Review of:The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Director:Roland Emmerich
Rating:PG-13 for intense situations of peril
Starring:Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum, Ian Holm, Dash Mihok Official Site
Have you ever driven by a car wreck and just had to slow down? You did not want to see anyone hurt, but for some reason curiosity stopped you from just speeding by. It is kind of like that with this movie. The Day After Tomorrow displays some major destruction, and for the first hour, it is all you can do to turn away. Tornadoes wreck havoc, seemingly five times bigger than what the movie Twister might have had. Tidal waves hit that would do Deep Impact proud and a host of other catastrophes pepper the screen.
With all that is good with this film, there is some bad. Once that hour is up, and once you have ridden past that massive pile up you could not bring yourself to speed by, lays a film with no character development. Do I care if Dennis Quaid ever communicates again with his son ( played by Jake Gyllenhaal). No not really, and the reason is in the writing. Is the estranged wife ever going to reconnect with the husband who does not have the time to spend with her? If I cared, I have not realized it yet.
It always amazes me that a company could spend so much on a summer blockbuster, but not enough time to develop the underlying stories. The thing that takes films from mediocrity to greatness will always be in the story, so why slack when you have the big money behind it? It is a question that has no answer.
Dennis Quaid has been in a series of hits, and Academy Award nominated films recently, but this is a far cry from that. If you want to see a work he excels in, I would suggest Far From Heaven, which was nominated for numerous awards. His character in this film has come up with a theory of what will happen if we continue polluting our environment. The global warming theory he puts forward suggest that over time the increased heat in the environment would cause the polar ice caps to melt, increasing the water level of the planet enough to cause problems. His theory also adds other possibilities. His theory is not supposed to be possible until another hundred years, but in the world of movie magic, it happens sooner than later.
This film is titled as being from the director of Independence Day and it shows. Some of the same character plots are almost identical, the crazed indepent scientist and his estranged government plugged in wife is a good example.
The film is strictly for the popcorn and butter crowd who just want to watch something, and not put much thought behind it. On that level it can work.
I'd recommend this film if only for the special effects, but it might serve you better to keep your hard earned money in your pocket.
