End Of Days

Arnold Schwarzenegger fights the devil. That’s the log line to 1999’s End of Days. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fights. The devil. You bet your ass my entire family went and saw this together for our annual Thanksgiving Trip To The Movies in 1999. We were all excited too! In our house, especially at that time, Arnold was an A+ brand even despite a few hiccups here and there (My mom is a Christmas enthusiast so Jingle All The Way was easy watching, and I’m a Batman enthusiast/sadist who openly admits that once while on acid I watched Batman & Robin twice in one sitting).

I remember us all liking the movie well enough, none of us were over the moon for it, as it was definitely a much darker kind of movie that Arnold had made up until that point, which was an adjustment.

Subsequent viewings proved the film to not be as intense or even good as my initial memories had me thinking, but still, I bought the DVD and eventual blu ray because….because well Arnold Schwarzenegger fights the devil! And I need that movie. I need it.

Spoilers for End of Days to follow.

It had been quite a while since I last watched End of Days, and while the usual wave of joy that washes over me anytime I watch a big budget Hollywood Horror Movie from the 90s (See also: The Devil’s Advocate) was flowing freely, I had also noticed a large dose of nostalgia. I mentioned before that my entire family had gone to see the movie in theaters and at least initially we were all excited to do so. As this recent viewing continued I began to realize it was the last time an Arnold movie felt like an event (Terminator 3, while better than it has any right to be, always felt like a cash grab and not an actual event). Movie going was a church-like experience for my family, our safe space, and so when one of the big Movie Stars at the time had something come out, we were there opening weekend. It’s a time in my life I remember with great affection, and I remember being so excited to see Arnold kick Ol’ Beelzebub to the curb.

A little context on where Arnold’s career was at this point; In 1996 he had his last true hit based solely on star power with Eraser. That year also saw Jingle All the Way, which like it or not has become a bit of a fan favorite of Christmas movies. 1997 brought the debacle known as Batman & Robin, the film that killed Batman at the movies for a solid 8 years. Luckily for Arnold though, it was more the Batman brand that took a hit in esteem rather than his star power.

And so, with his Box Office clout still in good standing, Universal Pictures green lit End of Days, a $100 million, R-rated supernatural thriller that was supposed to be Arnold’s bid to star in more adult driven pictures as the action star’s age was catching up with him. In the end, the film opened up against mega sequel Toy Story 2 and the James Bond hit The World Is Not Enough. Even with that competition, the movie grossed $65 million domestically and over $210 million worldwide. Not a bomb by any means, but not exactly the blockbuster that was hoped for either.

Anyway, my point is that End of Days now feels like an unofficial Swan Song to Arnold’s glory days; his last big budget star vehicle that made some money (The 6th Day was DOA and Collateral Damage had 9/11 hanging over its head). That alone is worth the purchase for me, but it just so happens that the movie features what is arguably one of Arnold’s best performances.

That’s right, Arnold is actually really good at playing Jericho, an alcoholic/suicidal super security agent (!) that protects high profile clients for top dollar. And yes, that all sounds ridiculous. And it is! There’s this weird marriage of bizarre lunacy and traditional Arnold tropes. The star is slinging one liners left and right (and solving mysteries with an ease that would make Sherlock Holmes jealous), but he’s also believably mourning the loss of his wife and daughter that were murdered by the criminals Jericho testified against (!!). Schwarzenegger is giving us his all in these dramatic scenes, and I’m always surprised to see how vulnerable he lets himself get when I watch this movie. He even allows himself to get the shit beat out of him throughout the picture. It hurts to see your heroes fall, especially with 15 years of action stardom under their belt, and Arnold knew exactly how to play with his own image and get the audience to really accept this performance, and I think he totally kills it.

As for the movie itself? It’s OK. There are some genuinely exciting set pieces, one in particular involving a helicopter in downtown New York (OG stunts just hit different) and a fight where Arnold takes on a dozen or so goons that had me genuinely tense, but other than that and Arnold’s performance there isn’t much about End of Days that stands out. The insane premise never really reaches the levels of insanity you’re probably hoping for, and worst of all, Gabriel Byrne is a total bore as the Prince of Darkness.

And yet I can’t help but feel a fondness for this movie. It’s certainly not like it’s the last movie Schwarzenegger made that I enjoyed (Terminator: Dark Fate, Escape Plan and The Last Stand are all super fun) but it’s the last time one of my favorite movie stars still felt like one of the biggest stars on the planet.

So why did I buy End of Days?

I bought it because it takes me back to a time when I believed that if Satan himself came up from Hell, Arnold Schwarzenegger would have no problem slapping that bitch back from wence he came.