Some people have the will to survive. No matter the situation, this small group of humans will find a way to make it out alive. In the case of "The Day After Tomorrow," this seems to be every major character. A simple yet spectacular looking disaster movie in the first hour, the film takes a wild and totally incomprehensible turn in the second half all while leaving logic out of the script.
Climatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) predicts significant atmospheric changes for the planet unless more is done to prevent the erosion of the ozone layer. While his son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) is in New York for a competition, Mother Nature finally has enough and lets loose some previously impossible disasters. Now stuck in the New York Public Library, Sam must fight to survive the coming cold while his father makes a desperate rescue attempt.
Wisely spacing out the key moments of destruction, "Day After" does a fine job of keeping audiences in their seats for at least 60-minutes. The CGI here is generally unforgettable, producing sites that most of the 70's disaster films tried so hard to produce. Never has worldwide devastation been shown in such a form.
Sadly, once everything calms down and Jack Hall with some friends begins his trek from Pennsylvania (I think; the movie is not very clear on the location) to New York on foot to rescue his child, the movie becomes absurd. Swallowing some of the science is expected, but when this intrepid group comes across body after body frozen to death and they seem to have little trouble surviving, you just can't accept it. It really is just flat out stupid.
Worse, there is little reason for him to even make the journey. He really has to figure his extremely intelligent kid is smart enough to start a fire. The best the writers could come up with is a meager promise from a phone call that Hall swears to keep which is a ridiculous attempt at adding depth to shallow characters.
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