Customer Reviews

Day After Tomorrow (Widescreen)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have quite a collection of DVD movies and when people ask me which one of all do I like best, it always comes down to "The Day After Tomorrow"! The plot is great and believable, the cast is excellent, and the effects are out of this world! This movie got me sitting at the edge of my seat from the start to the end. There are movies that I own which I haven't seen yet, but this one, I've watched 3 times and would not hesitate to watch it again and again.

Quickly: great effects, good acting, bad science, meh movie.

Summary: Global warming causes the next ice age. That's basically it. You follow the story of a few groups of people and how this affects them then it focuses in on one family.

The Good: the effects were great, from ice falling on people in Japan to the frozen Statue of Liberty. You can tell this was the main focus of the movie and they do a good job. The acting was rather good in this, and I had no complaints about any performances. The pacing was also good, as I wasn't bored at any one point.

The Bad: the preaching. I knew it would be there, but things like the 'evil' vice president giving the 'save the world' speech at the end when he was proved wrong was too much. The fact the plot eventually switched to just the one family and really just the Father trying to save the son was pretty typically Hollywood lame. The father making up with his wife was worse. The plot was alright but really, it's just a giant effects movie, there isn't much meat.

The Ugly: the science. I don't know much about weather patterns and such but this was just hokey. The wolves! Why?!?

Overall: not the worst I have ever seen, but no where near the best. A typical effects blockbuster and don't expect any more then that. It was OK, the effects were cool, the acting was good, the science was suspect and the plot was contrived.

The ultimate disaster movie, The Day After Tomorrow depicts a change in climate that sweeps the globe and triggers a modern ice age. An original premise long overdue for cinematic treatment, it offers astonishing and eerie imagery: multiple tornadoes whipping across Los Angeles, an arctic depression over Scotland freezing all beings in an instant, a tidal surge engulfing Manhattan, and flocks of birds flying south for the summer.

Director Roland Emmerich (who thrilled audiences with 1996's Independence Day) clearly delights in scenes of mass destruction. Artfully crafted, these successive calamities come one after another with but a handful of humorous moments to break the tension.

At the centre of the story is Jack Hall, a paleoclimatologist studying the effects of global warming. His chilling theories are ignored by government officials - a plot point that is all too common in such films - even as the world is ravaged by extreme weather conditions. And after the northern hemisphere is encircled by frigid storms, Hall must journey from Washington to New York to rescue his teenaged son, Sam.

Though such an Armageddon would take a couple of centuries to evolve (barring a shift of the earth's magnetic axis), the film compresses developments into just a few days. Thankfully, the scientific interpretations are presented clearly and logically without getting buried in technical jargon.

Like Independence Day, Emmerich (who co-wrote the screenplay with Jeffrey Nachmanoff) plunges headfirst into the storyline, and populates the film with an enormous number of characters. But they all react rather placidly to the shocking events, with little hysteria or emotion - their hearts seem as cold and unfeeling as the eventual all-consuming blizzard. With the shocking proceedings presented as more fun than grim, any sense of tragedy seems to have been sucked into an atmospheric vortex.

The first half of the film also seems disjointed, as if numerous consequential scenes were deleted in favour of a pointless subplot about a pediatric cancer patient. It is only once the glacial onslaught has begun that the story becomes dramatic and energized, with plenty of surprises and innovative scenes of suspense.

Dennis Quaid is believable and competent as the dedicated Hall, while Jake Gyllenhaal is charming as the determined Sam. Relative newcomer Emmy Rossum, as Sam's love interest, lights up the screen; this neophyte is a star in the making. (Watch for her later this year as Christine in the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera.)

The Day After Tomorrow is a fascinating and refreshing film that does without the standard elements of most big-budget Hollywood productions. While it lacks the intensity and excitement of Independence Day, it is a tribute to man's will to survive, demonstrating how remarkably adaptive our species can be. Rating: 7 out of 10.

This movie really makes you think about the highs and lows of what the mess of the world might bring. Yes as usually they are teasing us Canadians about not being able to survive such an occurrence but hey who lives in the snow people?!?
The movie itself is wonderfully directed with a great line of talented actors. It can even bring tears to the eyes of us sanative people and fear as well.
All and all it gets 4 of 5 in my books because though it was a great movie I found it did jumping and after watching a second time I found what I missed the first.
But definitely a must see and collection worthy

Day After Tomorrow should Not be considered a Science Fiction movie, rather a Drama of one possible future created by, probably the Animal with the shortest history on Earth, Man. Action sequences were well done. Dennis Quaid & Tobey Maguire do a great job. However there are a few badly written scenes, it's not perfect, hence 4 stars.

I find the scenario quite believable. Definitely worth a rental, and if you are a fan of Science Fiction movies, probably worth purchasing.

I am eminently capable of enjoying movies with stupid science and/or stupid characters, but there has to be some sort of redeeming quality. For example, even the pie plate flying saucer in "Plan 9 From Outer Space" sounds good compared to the idea of thinking yourself into the past in "Somewhere in Time," but that film had Christopher Reeve making the grand romance work. The problem with "The Day After Tomorrow" is that the best part of the movie comes in the first act, and that is not where you want it to be.

The stupid science here is to take the idea of global warming leading to a radical shift in climate that creates a new ice age and instead of it happening over centuries or years reduce in to days and weeks. No wonder scientists were rending their garments over this film, because even though I never took even biology in high school I know that what is being played fast and loose with in this film goes way beyond hearing explosions in the vacuum of space. However, the whole point of this stupid science is to allow director Roland Emmerich, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jeffrey Nachmanoff, yet another opportunity to destroy New York City, having taken major bites out of the Big Apple in both "Independence Day" and "Godzilla." But Emmerich is more ambitious this time around, having tornadoes play havoc with the landmarks in Los Angeles before putting NYC in a deep freeze.

In the grand cinematic tradition that goes back beyond Watergate to the science fiction films of the 1950s, a brilliant scientist, climatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), gets to sound like Cassandra while Vice President Cheney, er Becker (Kenneth Welsh), worries about the fragile economy rather than the fast approaching end of the world as we know it. Hall gathers data and yells that the sky is falling but nobody really pays attention until giant hall comes raining down from the sky, giant tidal waves flood the Eastern seaboard, and a trio of what would be called hurricanes if they were not situated over the three northern continents instead of tropical waters re-program the planet's climate.

The nice thing about identifying the point in this 2004 summer flick where it crosses the line is that Quaid's character actually draws it on a map of the United States. A trio of killer storms are going to be raging for days over the northern part of the planet. The temperature is dropping to below -150 degrees, the point at which fuel freezes, where people freeze to death on the spot. Hall draws a line across the middle of the country and tells the President (Perry King) to order the evacuation of everybody south of the line to Mexico and forget the rest because basically they are dead already. At that point the voice of sanity and reason in the film announces he is going to go to New York City to rescue his son, Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal). Sam, the girl (Emmy Rossum) he likes, the rest of the members of the school smart person squad, and assorted citizens of New York are trapped in the New York Public Library which is flooded by freezing water and contains a copy of the Gutenberg Bible. Sam is smart enough to figure out how to call his father, who tells him to wait there and he will come to get him.

On the one hand kids should always call their parents when they are going to be late coming home, especially when a natural disaster beyond imagination is responsible for the delay. But if our heroic scientist wants the President and everybody else to write off every human being living above his line of demarcation (my guess is that Canada and Scandinavia are no longer contenders for Olympic gold in hockey), he should practice what he preaches. Otherwise, he becomes a stupid character. Beyond that, while I like the idea that a Ph.D. can stop you and people who travel with you from freezing to death when everybody else is dying in their steps, I am pretty sure we are back to stupid science (I bet the Ph.D. has to be in a scientifically related area, which means rhetorical studies does not count). I live in a place where it is winter six months of the year (our first snow is expected tomorrow night), so I know the value of dressing warmly. But there are repeated scenes of people dressed warmly freezing to death in this movie so unless Hall is carrying the One Ring or has some other magic talisman that can temporarily dispel the coming of a new ice age, he and the other stupid characters stupid enough to insist on going with him on his stupid mission and all going to die stupidly (unless, of course, the screenwriters just stupidly ignore their own premises and continue with their story unabated by reason).

Basically "The Day After Tomorrow" is a disaster film more in the tradition of "The Poseidon Adventure" (bad thing happens at the start and people try to survive) versus "The Towering Inferno" (bad thing happens at the end and people try to survive). Part of the problem is that there are several extended scenes of mass destruction early in the film and then things get relatively boring with ice forming and ice breaking being the key developments. The other part of the problem is that nobody in the film is as interesting as Shelley Winters. My favorite character in the film ends up being Jeremy (Tom Rooney), who has decided that if he is to die his final act is going to be to save one very special book from being burned in the effort to stay warm. Nothing else in the film has the intelligence or the nobility of that moment.

global warming has finally caught up with us and in very sudden fashion
causing massive storms including tornadoes and hurricanes, floods and
tidal waves all at once,and a new global ice age in some places.i
know,it sounds weird,global warming,ice age ,but they sort of explain
it in the movie.i am almost certain the science in the movie is
flawed,but so what.there are some great special effects,great action
and some suspense.put it all together,an you have one entertaining
movie.Dennis Quaid plays climatologist Jack Hall,who must try and
prevent the whole world from succumbing to the effects of global
warming,and rescue his son,Sam(Jake Gyllenall)who,while on a school
field trip becomes trapped in New York,which has become frozen solid in
minutes.Emmy Rossum(Mystic River)plays Laura Chapman,one of Sam's
classmates.Sela Ward plays Dr.Lucy Hall,Jack's wife.Ian Holm(Bilbo from The Lord
of the Rings,the fellowship of the ring,LOTR-the return of the
King,)also stars.this movie has some breath taking moments to say
the least.it is visually impressive.if you're looking for a fun
ride,this is your movie. 4.5/5

"Nowadays" between New York and Los Angeles. A climatologist (Dennis Quaid) needs to find a way to save "the world" from global warming. His son (Jake Gyllenhaal) is hiding with a group of friends in the New York Public Library and is experiencing first-hand the major weather changes.

Special effects were all wonderful. I was only disappointed in the wolves: they did not look real at all.

Keep in mind when watching this movie that it requires a *lot* of suspension of disbelief. Most of what happens is beyond belief and rather predictable.

That said, it is still enjoyable entertainment, and Dennis Quaid proves that he is an excellent actor. Gyllenhaal is not the best, but the casting was decent enough for this movie.

Pure Hollywood entertainment. What else can one expect from a director like Roland Emmerich.

I have quite a large collection of DVD movies and when people ask me which one of all do I like best, it always comes down to "The Day After Tomorrow"! The plot is great and believable, the cast is excellent, and the effects are out of this world! This movie got me sitting at the edge of my seat from the start to the end. There are movies that I own which I haven't seen yet, but this one, I've watched 3 times and would not hesitate to watch it again and again. Get this one!

Interesting movie but too many factual inaccuracies. Anyone living in Canada knows that you can't go outside without your face covered when it is -20 degrees, let alone -120!