Watch it for the CGI, and nothing more.

Rating: 6/10 (29 May 2004)

I don't know what to think about Emmerich, I'm aware of all the negative press he gets and some I think isn't really deserved. I haven't seen Stargate in a decade and can't accurately comment on it, I like ID4 for what it was, Godzilla was wasted potential and I have yet to see the Patriot. The biggest fall that Emmerich had is that his films are VERY impressive from a CGI and action scene standpoint, but suffer horribly in character and plot development. In fact, ID4 turned out so good in my eyes because it had plenty of good CGI and action to make up for the terrible plot. Godzilla failed because all the good stuff was at the beginning while the character and plot carried the last three-quarters of the flick. Now, after so many years out of the Hollywood limelight, Emmerich returns sans-Dean Devlin for another stab at the multi-million dollar summer project. This time, he decides to tread on even more dangerous waters with a global warming flick that is sure to agitate many a scientist. Surprisingly though, the film manages to keep the crap to a minimum.
Day After Tomorrow is a global warming themed-flick that doesn't shy from bringing that issue to the front. There are countless scenes where characters will rant and rave over thermal currents, ice storms and whatnot and how "we weren't quick enough". Personally, I never believed in global warming, but I did try to keep personal feelings away from judging this film. On the other hand, there was plenty of attempts to turn a real-life debate into multi-gazillion dollar CGI-fest, (which were quite nice, might I add). Marvel at Los Angeles getting torn apart by tornadoes or New York getting hit by a massive flood. Watch the world freeze over and storms pound at the survivors. In fact, you'll have so much fun watching this that it more than makes up for the terrible character and plot development. Yes, a patented Emmerich trademark returns in full-force with more forced "crisis's" involving love and/or family interjected into odd moments. Watch a man walk across a sixth of the nation to locate his son or a love triangle that completely keels over and dies by the half-way point. Sadly, this is the entire last half of the film with poor CGI wolves being the only real action scene worth mentioning during that half. The underutilization of characters is a big problem, as there were literally dozens of characters added at various points that received little or no development and when they would die or "contribute" you felt no emotion.
But for what it is, I was glad to see a couple good CGI scenes right away but I do wish they were more spaced out so I didn't have to pace through poor dialogue and underdeveloped or underutilized characters.
6.0/10