MPAA Rating: PG-13/Genre: Sci-Fi Disaster/Stars: Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sela Ward, Emmy Rossum, Ian Holm, Arjay Smith, Austin Nichols, Dash Mihok, Jay O. Sanders, Kenneth Welsh, Perry King, Nestor Serrano, Tamlyn Tomita, Glenn Plummer, Adrian Lester, Richard McMillan, Sasha Roiz, Christopher Britton, Amy Sloan, Sheila McCarthy, Tom Rooney, Christian Tessier, Mimi Kuzyk, Rick Hoffman, Jason Blicker, Robin Wilcock, Ayana O’Shun, Marylou Belugou/Runtime: 123 minutes
I think it can safely be said that, contrary to one of the many laws of popular opinion that exist in the world around us, a slice of cinema does not always have to be smart in order to be enjoyable. Case in point: the majority of the filmography of one Roland Emmerich. A guy who, with perhaps one or two possible exceptions to his name, is someone who has taken a fair amount of delight in giving audiences quite a bit of engaging cinema that also has barely, if any, intelligence to their respective names. For example if you are in the mood for a movie where aliens attack the planet only to be beat back by Jeff Goldblum and a computer virus then check out Independence Day from 1996. On the other hand, if you want to see what would happen if nuclear tests gave birth to a giant dinosaur-like lizard (whilst also come dangerously close to ruining a time-honored monster franchise) and eventually result in an extremely whiny Matthew Broderick plus a completely bored out of his mind Jean Reno having to track it down then I suppose you could check out Emmerich’s take on Godzilla from 1998. Oh and if you want to see what would happen if military officer Kurt Russell and slightly nerdy James Spader stumbled upon a giant stone ring that not only take them to another part of the galaxy, but lead to a clash with an alien species who inspired the Egyptians to build the pyramids then definitely check out Stargate from 1994 respectively (and then check out the TV franchise that it inspired). Finally, if you want to see 2 astronauts and a conspiracy theorist discover something absolutely insane (and delightfully idiotic) about the Moon then you are sure to love 2022’s Moonfall. Oh and don’t even get me started on 2009’s 2012 where John Cusack and others deal with the end of the world as foretold by the Mayans. Yet among these is one entry that I “conveniently” forgot to mention with these others. That being a slice of cinema from 2004, and movie I happen to be reviewing for you today incidentally, known as The Day After Tomorrow. A film that asks, in the most delightfully non-scientifically accurate way possible, what would happen if climate change somehow triggered the onset of a new Ice Age. As inaccurate as the film is however, there is also no denying that I do enjoy this film a fair degree dear reader. To be sure, it’s not perfect by any means, but with the aid of good work on both sides of the camera The Day After Tomorrow is one film that fans of popcorn cinema, disaster films, or both are sure to enjoy in equal measure.
The plot is as follows: Inspired by a book from 1999 called The Coming Global Superstorm by Art Bell and Whitley Streiber, The Day After Tomorrow gets underway at the desolate and far-off location of the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica where we are introduced to our hero in the form of a guy by the name of Jack Hall. A guy who, among other things worth knowing about him, is a distinct member of that academic community known as paleoclimatology and who, when our story is getting underway, is busy with his colleagues Frank and Jason in trying to acquire some ice core samples for their employer NOAA. I say trying incidentally because it isn’t long before something occurs that makes their job perhaps just a tad bit more difficult. Namely no more or less than the entire ice shelf deciding to take its lawyer’s advice and finally get that divorce from the rest of the continent that it’s been craving or, in scientific lingo, break away from Antarctica completely. Sometime later and we see that our hero is in New Delhi trying to present his findings which warn of a potential yet violent climate shift to members of the UN where, despite both being fairly unsuccessful to say nothing of more than slightly irking the Vice President, he befriends a fellow scientist named Professor Terry Rapson who, through his work at the Hedland Climate Research Centre in Scotland, has been keeping a dutiful eye on the world’s ocean currents. It is this friendship that shall soon come in handy ironically when, a few days later, Rapson finds evidence through a series of malfunctioning ocean buoys that seem to indicate that the current has begun to change for the worse and quickly notifies Hall of his discoveries. As Hall begins to try and take Rapson’s, his own, and a scientist from NASA’s data and try to make it a viable forecast model out of it however, we see that the Earth has other plans in mind. Namely New Delhi being hit with snow, Tokyo being decimated by hail the size of a softball, Los Angeles being utterly torn apart by a series of tornadoes, and New York City being battered by a giant tidal wave. In other words: not your typical Monday type activity. Yet when things go from bad to worse in the form of Jack discovering that his son Sam is stuck in The Big Apple with his friends due to an academic decathlon meet, we see that he decides to make the hazardous journey himself to try and attempt a rescue. Thus with the temperatures beginning to plummet and things rapidly going downhill can our hero get to his son and the other survivors in time or are they all about to wind up on ice in the worst way possible? That I will leave for you to discover….
Now right off, it should be said that the work done by the various departments behind the camera on this particular cinematic outing is actually not too bad all things considering despite a couple of potholes along the way. Perhaps the main dilemma that this film finds itself saddled with can be found in regards to its screenplay as penned by both the film’s director Roland Emmerich as well as Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Indeed it’s not that the story these two men have come up with is terrible and hardly worth watching nor for that matter is it the fact that this is by no means a scientifically accurate story; rather, it’s the fact that it’s filled to the brim with an extreme overabundance of cliches and tropes found in this respective genre of movie magic. As a result, not only is there a tragic loss of suspense present in a story that, given the stakes involved, should be at the very least a teeny tiny bit suspenseful, but you can also pretty much predict what’s going to happen to any character in this to say nothing of where each character will be by film’s end and odds are you will be right in your guess. Thankfully, we see that the rest of the work done behind the camera seems aware of this issue and is more than willing to do what it can to help make up for this significant issue. Without question this starts with the work done by Roland Emmerich in the director’s chair and, despite being a little bit of a step down from what he brought to 1996’s Independence Day, this is still a good effort all the same. I say this because Emmerich still does a good job here of trying to make this a film that is less about the disasters taking place and more about the cast of characters that are engaged in desperately trying to survive them. With that said though, the problem is that, unlike in Independence Day, a lot of the characters in this aren’t as memorable despite the efforts of the cast to the contrary. As a result, not only do you not really find yourself invested them on the level that you should be, but because you haven’t been given as much characterization to make them worth caring about you really aren’t that devastated when some of them do wind up dying during the film. With that in mind though, it should be said that the work done by the visual effects team, as headed by Karen Goulekas, on this is vey much on point. Indeed be it a collection of twisters tearing apart L.A. like scissors to paper, a massive tidal wave making impact in New York City, or even the eventual transformation of the latter city into a frozen and desolate wasteland among other examples, the visual effects work here is truly remarkable and still holds up incredibly well despite a solid 2 decades since this film’s initial release. Lastly, this section would be woefully incomplete if I didn’t take the time to praise the efforts by Harald Kloser on this film’s musical accompaniment. Indeed not only is the score a fairly skilled balance between optimism and suspense, but it also does great at synching up to what is going on in the movie at any point really well. Suffice it to say that, when you also factor in a solid job from the cinematography department and a good effort from David Brenner and the editing department, there’s no denying that the work done behind the camera might not be the best, the most original, or even the most scientifically accurate, but at the same time it does help this slice of cinema be at the very least entertaining and honestly that’s better than nothing when you really stop to think about it.
Alongside the fairly effective, if not all that memorable, work done by the various departments behind the camera, this cinematic outing also benefits from a collection of good performances in front of the camera by a fairly well-chosen cast even if the fair majority of them are less playing three-dimensional characters and more portraying archetypes we’ve seen a million times before. Without a doubt this starts with the work done by Dennis Quaid in the lead role and, while not his finest hour as an actor, it certainly is by no means his worst (Movie 43 anyone?). Indeed as Jack Hall, we see that Quaid does an admirable job here of portraying a man who is determined, hardworking, and passionate about what he does and the impact it could have on people across the planet yet at times isn’t exactly the best he can be when it comes to the relationship he has with his son Sam. Even so however, when danger strikes and Sam’s life is put in peril, we see that Quaid excels at really bringing to the forefront a protectively paternal drive that may have a bit of guilt mixed in but which, when coupled with some truly incredible survival skills the character has honed from years in the field, nevertheless make him a tough adversary for these storms to really pin down. Suffice it to say that it’s a role we have seen before in this kind of film, but Quaid still manages to deliver a fairly well-done turn all the same. Alongside Quaid, this slice of cinema also features a fairly good performance from Jake Gyllenhaal just a few years removed from Donnie Darko and not quite yet the chameleon of an actor he would become starting in 2007 with Zodiac, but for sure solidifying in 2012 with End of Watch. Indeed as Sam Hall, we see that Gyllenhaal does a good job at starting out as the typical shy teen genius with a chip on his shoulder due to the strained relationship with his dad before, as the film goes on, really coming into his own as a leader of the small group of survivors within New York City whilst also displaying equal degrees of courage, decency, and resourcefulness in his own right. Lastly, I definitely think this section would be amiss if I didn’t take some time to praise the work done by the late screen legend Sir Ian Holm in the co-starring yet pivotal role of Professor Terry Rapson. Yes he may only have 30-35 minutes of screentime here tops, but even so there is no denying that Holm does a good job at bringing a melancholic-tinged sageness to say nothing of gravitas and solemnity to his role of this older and wiser scientist who does what he can to help our hero even as the odds for his own survival tragically start to get dimmer and dimmer by the day. Suffice it to say that when you factor in decent enough work form such talented individuals as Sela Ward, Arjay Smith, Austin Nichols, Emmy Rossum (Fiona from Shameless), Perry King (who I swear is playing Al Gore here), iconic character actor Jay O. Sanders (1993’s Angels in the Outfield and Glory from 1989 among others), Kenneth Welsh (who easily could be portraying Dick Cheney), Nestor Serrano, Dash Mihok, and Tamlyn Tomita (Kamiko from The Karate Kid franchise) among others at least three things should become clear dear reader. Those being that yes the cast assembled here is impressive and yes they all do uniformly good work with the material they are given, but at the same time don’t be surprised if you are able to figure out where their respective arcs will wind up by the time the film is over.
All in all and at the end of the day is The Day After Tomorrow a perfect slice of cinema? Honestly no, but truth be told I’m not entirely sure that’s what exactly this film was aiming to be. With that being said, is this the worst cinematic disaster since that string of 2000s disaster-based miniseries that aired on CBS and NBC consisting of Category 6: Day of Destruction, Category 7: The End of the World, 10.5, or 10.5: Apocalypse respectively? Thankfully no though in all fairness each of the entries in that particular quartet is still entertaining….in an incredibly and delightfully stupid manner. All sarcastic jokes aside, I do have a bit of a soft spot for this slice of cinema dear reader. To be sure it’s not a great movie by any means nor is it one that the scientific community has had any desire whatsoever to reach out and embrace in the over 2 decades since this movie first came out. On top of that, not only is the story extremely predictable, but so ae the characters in such a way that it definitely could make one wonder if the script for this was less an official movie script and more in the vein of a torn-out page from a book of Mad Libs that somehow a studio executive got ahold of and thought “hmmmm this might make a good movie”. With that in mind though, there is also no denying that the story is fairly compelling despite the aforementioned predictability, the performances in front of the camera not the worst in the world, the visual effects truly stunning, and the rest of the work done by the various departments behind the camera good in delivering exactly what it is they know the audience is here to see. Suffice it to say then dear reader that if you are looking for a scientifically-accurate disaster movie that will make you think and give you a cast of three-dimensional characters that you can genuinely care about then definitely watch 1983’s The Day After. On the other hand if you are just wanting a dumb yet fun, and science be darned, popcorn-style disaster movie that you just can sit back and watch then I promise you that The Day After Tomorrow is one that will surely give you that time and time again. Now if you’ll excuse me I have just been notified that I need to go move my car. Not that it’s parked illegally or anything mind you, but I have just been notified that it is in a potential “Disaster Movie Flood Zone” and my insurance has told me that after the last 6 times this has happened that they aren’t prepared to pay for damages anymore. Make of that what thou will dear reader. On a scale of 1-5 I give The Day After Tomorrow “04” a solid 3 out of 5.
