Review: The Day After Tomorrow

Roland Emmerich is a director who most people typically associate with destruction. In his past films, including Independence Day and Godzilla, he has absolutely annihilated New York City with both a giant lizard and an enormous alien spaceship. Here, with The Day After Tomorrow, Emmerich uses various apocalyptic means of weather to destroy the Big Apple—as well as many other large metropolitan areas. Just call him the master of disaster; not that his work is masterful, but boy, he sure can obliterate cities (as well as a sizeable amount of the human population—main characters aside of course).

With Emmerich's latest effort, The Day After Tomorrow is not exactly his crowning work. Its special effects provide more entertainment than anything else. The main portions of the plot are as formulaic as they can get, and the characters are as paper-thin as one of those cheap pieces of loose-leaf that you can practically see through. For the most part, we (as the audience) have trouble sympathizing with the main characters because they are not given enough screen time to develop. We know bits and pieces about each of the leads, but not enough to separate them from all of the other human beings who fall victim under Emmerich’s merciless arm.

Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is a climatologist who has developed a new means of predicting weather patterns. After witnessing the polar ice caps crack due to global warning, Jack’s system calculates that the onslaught of the next ice age will occur in 50 to 100 years. Jack tries to relay his research to the Vice President (Kenneth Walsh), but his claims are dismissed, and the country is left undefended from an unexpected climatic catastrophe.

Meanwhile, Jack’s son, Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) is stuck in New York City with his high school academic team—a team that Sam signed up for only because of Laura (Emmy Rossum), a young girl that Sam has a crush on. Consequently, the storms come sooner than expected. After a series of tornados rip through L.A., and an excess of hurricanes, floods, and blizzards terrorize the entire Northern Hemisphere, Jack tells Sam to remain inside the New York Public Library, and that he will be there soon to save him.

After many years of Jack allowing his career to take precedence over his family, Jack finally realizes how his neglect of Sam has virtually ruined their relationship. So naturally, now that the world has been subjected to disaster, Jack drives from D.C. to Philly through the world’s worst blizzard (Are there even roads anymore?), and then, after the truck crashes into a snow drift, Jack and his two helpers simply get on their walking boots and stroll from Philly to Manhattan in a few days. In this case, The Day After Tomorrow's plot can be considered laughably ridiculous. I mean, I know Jack is an Artic researcher who has hiked vast distances before, but come on—one-hundred miles in a few days through the worst weather conditions mankind has ever seen? I don’t know.

Article Author: Brandon Valentine

Brandon Valentine is a film critic from Hershey, PA. Aside from possessing the last name “Valentine” and living in “the Sweetest Place on Earth,” Brandon was also born on Valentine’s Day. That’s right, a Valentine born on Valentine’s Day. …

Visit Brandon Valentine's author page — Brandon Valentine's Blog