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Rating: 1/10 (5 June 2004)

The genre doesn't get any less silly as the years go by, that's for sure. This is as bogglingly incredible as POSEIDON ADVENTURE or TOWERING INFERNO or JURASSIC PARK or the director's own INDEPENDENCE DAY. Obviously there's no point in going to any of these movies for insights into human relationships, but Emmerich's work in this respect is more embarrassing than most. There's more characterisation in HALLOWEEN than there is in this movie. This is weird, since there are some very good actors on show. They all but one sink without trace not because of the dominance of special effects but because the parts they are playing are just sooooooo corny. Somehow, Ian Holm manages to keep his head above the rising waters. Maybe a film with amazing special effects has to trade in cardboard cut-outs, but I'm sure that LORD OF THE RINGS managed to avoid it a lot of the time, especially with Gollum. There's nothing remotely resembling the power of that character here. Emmerich is not in Peter Jackson's league, or anywhere near it. There's nothing as scary as Spielberg's T-Rex from JURASSIC PARK. There's nothing very much at all, I'm afraid. Get someone to wake you when NYC gets into cold water, and then go back to sleep again.