The Day After Tomorrow «««
PG-13, 124m. 2004
Cast & Credits: Dennis Quaid (Jack Hall), Jake Gyllenhaal (Sam Hall), Emmy Rossum (Laura Chapman), Dash Mihok (Jason Evans), Jay O. Sanders (Frank Harris), Sela Ward (Dr. Lucy Hall), Austin Nichols (J.D.), Arjay Smith (Brian Parks), Tamlyn Tomita (Janet Tokada), Sasha Roiz (Parker), Ian Holm (Terry Rapson), Kenneth Walsh (Vice President Becker). Screenplay by Roland Emmerich and Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Directed by Roland Emmerich.
The Day After Tomorrow is the television equivalent of those weather warnings we often see from those handsomely dressed and in some cases, attractive female meteorologists who interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to update us on the latest storms heading into our areas.
Instead of weathermen, or weatherwomen, pointing out to the concerned viewer the sometimes large, perhaps ominous dark red and yellow splotches on their computerized radar maps indicating severe weather, we get live on-the-spot news coverage of Mother Nature’s fury happening in various parts of the world.
Viewers are glued to their television screens tuned what seems to be the only available network, the Fox News Channel (where is CNN?) as reporters cover the destruction of Los Angeles by a handful of tornadoes as they rip through the city of the Angels. Even the famous Hollywood sign isn’t spared.
As L.A sits in ruins, it’s snowing in India where paleoclimatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) warns world leaders at a conference of civilization heading into another Ice Age unless countries start taking the effects of global warming seriously. All of which falls upon the deaf ears of the United States vice president (Kenneth Welsh) who bears an obvious direct resemblance to Dick Cheney.
Up until now, I never thought it was possible for fuel to freeze up as naval helicopters drop from the icy skies like flies. The pilots are barely out of their choppers before immediately succumbing to frost bite right where they stand. That is until a student browsing around New York City’s Museum of Natural History reads how a prehistoric creature was found completely intact with food still in its stomach when it perished in the ice age of 10,000 years ago.
On one level, The Day After Tomorrow is an obvious throwback to the star-studded disaster movies of the 1970s (The Poseidon Adventure – 1972, Earthquake – 1974, The Towering Inferno – 1974) where the real stars are the special effects and the cast takes second billing. Just like in those catastrophic epics, it isn’t long before certain characters in The Day After Tomorrow foolishly refuse to listen to reason as Hall’s son, Sam (Jake Gyllenhall) tries to convince hundreds of citizens they’d better off inside Manhattan’s public library waiting out the killer blizzard outside.
I wasn’t at all surprised to find out that the few survivors waiting for Quaid to come to their rescue included among them, his son and his friends, a homeless person and his dog. There are just as many humorous moments where the characters debate over which books are best to toss in the fireplace to keep warm. As there are times of suspense as they try to outrun hungry wolves and the snap-frozen frost as it turns towering buildings into ice sculptures at –150 degrees Fahrenheit.
I have always seen disaster movies, for the most part, careful entertainment so long as they don’t completely imitate real life catastrophes and offer such unbelievable moments that just wouldn’t happen like when the storm chasers in Twister (1996) were able to spot a tornado every 15 minutes when in reality, spotters are lucky to catch even two.
I know for those who are incredibly concerned about global warming, they may think The Day After Tomorrow addresses a subject that hits close to home, even if some, if not all of the film’s scientific ideas are questionable. To me, this is just another entertaining special effects laden popcorn movie where, in this case, Mother Nature is the star. Since I am not too concerned about how we are treating Mother Earth and whether that is what’s causing weird weather, I can’t say the film left me with an awfully chilly feeling by the time it was over.
©5/31/04
PG-13, 124m. 2004
Cast & Credits: Dennis Quaid (Jack Hall), Jake Gyllenhaal (Sam Hall), Emmy Rossum (Laura Chapman), Dash Mihok (Jason Evans), Jay O. Sanders (Frank Harris), Sela Ward (Dr. Lucy Hall), Austin Nichols (J.D.), Arjay Smith (Brian Parks), Tamlyn Tomita (Janet Tokada), Sasha Roiz (Parker), Ian Holm (Terry Rapson), Kenneth Walsh (Vice President Becker). Screenplay by Roland Emmerich and Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Directed by Roland Emmerich.
Instead of weathermen, or weatherwomen, pointing out to the concerned viewer the sometimes large, perhaps ominous dark red and yellow splotches on their computerized radar maps indicating severe weather, we get live on-the-spot news coverage of Mother Nature’s fury happening in various parts of the world.
Viewers are glued to their television screens tuned what seems to be the only available network, the Fox News Channel (where is CNN?) as reporters cover the destruction of Los Angeles by a handful of tornadoes as they rip through the city of the Angels. Even the famous Hollywood sign isn’t spared.
As L.A sits in ruins, it’s snowing in India where paleoclimatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) warns world leaders at a conference of civilization heading into another Ice Age unless countries start taking the effects of global warming seriously. All of which falls upon the deaf ears of the United States vice president (Kenneth Welsh) who bears an obvious direct resemblance to Dick Cheney.
Up until now, I never thought it was possible for fuel to freeze up as naval helicopters drop from the icy skies like flies. The pilots are barely out of their choppers before immediately succumbing to frost bite right where they stand. That is until a student browsing around New York City’s Museum of Natural History reads how a prehistoric creature was found completely intact with food still in its stomach when it perished in the ice age of 10,000 years ago.
On one level, The Day After Tomorrow is an obvious throwback to the star-studded disaster movies of the 1970s (The Poseidon Adventure – 1972, Earthquake – 1974, The Towering Inferno – 1974) where the real stars are the special effects and the cast takes second billing. Just like in those catastrophic epics, it isn’t long before certain characters in The Day After Tomorrow foolishly refuse to listen to reason as Hall’s son, Sam (Jake Gyllenhall) tries to convince hundreds of citizens they’d better off inside Manhattan’s public library waiting out the killer blizzard outside.
I wasn’t at all surprised to find out that the few survivors waiting for Quaid to come to their rescue included among them, his son and his friends, a homeless person and his dog. There are just as many humorous moments where the characters debate over which books are best to toss in the fireplace to keep warm. As there are times of suspense as they try to outrun hungry wolves and the snap-frozen frost as it turns towering buildings into ice sculptures at –150 degrees Fahrenheit.
I have always seen disaster movies, for the most part, careful entertainment so long as they don’t completely imitate real life catastrophes and offer such unbelievable moments that just wouldn’t happen like when the storm chasers in Twister (1996) were able to spot a tornado every 15 minutes when in reality, spotters are lucky to catch even two.
I know for those who are incredibly concerned about global warming, they may think The Day After Tomorrow addresses a subject that hits close to home, even if some, if not all of the film’s scientific ideas are questionable. To me, this is just another entertaining special effects laden popcorn movie where, in this case, Mother Nature is the star. Since I am not too concerned about how we are treating Mother Earth and whether that is what’s causing weird weather, I can’t say the film left me with an awfully chilly feeling by the time it was over.
©5/31/04
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