At best dopey, at worst offensive

Rating: 1/10 (8 November 2004)

Dopey, borderline offensive trash. The first half of the film is basically an excuse to unleash massive destruction on major American cities, but events of the past four years have robbed such an effort of a lot of the thrill and potential humor. Not that it would be terribly funny anyway, at least not in this director's hands. The disaster epics of the 1970s had their tongues firmly in cheek, and their ability to laugh at themselves allows even the most intelligent viewer to forgive a lot of excess. Roland Emmerich, on the other hand, approaches his story not with high seriousness, but with a kind of embarrassing TV-movie earnestness that's even worse. The fact that the hoariest of movie clichés are here intended to be genuinely heartwarming is a little pathetic, and doesn't jibe at all with the fanboyish cyberviolence of the movie's first act. Getting back to that violence, I'll never understand why these sorts of FX-travaganzas are always shot in the most unrealistic, unfrightening ways possible. Wouldn't it be much scarier to see a tornado (or three, in this case) from the perspective of someone on the *ground*, someone whose life is threatened, then from someone in the air? Ridiculous. 1 out of 10.