The Day After Tomorrow

What’s the Story?

In THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, paeloclimatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) figures out that the global warming problem is much more serious than everyone thought, but the vice president of the United States and other government officials dismiss Jack's call for action. With various weather-related disasters occurring all around (hurricanes, earthquakes, tidal waves, deep freezes, etc.), Jack sets out to save the world. He must also rescue his son (Jake Gyllenhaal), who's stranded in New York City.

Is It Any Good?

Co-writer and director Roland Emmerich gave us an entertaining disaster movie with Independence Day. This one has some of the same ingredients, but they don't mix as well because it does not have the some heart or the zing that Will Smith, Robert Loggia, and Jeff Goldblum brought to that film. The Day After Tomorrow does have some striking visuals and cool special effects, from hailstones the size of basketballs in Tokyo to a huge Russian ship floating ghost-like through what once was 5th Avenue. But to the extent there was ever any pleasure possible in seeing New York City destroyed, that has surely been diminished by 9/11.

This movie gives us too much destruction to take in, but also too little -- we see only a small group of dead bodies, and the survivors have to deal with problems that are almost quaint and antiseptic compared to the real-life aftermath of lesser disasters. The drama seems curiously muted as well; with the exception of the Vice President's arrogance, just about everyone else is uniformly calm, dedicated, resigned, and heroic. Wouldn't we see some panic? Some selfishness? Some desperation? Some consequences? Combined with preposterous plot turns, this further diminishes the emotional impact of the movie's themes.