End of Days is a 1999 American action horror film[2][3][4] directed by Peter Hyams and written by Andrew W. Marlowe.

It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, with Gabriel Byrne, Robin Tunney, Kevin Pollak, Rod Steiger, CCH Pounder, Derrick O'Connor, Miriam Margolyes, and Udo Kier in supporting roles.

[5] The film follows alcoholic former New York Police Department detective Jericho Cane (Schwarzenegger) who, after he saves a banker (Byrne) from an assassin, finds himself embroiled in a religious conflict and must protect an innocent young woman (Tunney) who is chosen by evil forces to conceive the Antichrist with Satan.

The film was released by Universal Pictures in North America on November 24, 1999, and received largely negative reviews, but was a box office success grossing $212 million worldwide.

In 1979, a Vatican City priest witnesses a comet arching over the full moon, prophesying the birth of the mother of Satan's child.

A corrupt cardinal insists that the child must die to stop Satan having sex with her, but the Pope rejects that plan as contrary to God's will and instead sends a Vatican-trained priest called Thomas Aquinas on a mission to find and protect the newborn baby.

The following day he is assigned ex-New York City Police Department (NYPD) detective Jericho Cane (alcoholic and depressed since his wife and daughter's contract killings, for which he blames God) and his friend Bobby Chicago as his private security.

Jericho and Bobby investigate Aquinas's apartment, finding his tongue in a jar and messages and symbols written in blood on the walls.

Chicago betrays Jericho, leaving him to be beaten and crucified by Satanists, revealing that he made a pact with Satan in exchange for his resurrection.

Responding to her pleas, Jericho resists long enough to deliberately impale himself on a nearby sword, sacrificing himself to prevent Satan's endgame.

After Satan gets sent back to Hell, Jericho dies from his wounds, and Christine tearfully embraces his body and thanks him for saving her life.

[citation needed] Directors Sam Raimi and Guillermo del Toro were offered End of Days, but turned it down due to other projects.

[6] The role of Jericho Cane was written for Tom Cruise, but he chose to work on Magnolia and Arnold Schwarzenegger was then cast in March 1998.

where he was presented with an honorary championship belt, and the main cast took part in several taped interviews that aired on all WWF programming in the lead up to the film's release.

Although it was profitable because of strong international revenue and DVD sales, its final numbers fell short of Universal Studios' expectations.

"[18] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 34/100 based on 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.

[20] Newsweek wrote that "Peter Hyams's lurid, FX-happy thriller slams pieces of a dozen other movies into a noxious new compound.

"[21] while Mark Kermode called it "idiotic beyond the point of redemption, this sinfully stupid farrago manages to insult audiences and critics, Christians and Satanists alike, reducing 2000 years of fertile mythology to the level of an incoherent pop video.".

[22] USA Today called Schwarzenegger's performance "among his worst" noting that he "seems to have trouble with his lines and doesn't get to make his trademark wisecracks".

[23] The Los Angeles Times's critic Eric Harrison called it "bloodless as a cyborg, and it feels as if it has been assembled according to diagrams supplied by someone who studied every successful sci-fi action thriller and then multiplied the findings by 10".

[26] James Berardinelli called it "a deliciously bad motion picture"[27] while Roger Ebert stated that "End of Days involves a head-on collision between the ludicrous and the absurd" giving it two stars out of four.

[citation needed] It also received a nomination from the Motion Picture Sound Editors for Best Sound Editing - Effects & Foley as well as two nominations in the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards for Favorite Actor - Action/Science Fiction and for Favorite Supporting Actor - Action/Science-Fiction for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kevin Pollak respectively.