Fortunately, you won't be left cold

Rating: 6/10 (22 August 2006)

The very best image of "The Day After Tomorrow" is the very last one. We see Earth from space, but the entire land of the North hemisphere, instead of being green and brown, is completely white along with little parts from the seas and oceans. It's an inarguably eloquent proof of nature's powers.
As far as I can remember, I never anticipated a movie that much than "The Day After Tomorrow". I won't hide it, I've always been a fan of disaster movies in my youth and the fact that there have never been so many cataclysms depicted one single movie is simply irresistible.
Roland Emmerich should get some credit for being one of the rare mainstream filmmakers to voluntarily take on the problem of global warming. Even if the events depicted in his movie will evidently never occur, Emmerich gives us a rather convincing demonstration of what Mother Nature is able to accomplish.
The concept, despite it's not surprising when you think it's Emmerich, is also unique in its own way. While Emmerich, by the past, made big-budget sci-fi disaster movies about enemies which can be vanquished (Independence Day, Godzilla, Eight Legged Freaks), he now presents a terrifying enemy which can never been defeated: nature itself.
Unsurprisingly, special effects get almost all the place and the characters and the screenplay are made up with the budget that's left. However, the story is one of the best of Emmerich's career and some of the actors, especially Jake Gyllenhall (in his breakthrough role) and Emmy Rossum, give some gravity to the film.
Action scenes and special FX are indescribable. I've never seen something like that before. Emmerich literally hired an army of special FX teams. Actually, there are 16 of them and they're lead by the reference in this domain: Industrial Light & Magic.
The catastrophe sequences are extraordinary. Better than a thrill ride. It begins very quickly when the Antarctic ice shelf begins to detach itself and Jack Hall (the main character, played by Dennis Quaid) and his mates are stuck in the middle of it.
Then, you see a hail storm hitting Tokyo. After that, it's the best of the lot: massive tornadoes hit Los Angeles. These scenes are better and more thrilling than in "Twister" (so it's not little words) and the sound effects shake our eardrums. The chaos sound almost prevents us from hearing the characters' voices, which adds to the realism already brought.
Then it's the massive tidal wave which swallows New York City and the second half of the movie begins. The main attraction becomes the superb superstorm which lethally freezes everything on its path. I'm sure that after seeing the superstorm scenes, you'll never watch the sky the same way.
Emmerich seems to include some political satire in his movie. Vice president Becker owns a strong resemblance to actual vice president Dick Cheney. To be honest, it's the first that I see a vice president having more screen time in a movie than the president himself. And the United States political plans are spoofed as well. It's evident when you hear Becker refusing to pay for Kyoto Protocol and declaring that finances should be a priority before environment. Is it a message that is sent here? Let's hope so...
The world will never actually freezes over. At least in the way shown here. But "The Day After Tomorrow" sends its environment-caring message in a very shocking way and procures solid entertainment with its thrilling action scenes and its breathtaking special effects. This is easily Roland Emmerich's best movie and it is totally, the word is appropriate, cool.