The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Among the vast quantities of disaster movies USA made, this one is another failure !! The theme of ice age should go on other directions (philosophical, ethical, moral, etc) but the makers of the present movie selected the same bad formulas found in so many disaster movies...Just an example, that I really hate in American movies: in the middle of the worst situation we hear love declarations of the characters: "I want you to know I love you, Jack and Jack replies me too..." such a nonsense sounds like an old formula to make us cry or at least to sorrow the characters....The only good stuff are the visual effects, but for it we don't need a screenplay with false drama !!! Two stars is the most that I can give to such a piece of melodrama.

Paleoclimatologist Jack Hall is taking ice core samples in Antarctica when a massive ice sheet breaks off from the continent. He believes his research suggests that this is caused by global warming but rather than raising temperatures it could ultimately change the currents in the North Atlantic and trigger another ice age. He doesn't realise just how soon it will happen though. First it starts snowing in New Delhi, then hailstones as large as ones fist bombard Tokyo, then huge tornadoes ravage Los Angeles. This is just a hint of what is to come; massive super-storms form over Canada, Northern Europe and Siberia causing the temperature to drop so fast that anybody caught outside freezes instantly. Jack is heading up the research in Washington DC but his son, Sam, is on a school trip to New York when the effects of the weather starts to take effect; first a massive tsunami his the city causing a flood then the temperature starts to drop. Sam, his friends and other survivors take shelter in the library. As an evacuation of the United States gets underway Jack, along with two colleagues, heads north to try to rescue his son.This is a decent enough catastrophe movie; there are some great special effects as we see the expected variety well known landmarks getting destroyed or frozen. It also suffers from the cliché of concentrating on a small group of 'designated survivors' who we are meant to care about while vast numbers of others die… who won't guess that the homeless man with his dog will survive while the man who tried to stop him entering the library will ultimately freeze?! The cast do a solid job; most notably Dennis Quaid as Jack and Jake Gyllenhaal as Sam. It is weather effects that are the real star of the film though. At times the film does feel a bit too preachy; I don't mind a film with a message but this was too heavy handed at times. Overall this was a pretty good film; I expect fans of the genre will enjoy it.

The Day after Tomorrow is a decent ice age climate disaster movie. As well as entertainment it brings information that is worth researching, also the film presents the accuracy of a young earth (check out the site "Answers In Genesis").Everything is great about this motion picture especially the cinematic colour design, the movie looks tense and icy all the way through even when there are no scenes of literal snow and ice.Just want to add that some of the background characters are very foolish especially that guy telling everyone to go outside just because the floor is icy enough to walk on (Newsflash: If you're in that situation and a relative of a climatologist gives you advice, listen to them, period!).

Roland Emmerich has never been really given much credit for making films, but this film is pretty good. The special effects are decent to great, and the story line is very good. Many people have written bad reviews about this film, and up to this day, I don't know why. Global warming is a real problem, and an ICE AGE is a possibility. We at the Walters Judson Group don't like too many films after the year 2000, but we have this film highly rated. This film has human interaction, well defined characters, a problem with global warming (and its consequences), and the acting is pretty good. We give it a "9". Also, some people believe that this is "science fiction" - it is not. Anything is possible this day and age. Daniel Tyler.