In End of Days, Arnold Schwarzenegger has found the role that may very well bring him out of the rut of self-parody he's been in since The Last Action Hero (and yes, I'm including Eraser and True Lies in that sweeping statement). Schwarzenegger plays ex-cop Jericho Cane, an unrepentant alcoholic who stopped believing in God when He killed his wife and child. It's a good role for an aging Arnold, because he's older, slower, and physically vulnerable, trying desperately to hold on to the glory of his youth through guns and ammo.

The very sexy Robin Tunney plays Christine York, an innocent girl who was born with the mark of the devil on her arm -- thanks, in part, to a band of Satanist doctors and the influence of Rosemary's Baby on the screenwriter. When Cane rescues her from murderous priests, he becomes involved in an epic struggle between Satan (Gabriel Byrne), his intended bride (Tunney), and the end of life as we know it. Apparently, every 1,000 years he returns to find a bride and destroy the world.

As Satan, Byrne is fantastic; the perfect antihero, always bemused by the folly of the pathetic humans. And he's funny as hell. In fact, the whole movie is funny as hell, and usually on purpose -- though Schwarzenegger's serious turns are often funny for other reasons. Director Peter Hyams doesn't get enough credit as a satirist (the Jean Claude Van Damme vehicle Sudden Death is utterly hilarious, though too many people took it "seriously"), but here he does it again. The smart aleck villain, the tortured hero, the wacky sidekick (Kevin Pollak), the sexy girl literally overcoming her demons, Rod Steiger as a crazy priest, the pope in a wheelchair, a dead guy on the ceiling -- End of Days has it all. Even when it doesn't make sense (which is more often than you'd hope), it's still highly entertaining. Plus, the whole thing is set up for a great straight-to-video prequel.