As Arnie films go, it was okay, nothing too over the top, some good, all
round, action, a few chases, some fisty-cuffs, and a pretty straight forward
plot.Way back in 1979, the stars are all in the correct alignment for the birth of
the future Bride of Satan; Christine.
Twenty years on, America's about to start the
new ( oh no it isn't ) millennium
party, and up pops Mr Antichrist looking for his bit of fluff.
Having grabbed himself a passing body, a well respected and successful
financier, Jericho's guarding the entourage when a berserk priest decides it's
time to put a bullet through the Master of Evil.
Thus Arnie gets to play the gun wielding hero as he discovers exactly what is
going on and takes Christine under his wing for protection.
It's the usual Good versus Evil storyline with some interesting asides
thrown in to try and explain the plot. The Number of the Beast, 666, turned
upside down, with a one stuck in front, gives us 1999; which is why it's all
going to come together now. And Mr Antichrist has to deliver his seed in the
final hour of 1999; "Eastern time ?", asks Jericho, but we never got a credible
answer.
But we don't care; it's a jolly good, high adrenalin, action film and we know
who's going to win, but then, just as we reach the climax, it takes a serious
turn for the worse and nose dives into sentimental bollocks land with an
unhealthy helping of religious moralising thrown in for good measure.
Holed up in a Church, waiting for the finale, Jericho casts his gaze over the
iconography around him, is suddenly gripped by the Power of God, throws
his gun to the ground, and asks, "Please God, help me". "Pick up the f--king
gun", was the best the audience's collective thoughts could muster.
Getting himself thoroughly splattered ( picking up the gun would have
helped ) he's become the unwilling host for the Antichrist who's now about
to have his wicked way with Christine.
But wait. Jericho's presence is still holding on. Summoning up tremendous
courage and strength he is not going to let the Antichrist succeed and promptly
throws himself upon a sword and the mercy of God.
Now why, with just five seconds or so to go, to the end of the year, he couldn't
have managed to hit himself about the head with a lump of rock long enough to
throw the Antichrist's scheme off track is beyond me. Of course, it wouldn't
have let us enjoy the visitation of the spirits of his wife and daughter as
he joins them, presumably, in Heaven.
Proving that, despite what may have been said about God not being such a nice
guy in parts of the film, faith really does pay off.
Perhaps it does, I'm sure many God fearing Christians agree. I don't disagree
but, I would point out, that it all made for a pretty abysmal ending to a film
which had managed to walk the religious tightrope pretty well up to that point.
Hardly a challenging ending to what was a reasonably good film, and not one
which encourages anyone to go away and think hard about their own religious
beliefs.
As it is, it looked like the ending was thrown in just to quell any complaints
the religious right may have had about the rest of the film. A great shame,
especially when the audience would have been happy enough to see the bad guy
just getting toasted at the end anyhow.
