\'The 6th Day\' not worth two hours

The previews for "The 6th Day" give a good case for wanting to like this movie. It shows a likeable star (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and a great plot concept, but what a horrible disaster.\n"The 6th Day" takes place in an unspecified, probable-looking future in which the cloning of humans is a banned practice in the United States under the Sixth Day Laws ("On the sixth day, God created man"). Of course, normal-as-can-be-guy Arnold, a charter pilot (Another tough-guy occupation. Just once I\'d like to see him fix clocks for a living), gets mixed up in an underground operation in which he is accidentally cloned.\nThe double has to run around for his life while they try to destroy him. The clone is our main character, which presents the first major flaw in the movie. For the film can't decide whether it wants the audience to know if he's the real McCoy or not. Throughout, four to five different sources tell him he's the carbon copy version, but when shown actual proof at the climax of the film, the editing and overture provide such resounding thunderation as if this were a major revelation to its audience.\nNot that we can feel for the clone's plight anyway, for the movie is so void of emotion when countless opportunities call for it. Take, for instance, Robert Duvall, in the thankless role as the good-natured "bad" scientist running the illegal cloning organization. His wife has a terminal illness and wishes not to be cloned when she passes on. But these tender moments are rushed so we have more chances to see Arnold blow someone's leg off.\nBut if it were only a matter of this balance, "The 6th Day" might not be so terrible. These Schwarzenegger movies always try for their bit of comic relief, and the effort is installed when the clone confronts his real self, and they work together exchanging comedic words and insults. To put it plainly, if not cruelly, that effect worked better in "Last Action Hero."\nThe end is nothing but a shoot-out arcade game with an unintentionally funny, moral-of-the-story moment. Arnold is treading in dangerous waters with this latest bomb. Granted, he will always be our No. 1 action star, but he should start using that gun to get better movies, instead of shooting himself in the foot.