End of Days
by Bert Ehrmann

Rule number one people, never work for Satan. Yeah, the deal MAY sound good (turning the world to darkness, bringing hell up from the depths and onto the Earth, eternal damnation, etc) but you'll wind up getting what's coming to you in the end. Trust me, the one thing that I learned from the movie END OF DAYS was that just one screw up could get SATAN himself so mad that he'd rather punch a hole though your head rather than speak to you again.

     Even after saying that I really liked the movie. The story centers around Jericho Cane, a disillusioned ex-cop who makes his living as a bodyguard in New York. Unfortunately for him, his latest assignment is to guard none other than Satan himself. Although he is unaware of his employers true nature at first, he quickly realizes his bosses true identity. Jericho is quickly swallowed up in the END OF DAYS prophecies, with the devil trying to claim a bride before the clock strikes twelve on New Years day, 2000.

    Though the movie followed a formulaic course, you know that Jericho's going to defeat the devil, save the world, and rescue the girl in the end, it's still the journey that's all the fun. We're never quite sure just who's working for Satan, he's got everyone from the average Joe to the police force working for him, and who's working for God, none-other than Rod Steiger and a priest with no tongue. It's too dangerous for Jericho to trust anyone.

     In the end, Jericho realizes that even with all his modern weaponry, he does possess a lot of that of that , he cannot defeat the Devil with might alone. (How do you shoot a hole into a mass of pure evil anyway?) Jericho must finally face the ultimate evil on faith alone, all the while trying to ignore the Devils promises of brining Jericho's family back from the dead. As "Chicago" would remark about Satan,

"You'd be surprised at what you'd promise to when you're on fire"

     Unfortunately for the movie END OF DAYS, I believe that it will be looked back on in a few years as a mild joke. After the year 2000 has passed, people will look back on our Y2K fears with much amusement. They won't buy the fact that we could have gone so far as to believe that Satan could appear on our doorstep looking for his bride simply because of the date on a calendar. It will be lumped in with all of the movies from the 1950's that predicted that man will live on the Moon by the year 1984.

     Then again, I may be wrong. If the Devil does show up in New York near New Years Eve, I guess we're all in trouble anyway. 12/1/99

Read the review to the movie DEEP BLUE SEA