Today, Tomorrow, Who cares?

Rating: Null/10 (28 May 2004)

OK... first off, let me say that I am a devout disaster movie fan. I have a number of disaster DVD's in my collection which range from subtle messages (The China Syndrome) to the slam, whish BANG (Towering Inferno). So, usually going into a disaster movie, I know not to expect too much because the genre, at many times seems to kill itself by it's subject matter. Case in point, The Day After Tomorrow.
When I saw the previews, I knew I had to see it. So, I went out on it's first day of release and saw it and I have to say that I was totally dissapointed in this movie. I concluded that Mr. Emmerich has either watched too many or not enough disaster movies in his time. The movie was filled with evey cliche' (I need to find my son, whom I need to spend more time with, NOW that I'm faced with the fact that he may be dead), every stupid villian (the MEAN vice president), the token special effects that override every other thing in the movie (twisters in LA!), and most of all , the citizens of the United States, being cast as the dumbest, spoiled, inconsiderate people on the face of this earth. (Because obviously, the president knows everything.)
Anyway, let me sum it up, as someone else has commented, this film could have been so much more... I would have felt great about the movie if I could have walked out of it feeling scared as hell that this could actually happen. I would have felt good if the destruction of the world (because we all live in New York and LA) could have been spread out in more than the first 30 minutes of the movie, and I would have felt OK if everyone in this movie wasn't so gosh darn stupid (because obviously, if a twister touched down in our backyards, we would try and videotape it from 30 feet away while our house is being torn down.)
I'll probably buy the DVD when it comes out at christmas time and when I hear Dennis Quaid in the behind the scenes documentary on the disc (AND IT BETTER HAVE ONE) say "Roland really knew how to write a smart, thrilling disaster movie" or.. "this film really shows what could happen with the way that we are destroying our world" I will laugh out loud, while riding down the street in my H2 and in the same sentence complain about how much I'm paying to keep it filled up, because it's my duty as an American!....... Right?