The special effects are awesome, but the film itself is a disappointment

Rating: 5/10 (18 February 2006)

The Day After Tomorrow is just another Roland Emmerich big-budget extravaganza which pays little attention to trivial aspects of film-making, such as a good plot, dialogue or even a large amount of excitement. But hey, it has awesome special effects, so who the hell cares? In my opinion, The Day After Tomorrow is overrated - it's 6.2 rating on IMDb is a bit too high for my liking. Not only that, but the ending is both stupid and inconclusive.
Anyhow, The Day After Tomorrow revolves around a father, son and the world around them, which suddenly suffers the effects of global warming. Los Angeles suffers tornadoes and twisters, while Washington D.C freezes over. In fact, the world enters a state of climatic flux. There is an underlying subplot indicating how their struggle for survival has brought Sam and his father Jack closer together, but I see it as little more than an excuse for Emmerich to showcase more special effects. The dialogue is also substandard, but I more or less expected this. This movie's greatest fault is that it is simply not exciting enough. For a high-budget disaster epic, it is rather boring and unengaging, which is a surprise. Another issue I have with The Day After Tomorrow is with its ending. The film ends just like that, leaving me with a quizzical expression on my face and a reasonably sour taste in my mouth.
On the other hand, the acting, particularly by the leads Dennis Quaid and Jake Gylenhall, is quite decent, as they both manage to capture some of the urgency which would be prevalent in such a precarious situation. The rest of the cast are OK, but no outstanding performances come to mind. Did I mention that the special effects in this movie are bloody awesome and are among the best that I have ever seen?
Some people may think that I have not given The Day After Tomorrow much of a chance. Well, if you are thinking that, let me tell you...I really wanted to enjoy this film, I really did. I have tried to sit through it multiple times but I have only managed to once. This is because I feel that The Day After Tomorrow is little more than an overrated bore which tries to compensate for its lack of entertainment value by using (admittedly great) special effects.
If you are a special effects buff or a Roland Emmerich fan, by all means, go see The Day After Tomorrow as it is one of his better pictures (not like that's saying much). But if you want to see a good disaster movie, go see War of The Worlds.
2.5/5 stars