The Day After
Tomorrow
is another end of the world scenario from director Roland Emmerich (Independence
Day, Godzilla), but instead of aliens or 200-foot tall lizards as
the culprits we get… the weather. Global warming as a catalyst to a
new Ice Age to be exact, with tornadoes, tidal waves, and ice storms
causing panic and mayhem.
The story revolves
around climatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) based in Washington
D.C., who believes the Earth may be on the brink of another Ice Age
after some strange meteorological events that have been happening all
over the world. He attributes it to global warming and through the UN
and the Kyoto
agreement he tries to persuade the current administration to take
emergency precautions but is dismissed as a doomsayer by the current
Vice President (a Dick Cheney look-a-like, which is a sly jab at the
current administration). Then, more climatic disasters start
happening at an alarming rate all over the world, like tornados in LA,
hail storms (with hail the size of softballs) in Tokyo, massive
hurricanes, and snow in India, and suddenly the world is in panic
mode. Hall is mortified when he discovers that his Ice Age theory is
not only right but is happening at an alarming rate. His earlier
model called for the slow ushering in of the next Ice Age in the next
hundred to a thousand years, but these events are pointing to one
happening in the next few days. It’s not long before everyone else is
in agreement. As the world is in a full panic, Hall decides to save
his son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is stranded in New York
after the city is hit with a massive tidal wave. Sam, meanwhile, is
trapped in the New York Public Library with some school friends and is
dealing with one emergency after another.
It’s not long
before Hall is racing against an enormous ice storm that freezes
everything in its path to get to his stranded son whom he’s had his
own share of fatherly issues with. It’s like Finding Nemo as a
disaster film.
CRITIQUE
OK, let me just get
this out of the way, The Day After Tomorrow is dopey and your
brain will be going on a long vacation as you watch it. The story is
exaggerated almost to its breaking point, the dialogue is ludicrous
and some of the situations that come up are beyond ridiculous (like
after the tidal wave and a city wide power outage, Sam manages to find
the only working payphone in the city which is underwater and is able
to call his father). But it is a fun and entertaining disaster movie
with some of the best special effects you’re likely to see. So if you
can just check the critic in you at the door and just go along for the
special effects ride, you’ll enjoy it.
Now, even though
the story takes the global warming effect into ultra-exaggeration
mode, the point that the film is making is not ridiculous. In fact,
many of the events the film describes are happening now and this
heightens the tension and excitement of the disasters that follow.
But, really, this film was made to marvel at its special effects and
that is quite easy to do. From the first tornado storm (in LA) to the
tidal wave destroying most of New York to the ice storm enveloping
most of the world, the effects are simply magnificent. I couldn’t
help but be in awe. The effects are so realistic that the events have
a more chilling and effective resonance. And since the disasters just
keep coming one after another for most of the middle section of the
film, the excitement and tension is almost non-stop. It is during
this middle section where the film is truly exciting and worthwhile to
sit through. I should mention the one glaring exception to these
terrific effects and that would be the ludicrous wolf pack. There is
a pack of wolves that escape from the zoo during the events and Sam
and his friends eventually run into them (gee, what a coincidence) and
find themselves running from them. The problem is, besides the fact
that this was written into the story in the first place, is that the
wolves are 100% CGI and do not look realistic at all. There are all
these amazing effects throughout the film and they make the wolves
look like animation. I couldn’t believe it.
It’s in the
beginning and the end of the film (along with some ludicrous moments
in the middle) where most of the dialogue and human-interest stories
are developed and ended. And this is where the film fails miserably.
The director, Roland Emmerich, has a knack for special effects but he
just doesn’t understand how human beings talk with one another and act
around each other. Just like Independence Day and Godzilla,
the dialogue and small human-interest stories are just atrocious while
the effects are amazing. I don’t fault the actors too much as they
are just given such awful dialogue to work with, you almost feel bad
for them. Although Dennis Quaid seems like he just mailed this
performance in for the paycheck. He’s had such a great streak of
solid performances lately, it’s a shame he took this role. Gyllenhaal
is a terrific actor who tries his best but just can’t overcome the
hokey dialogue or ridiculous situations his character is put in. The
rest of the cast, again, makes the best of the horrid dialogue and
set-ups but can’t overcome it (or the fact that they are really just
second fiddle to the effects). So if you’re not into effects driven
disaster films that are all spectacle and hardly any substance, then
you won’t be happy with The Day After Tomorrow. But if you
just want to enjoy the ride of a special effects loaded beast of a
film with lots of fun and excitement, check it out.
THE VIDEO
It is extremely
important that the transfer is sharp and crisp for this visually
arresting film, and this disc transfer does not disappoint. The
picture quality is superb and the effects look absolutely perfect.
THE AUDIO
20th Century Fox
presents The Day After Tomorrow in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Sound and the audio is just tremendous. The balances are perfect and
the dialogue is crisp and clear.
THE EXTRAS
Commentary by
director Roland Emmerich and producer Mark Gordon –
The two talk passionately about the project and discuss in detail the
technical aspects of the production. Its revealed that Montreal was
where most of the movie is filmed standing in for many locations.
This is actually a very good commentary track with the two discussing
very enthusiastically many different areas of the production of this
film.
Commentary by
Co-writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff, director of photography Ueli Steiger,
editor David Brenner and production designer Barry Chusid –
Much more technical commentary but almost feels like a filler. Most
of this was covered in the previous commentary at a bigger picture
level and unless you have a need for extremely detailed discussion on
lighting and shading this is almost too much. But the group is
intelligent and enthusiastic.
Audio Anatomy
Interactive Sound Demo – This allows you to listen to each sound element to one of
the disaster scenes to understand what makes up a great sound bite.
Very interesting and fun extra.
Deleted Scenes –
These scenes all have optional director commentary which explains why
each scene was cut. Most of these scenes obviously should have stayed
out (like another scene with the wolves) but some of these scenes do
add some more story and are interesting. There are a total of ten
deleted scenes.
DVD-ROM Extras
– The DVD Rom extras are basically over an hour of making of footage
of the film, from the creative concept meetings through the
pre-production strategies through to the actual shooting of the film
itself. There are interviews with just about everyone involved in the
production, from the director to the stars to the behind-the-scenes
crew. This is a very informative, extensive, and well-prepared extra
that you are bound to find some aspect fascinating.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Day After
Tomorrow is not a great
film nor is it very challenging, but it is loaded with outstanding
special effects that create some true tension and excitement by
showing the power of nature in all its frightening glory.
