Arnold Schwarzenegger's career path changed in the 90's. He began branching out into comedies as the era of macho action faded. His success in that endeavor is a matter of opinion (I think Jingle All the Way was the best comedy he did). But in his filmography of the time is a stand-out, an action/horror movie that was less Predator and more Exorcist. End of Days was the End of Days for Arnie's acting career for about a decade as he focused more on politics and the movie itself was so critically panned that you can see why Arnold may have disappeared from Hollywood for a while. Perhaps he saw that his time was up and he should move on to trying new things. After all, one of the reasons we love Arnold so much is that he will try anything and isn't afraid to fail.And End of Days is a testament to that, I mishmash of genres and ideas that for all intents and purposes shouldn't work. There's a bit of The Exorcist mixed with Y2K conspiracies with a touch of The Mummy's brand of action/horror. There's a bizarre dynamic of typical cop films, Vatican drama, and over-the-top action. Arnold plays a sympathetic character,albeit a two dimensional one, who also happens to be a bad ass killing machine with little care for property damage or manslaughter charges. It's a film that is constantly morphing into something else, providing what turns out to be a good popcorn flick despite all the flaws.Arnold plays Jericho, the typical washed up cop whose family was killed by robbers. During a routine job he is pulled into a world of demons and holy men, a war between good and evil to prevent the end of days. Satan walks the Earth to have a child with a young woman and herald in the apocalypse on Y2K. The Vatican wants to kill the girl to prevent this, Jericho decides he wants to defeat Satan and save her. Thus he faces off with Satanists, members of the Vatican, and eventually takes on Satan himself.The movie is grungy and ugly in a way that compliments the plot. It reminded me a lot of the horror/action comic books of the time. The direction is pretty standard and to tell the truth, the majority of the film is pretty run-of-the-mill. The action is nonstop but none of it is original. The acting is typically pretty bad, though Arnie gives a decent performance by his standards and Gabriel Byrne is a ham as Satan. The only really bad performance was Robin Tunney as Christine, the woman meant to have the devil's child. She was a God-awful choice for a female co-star and even if Arnie isn't giving his charismatic best, he looks positively stellar beside Tunney.What I liked about the movie pretty much comes down to subject matter. I'm a sucker for this kind of religious horror film, especially if done in a more urban fantasy type way. I liked all the ideas presented even if they weren't cohesive enough to make the movie anything less than awkward. But as the definition of a "turn off your brain" film, it works.Another thing I want to point out is that the ending doesn't cop-out. With an ending like the one in the film most movies would go for some sort of ham-fisted plot device to present a happy ending. But instead, End of Days sticks to what happens and feels so much more refreshing for it.End of Days isn't a memorable movie, it arguably isn't even good. But it's a ton of fun and propelled by some silly performances and a script that moves at a breakneck pace. It's formulaic and does nothing new, it's not even scary to tell the truth. But there's a lot of entertainment to be found in it and even if Jericho is two-dimensional, it's nice to see an Arnold Schwarzenegger character with a modicum of backstory, emotion, and motivation.

End of Days (1999): Dir: Peter Hyams / Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel Byrne, Robin Tunney, Kevin Pollack, Udo Kier: Title bears no spiritual truth and the story lacks total understanding of the Biblical account in Revelations. Lame plot has the devil coming to earth possessing a human body and searching for a twenty year old woman who is suppose to be his bride. One could say that a mail order bride is out of the question. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a cop who stumbles across the case and attempts to protect her. He questions his own faith after his wife and son were murdered. Several religious groups try to kill the woman before it gets sidetracked into silliness. It uses action and special effects in an attempt to cover up its pathetic excuse for a plot. Directed by Peter Hyams previously made two laughable Jean-Claude Van Damme action flicks in Sudden Death and Time Cop. With Schwarzenegger grunting and groaning as if constipated, it would appear that a higher profile action star isn't working out for Hyams either. This easily ranks as one of the all-time worst films for either star or director. Gabriel Byrne is laughable as Satan. Robin Tunney plays the dense bride. Kevin Pollack plays Schwarzenegger's partner so that the star's name isn't the only one scarred by this nonsense. With absolutely no clue to its religious rants, this film becomes pointless junk at its overproduced worst. Score: 1 / 10

Peter Hyams​ 's End Of Days is one of those loud, bombastic, stylized Schwarzenegger flicks that's meant to be pure unbridled entertainment. On that level it works amazingly, and nostalgically for me, it's one of my favourite Arnie films. It just has such a palpably evil atmosphere, and good old fashioned supernatural adventure to it that's awesome. Arnie plays Jericho Cane, an alcoholic, tormented private security expert with a sketchy past. When he and his partner (Kevin Pollak) are tasked with protecting a high profile VIP, an assassination attempt is made, and they start to unravel a dark,possible doomsday plot in the making. The man they are protecting (Gabriel Byrne) happens to be none other than Satan himself, hiding in human form, and trying to track down the one girl (Robin Tunny) that he must copulate with before midnight in order to bring about the end of days upon our world. Oh yeah. Byrne brings a gleeful, carefree, alpha male malice to the role, and is one of my favourite cinematic incarnations of the devil ever. Although it's a pretty implausible, fantasy action headbanger, it has a sense of purpose and duty to its own mythology, and takes it seriously, which helps a lot. Hyams also steps in for DP, and there's some truly awesome shots of New York, from dingy back alley chases to helicopter propelled vistas. Schwarzenegger is surprisingly poignant in the role, only allowing his trademark camp to surface once in a while ("you ah ah choiahhboyy compared to me, ah choiahhboyy!!" Is my favourite). Tunny diligently plays the female lead with understandable confusion, but also noble grace when the heat gets hot. Miriam Margoyles is a terrifying little goblin as her evil Aunt with ties to the cult who raised her to be Lucifer's bride. Udo Kier, in his few scenes, is chilling as the head of the cult. The film has a chilling vibe that raises it above the level of other smash and grab Arnie action opuses, a vibe that's almost reminiscent of classic John Carpenter. The eerie soundtrack adds to the haunted house fun,me specially when old Satan first appears in NY as a giant invisible beast and meanders around looking for a human host. If you're looking for slimy supernatural fun anchored by a midnite movie style concept and some awesome at atmospheric chills, look no further.

Jericho Kane finds himself caught in a battle against Satan who has came to Earth to find himself a mother for his son. As the clock winds down toward the fulfillment of a prophecy that would usher in the end of the world. Jericho must protect the girl and save the world from Armageddon.This film starred: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel Byrne & Robin Tunney.END OF DAYS was released in 1999. This is a really bad film in my opinion. I hated this film. Arnie was disgraceful playing a role that he has played a couple of times, a person who works in the emergency services and his family is killed when he can't do anything about it. I'm talking about this film and COLLATERAL DAMAGE. I really don't recommend this film it is a stupid action/horror/thriller whatever this film is. It had potential and blew it all away with stupid acting performances.*/***** Awful.