End of Days is one of those haunting films that leaves one reeling with images and thoughts. Restless visions from the film pursued Anna-Maria’s dreams all through the night, and we both found ourselves engrossed in continued conversation first thing in the morning. We hope End of Days opens the doors for more depth and thematic richness in action flicks.

As much as we like this film, we think it could have been even better. From our review of the official website and other information, this movie was, like so many others, developed from a clever idea to put Arnold against the ultimate adversary, the devil himself. To add appeal to the film, it was themed and timed to deal with the approaching millennial shift and our latent fears that seem to come with it. In principle, we have no objection to developing a cinematic story in this way. This is the staple of the Hollywood development cycle. We also have no quibble with timing a movie to take advantage of natural emotional ripples, even storm waves washing through our collective unconscious. We do, however, believe that a movie that successfully marries serious psychological and spiritual exploration with action spectacle needs to achieve a higher level of attainment than required in less ambitious or simpler movies.

End of Days doesn't capitalize on the power of its story because none of the main characters show a significant internal conflict. We are given no hint of the source of Jericho’s courage and integrity as someone who must ultimately rediscover faith in order to resist or fight the devil. The devil, on the other hand, meanders from being a seducer who sniffs out the dark secrets in our hearts and thus wins us over, to being a force behind mindless death and explosions. It is the devil’s ability to seduce, more than his brute force, that haunts us. In the most powerful scene in the film, Satan tries to tempt Jericho to give up the location of the bride-to-be. This is where the devil takes on real dramatic power and moves beyond a comic book bad guy. He actually makes an enthralling argument that God is the one who dispenses senseless injustice that took away Jericho’s family. Jericho resists the devil in a fight scene, which he wins through trickery, not power. Because even the fists or firepower of the mighty Jericho are no match against Satan, we expected and hoped for more emotional and psychological warfare.

Christine is another character that cries for more development. Her name implies that she is the feminine form of Christ. However, she is not meant to be a Christ, but to be the mother of the anti-Christ. She was ritually baptized in snake blood and raised by satanic minions. All of this is potentially powerful, but Christine hardly rises above the role of an empty vessel. Without diminishing the impact of the action sequences, there could have been great tension within Christine’s soul, between her and the folks who raised her, between her and the devil, and between her and Jericho

It is easy enough to excuse lapses in continuity with "ah, come on, its just a movie". Even great films have aspects that show the strain of trade off for dramatic effect. In End of Days, it seems as though the holes and lapses stifle the dramatic heart beat of what the film is intending to convey. In so doing, End of Days loses the power that lies in the subtext. We fear that the success of this movie might be tainted by the short cuts in its story development.

All of our misgivings said, we were tickled with the clever word play between Jericho and his sidekick Chicago played by Kevin Pollak. Kevin Pollak is, as we all know, a master wry comedian. In this role, he downplays his sarcastic bent in a blend of loyalty and help for Jericho that added relief to the drama and made for some powerful moments. There is some great chemistry between Pollack and Arnold that is ripe for picking. We think this could be the beginning of something beautiful.

We were also pleased with the integrity of presenting a divided Catholic Church. Some priests were bent on killing Christine (perhaps akin to the Pharisees who persecuted Christ). Other priests were committed to protecting Christine because evil is never defeated by evil, only purity of heart and faith. Any reader of our reviews knows that we share many common misgivings about the position and role of the Catholic Church. That said, though, as lovers of cinematic stories, we admire the integrity to avoid shallow stereotypes.

Lastly, it is a treat to see and hear the talents of Rod Steiger in the role of an ex-alcoholic priest who fights to save both Christine and Jericho.

We think that anyone who likes action will be gripped by End of Days. We came out pleased. We are suitably haunted and stimulated to conversation and exploration by this film. We hope you will be also.