CriticSociety- film reviews

Review

The Day After Tomorrow

Director

Roland Emmerich

Year

2004

Rating

Reviewed by

José Ruiloba a.k.a. Morris

Review date

Thursday, June 03, 2004

I am a big fan of disaster movies, although, to be honest, I haven’t seen most of the classic ones except for The Poseidon Adventure. That said, I’m more into modern disaster movies, and as sick as it may sound, director Roland Emmerich is a master in destroying huge cities and killing millions of people. I couldn’t wait to see his latest and it did not disappoint me.

Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) has been trying to convince the U.S. government that the world may be in jeopardy due to global warming. But sooner than he expected, the disaster starts taking place, as cities such as Los Angeles and New York suddenly get huge tornadoes and floods. It is a matter of survival from that point on, as Jack’s son, Sam (Jake Gyllenghaal) is in New York and must stay alive however he can while awaiting for his father to come and get him.

You can see I rated the movie quite highly. There’s an explanation to that. First of all, I loved it. I do admit that it is full of clichés and corny dialogue, but then, that’s always the case in this type of movies. There has to be a family conflict so we can feel more attached to the characters and root for them to get together in the end. There has to be the over-the-top heroic moments. There has to be a little bit of humor even though the characters’ lives are at risk. There has to be some romance thrown in there for good measure. There has to be all of it. But there’s something really important that you have to understand: The movie has to work. And, in this case, it does. It really does!

The show is spectacular. I don’t care whether these things can or will happen anytime in the future. The movie is meant to entertain and it does incredibly well. It is actually divided in three segments. First we have the build-up for the disaster, which serves as a purpose to establish the characters, their conflicts and the current world situation. Then there’s the disaster per se. And finally we have the obligatory third act in which people must now face the consequences and survive disasters which have yet to take place. When that second act was over I thought the movie would not work anymore since the bar had been risen too high, but the final act actually works pretty well, and it is never devoid of suspense.

As for the special effects, I don’t have enough words to describe them. They’re spectacular, magnificent. The sight of a flooded, and subsequently frozen, New York is simply something to behold. The attack of twisters in L.A. is a breathtaking sequence. Every single special effect in the movie has a purpose and works perfectly. The whole disaster sequence won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

Acting-wise everyone does their job as they’re required to. I specially liked Emmy Rossum, who managed to stand out with her natural charm. I’d seen this girl in Mystic River (2003) before and had a good impression of her. Now I’m sure she’s meant for greater things and I hope she can have a great career. I certainly want to see more of her!

The mother of all modern disaster movies!

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