The 6th Day

It's been downhill ever since.

According to Hollywood, that is, by way of cobbled-up, mostly mindless, purile wetwork passed off as High Art called 'Sci-Fi'.

The status quo of Hollywood movie-making says thus: No matter how screwed up the world, never, ever mess with the laws of science. If you do dire consequences await: You end up with an odd number of socks, you can't find your car keys, and telemarketers will hound you during the dinner hour.

Not to mention the biggie: A clone of yourself you didn't know existed.

That, albeit sarcastically stated, is the premise of Arnold Schwarzenegger's new movie, "The 6th Day".

In the not-so distant future you can have your dead pet cloned, to forever live with you, but doing the double number on yourself is a no-no.

Well, legally.

There is, for lack of a better term, in the near future, a black market for human clones.

And it is this market that drives what pretends to be the plot of this high-tech, no-brainer, big-budget, blow-out.

Consider as example of this one Johnny Phoenix, a professional quarterback who is paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars a season to play ball.

That is, he would but for one thing: He's brain-dead after a game injury.

Not a problem within the context of "The 6th Day", though. Because within days of the plug being pulled on this jock--what do you know? He's back, slinging the pigskin.

And how is this possible? Because of the aforementioned black market on human clones.

Which doesn't seem to have anything to do with Adam Gibson (Schwarzenegger), a helicopter pilot who, with his buddy, Hank (Michael Rapaport), air shuttle well-to-do skiers to high slopes.

Or does it?

Almost faster than you can say 'primordial ooze' we learn certain facts necessary to building this idiotic cinematic house of cards: Adam has a good life, but it is marred by the death of the family pet: The dog Oliver. Adam considers having the dog cloned. But should he?

Ask Hank. Hank has what could be called 'Clinton morals': He enjoys life with a computer-generated holographic Perfect Woman, and would love to have more than just a chip to get it on with.

Enter: Cloning.

In "The 6th Day", to keep movie-goers from noticing the otherwise absent plot, cloning doesn't bother with the basics--a cloned fertilized egg. They go straight for the big time: Something called "blanks": Basic material that requires nothing more than a quick eye scan to replicate a pet.

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