End of Days is a macabre combo splatter of Terminator 2, The Devils Advocate and Rosemary's Baby. Arnold plays Jericho Cane, a widowed ex-cop working as a high-tech personal security specialist. The tragedies of Jericho's life, mainly the loss of his wife, daughter and faith, have driven him to drink and to the brink of suicide. The first glimpse we see of Arnold is with his own gun to his head, a la Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon. In a plot almost too complicated to explain, Cane's latest client turns out to be a Wall Street power broker possessed by Satan himself. Subsequently, the search is on for Satan's destined bride, pleasingly played by Robin Tunney with a certain nervous eroticism. Satan must capture and copulate on the eve of the millennium in order to bring about the end of God's management of humanity. Talk about your hostile takeovers! End of Days could have easily been called "Terminator 3" as Arnold is once again thrust into the role of protecting the helpless from humankind's enslavement. But who cares, as long as cars, buildings, trains et al. explode continuously and a quip happy cast of characters shatter and "morph" amid such classic dialogue as "Get down!" "Look out!" and the ever popular, "Go to Hell!" You just knew that one was coming.

Robin Tunney as Christine York

Not that End of Days is totally deja vu all over again. Gabriel Byrne's performance adds delicious dashes of black comedy and cynical subtlety to his role as the Prince of Darkness and keeps the film from taking itself too seriously. "I don't do guilt," he assures Cane at one point, trying to tempt Cane by releasing him from the feelings of remorse at not being home when intruders killed his family. In another scene, Byrne's devilish character comments "Nice shirt" to a skate punk wearing a T-shirt with a Satanic heavy metal logo. "Fuck off," the kid replies whereupon he is promptly hit by a bus. A simple "Thanks man" could have saved the lad a world of pain. Since we've seen Arnold blast away and save the world so many times before, Byrne's divinely diabolical showing is a refreshing breath of foul air. Also worthy of mention is veteran character actor and Oscar winner Rod Steiger as Father Kovak, the Catholic priest determined to save Satan's destined bride, while other members of the church are hell-bent on sacrificing her so that the world might be spared. While this may seem logical on paper, it is faith that is supposed to steer us through these troubled waters, not the cold steel of an assassin's blade. Go figure.

You can't talk about a film like End of Days without mentioning the special effects, computerized visuals and Armageddon-like action sequences, all of which are constant and of the most hellacious intensity. This movie cost so much to make, the producers could have found a cure for common colitis and still have had enough money left over to fund the next three Blair Witch movies. But then what would there be to see after Thanksgiving dinner or over holiday vacations? Much credit is due to director Peter Hyans, who was recommended to Schwarzenegger by Terminator 2 and Titanic director John Cameron who apparently wasn't interested in retreading all too familiar territory.

The closing credits run about ten minutes and somewhere around the listing of Third Assistant Key Grip to the On-location Production Caterer's Best Boy, the new Guns 'n Roses song, "Oh My God" is played. God Awful is more like it. Believe me, it's not worth waiting for. If you've heard it, you know what I mean. If you haven't, trust me on this one.

So, if you can forgive an ambitious, but flawed, story line and enjoy testosterone-fueled exercises in mass destruction with overt sexual overtones and borderline blasphemous behavior, then End of Days is the mega-budget spectacle you've been waiting for ever since Kindergarten Cop. Hasta la vista Mr. Bond!