The Global Warming Disaster Film

Rating: 8/10 (15 August 2008)

The Day After Tomorrow is a guilty pleasure for me. I like a good action/disaster film, and this film appeals to my politics.
The plot of film is that the ice caps start to melt rapidly and causes a lot environmental problems; twisters in Los Andreas, snow storms in Britain, deadly hailstorms in Japan and flooding New York. This all causes a new Ice Age and is based on the scientific theory that global warming could lead to a Ice Age. In the middle of this, the American government, lead by a Dick Cheney like Vice President, refuse to accept that global warming is a major problem and holds anti-environmentalist views. When the crisis starts he sees the error of his ways. In the middle of crisis is Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) and his son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal). Jack was a senior climatologist who came up with the theory that global warming could start a new ice-age, whilst his some was in New York as it flooded. Whilst most people in America help south to avoid the gathering ice storm, Jack heads north from Washington to find his son.
Everyone knows that the science in this film is far-fetched. No-one can believe that a Ice Age can happen in two days and that even the worst case scenario, that it would take years for a Ice Age to develop. However, this film does raise an important issue, that Global Warming is one of the most major crisis in human history. The Day After Tomorrow does criticise the Bush presidency on his handling of the issue. It also has a good joke that Americans try to break into Mexico and that the American government have to write off Latin American debt to allow the Americans in. The special effects are good for a film like this, especially when New York gets flooded and with the snow storms, like in Britain. There is also a decent cast, having Quaid and Gyllehenaal, and others like Adrian Lester and Ian Holm. They all do there best in this film.
However, there are some moments that are totally stupid, such as the wolfs from Central Park zoo surviving the flood and attacking living people when there are a lot died bodies around, or that a Russian ship with no crew somehow sailing into the middle of New York and near the library, without hitting a single building.
But the Day After Tomorrow is enjoyable, especially if you are an environmentalist like me.