The Day After Tomorrow
June 2, 2004Grade: B+
Don’t go to this movie expecting a scientifically accurate depiction of global climate change. After all, director Roland Emmerich is the same guy who gave us Godzilla and Independence Day, neither of them exactly bastions of scientific realism.
Dennis Quaid plays a climatologist who realizes that a chain reaction of climate-changing storms is about to devastate the northern hemisphere. His warnings go un-heeded and his predictions come true–gigantic tidal waves wash away much of the eastern US, followed by a super-frigid storm that literally freezes people in their tracks. He then has to try and rescue his son (Jake Gyllenhal), trapped in the now-ice-locked city of New York.
In the end there were two things I really liked about this film. First was the special effects. The tornadoes ripping thru Los Angeles were all too realistic, and when the tidal wave crashes thru Manhattan it’s like you’re right there. Water effects have always been so difficult, which is why it’s all the more impressive how real the water looked as it crashed around the city.
The other thing I liked was that at its heart this is actually a small movie about a man trying to rescue his son. Yes there’s this global climactic disaster that forces the remaining US population to flee into Mexico, but that’s almost a side show to the real heroics of Quaid trying to make his way on foot across the frozen Northeast to find his son. It’s so unlike most of Emmerich’s movies which are about saving the world. Here the world is lost, but one man manages to save his son.
This was a near-perfect summer flick, really liked it a lot. I might see it again just to see the special effects one more time.
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