Particularly poor `Blockbuster' effort.

Rating: Null/10 (20 August 2004)

D: Roland Emerich. Dennis Quaid; Jake Gyllenhaul; Ian Holm. I wanted to like this film, I really did, but to be honest, it is just a sly, pessimistic disaster film with more CGI than sense. Scientist/Meteorologist Quaid makes a shocking discovery which leads him to believe that a new ice age dawns. Typical English professor Holm agrees with him, but no-one with any authority does. This ridiculous story begs many questions: If such a huge fluctuation in the climate were to take place, and all the evidence was there to back up the theory, wouldn't more scientists realise it? Why is the vice president left to make all the important decisions? What is director Roland Emerich's obsession with destroying New York City? If Quaid is a government scientist, why is he not allowed to use the facilities or talk to the people in charge? Why does the film have to deal with Quaid's wife as a doctor treating terminally ill children; a horribly manipulative afterthought to the story which, instead of bringing it down to earth, gives it a sickly feeling? Many of the questions have no answer except from this: The film is garbage. What really makes this film particularly unconvincing is that it completely relies on CGI technology which is simply not good enough. And also that is basically just a remake of Emerich's earlier `Godzilla' travesty minus the Lizard. However, on the plus side, Dennis Quaid isn't bad as the scientist and Jake Gyllenhaul shows talent as his son  but Ian Holm's performance as the professor is a bigger disaster for his career than the film itself. He genuinely looks embarrassed to be appearing in this picture. So, in conclusion, this film is a real waste of time. Let's all hope that Emerich makes a better movie next time (considering he hasn't made a good one yet, don't get your hopes up) or else stops making them all together. This is two hours of your life you won't get back.