Some nice CGI special effect sequences but not much else.

Rating: 5/10 (16 July 2008)

The Day After Tomorrow starts in New Delhi at a United Nations global warming conference where palaeoclimatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) tries to tell US Vice President Becker (Kenneth Welsh) that the world is headed for another ice age if they don't sign up to the Kyoto Accords & cut greenhouse gasses immediately. With the Vice President more interested in the US economy Hall's pleas fall on deaf ears. Then shortly after British scientist Terry Rapson (Ian Holm) contacts Hall to tell him his equipment has detected a sudden & drastic lowering of temperatures around Greenland caused by huge icecaps melting & breaking off into the Ocean. A climate imbalance causes massive storms across the Northern Hemisphere & minus 170 degree temperatures which freeze & kill anyone caught in it on contact, as America begins to freeze solutions are sought but it might be too late already...
Co-written, co-produced & directed by Roland Emmerich this action blockbuster warning about the perils of global warming was a huge hit when originally released although I have to say I didn't think it was any better than average. The script by Emmerich & Jeffrey Nachmanoff is basically a modern updating of all those natural disaster flicks from the 70's like Earthquake (1974), The Towering Inferno (1974), Avalanche (1978) & Meteor (1979) in which nature strikes & causes havoc & danger only The Day After Tomorrow gets the mega budget Hollywood treatment & revolves around the currently very topical issue of global warming & our changing climate. The first thing to say about The Day After Tomorrow is that it is not scientifically accurate & doesn't really try to be, the events in the film which take place over several weeks in reality would takes decades if not centuries. I thought it went on for too long, at two hours in length I found myself becoming increasingly bored with it & I just don't think there's enough story here to maintain ones interest. Then there's the horrible attempts at soap opera style emotion & sentimentality with the final twenty odd minutes set what sounded like violins as it rounded up all the 'human nature' stories & subplots as Jack found his son (if Jack was aware that the storm would kill anyone out in it why did he travel to New York when realistically speaking he would know he would have been killed too?), the cringe worthy speech at the end by the President thanking other countries for their assistance & the perils of ignoring global warming & taking our planet for granted, the scenes of people having survived in New York on the rooftops, the scene of the boy in Hospital being saved & the final shot of a clear unpolluted Earth from space are just ever so slightly embarrassing. The character's are pretty thin, I didn't really care about anyone, all the coincidences are just daft although there are some seriously impressive CGI effects & some memorable imagery such as the scenes of destruction in New York.
The one thing that does save The Day After Tomorrow are some terrific set-piece action sequences & some impressive CGI computer effects. From the devastating affects of tornado's sweeping through Los Angeles to huge waves crashing through New York to the image of a huge tanker ship sailing though the streets & between the skyscrapers of Manhattan. The film was promoted with the claim that it was the first Hollywood film to be 'carbon neutral' & environmentally friendly I suppose. While the special effects are impressive & there are some good set-piece scenes I still found the film rather slow going, a bit heavy handed especially when it came to the emotion & sentiment at the end & just too long.
With a supposed budget of about $125,000,000 The Day After Tomorrow had an opening US box-office weekend take of $85,000,000 which is huge, to be honest although all the impressive CGI effects make for a great looking trailer I still don't think the actual film is much better than average. The acting is alright but nothing great, Quaid is OK as the hero while Ian Holm is wasted in small cameo role.
The Day After Tomorrow is a OK if unspectacular environmental disaster flick that I found hard to remain interested in, sure the CGI is great but the story & character's are fairly weak. Not bad but not great.