The Day After Tomorrow

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sela Ward, Ian Holm, Emmy Rossum
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Science Fiction, Thriller
Box Office: $186,740,799
2004

Times Seen:
Tim: 4

Summary: Due to global warming and despite the theories of climatologists, the earth rapidly begins shifting into a new ice age. This causes killer tornadoes, tsunamis, and monstrous storms that freeze everything in its path. A climatologist (Dennis Quaid) braves the destructive storms to reach his son (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is stranded in New York City.

Review:

Tim: Roland Emmerich is a terrific director. Independence Day is still my all time favorite movie, I don't care what anyone says. He makes the kind of films I love to watch. He even made Godzilla at least watchable. Here, he succeeds with a disaster movie of a different kind.

The cast of the film is amazing. Dennis Quaid is such a stupendous actor. the more I see of him, the more I like. I am now a pretty huge fan of his. Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the elite young actors in Hollywood. The kid will have one heck of a career if he keeps his head on straight. They make a truly believable father and son pair. Great casting job!

The special effects in this film are top notch- Emmerich gives us baseball size hail, giant killer tornadoes, huge tsunamis, and super snow storms. The satellite images of the mega storms are awe-inspiring and the on ground scenes are both terrifying and fascinating to watch.

However, once again, Emmerich succeeds by creating a truly human story for the audience to follow against the backdrop of something difficult to comprehend- in this case, a climate reversal. Many disaster films and special effects-heavy films fail because the effects become the main focus of the film. Like Emmerich did in Independence Day and The Patriot, he creates very realistic characters that we can identity with and geniunely like. The rest of the film falls into place once you have this human element down.

It is important to admit that the science is borderline absurd and it is nearly impractical to suggest a new ice age could occur as rapidly as it does in this film, but this movie isn't about hard science, it is about entertainment. Suspend your disbelief, sit back, and enjoy one heck of a ride. Hey, where else can you see the Statute of Liberty completely frozen over after a huge tidal wave hits Manhattan? This is a terrific disaster movie and is worth checking out.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Independence Day, Godzilla, The Patriot, Stargate, Volcano, Twister, Ice Age, Donnie Darko