Independence Day Goes Climactic!

Rating: Null/10 (29 May 2004)

The road to celluloid Hell is always paved with good intentions, and The Day After Tomorrow is living proof that this road exists. Mr.Emmerich took a well-intentioned futuristic look from Messrs. Bell and Strieber, tried to squeeze the events which could potentially happen in anywhere from 100 years or more (probably more) and turn them into a thrilling story but instead turned it into something rather aimless and inconsistent. Watching big cities get tormented and trashed seems to have turned into a national pastime (I cite ID4, Deep Impact, ad infinito and nauseum), and I think that Mr. Emmerich believes that he is giving us a well-intentioned look at the "Big Picture", but it gets rather sketchy and loses focus. When I went to see the movie this afternoon, I saw something that I have seen only MAYBE once before. There were people getting up and leaving some time before the end of the movie. There were MANY goofs, such as Mr. Gyllenhaal's use of the payphone: 1. NO central switching office would be operable with the water that was flooding into Manhattan at that time, and 2. With the way the water was flooding in, NO electronic device such as a payphone would be operable fully submerged in water the way that one was depicted. Another equally improbable premise is the way the cast was going around with no gloves on. If the surrounding metal objects were as frozen as the movie made them to be, there would have been LOTS of injuries due to flesh cold-welded to metal. Another inconsistency was the gas burners in the fast food joint that Mr. Quaid and his assistant fell into. If the temperature fell so quickly that gasoline would freeze, then how was his character able to use natural gas?
I do realize that Mr. Emmerich meant this as only a fantasy and has allegedly represented it as such, but shouldn't there be a line drawn between good fantasy and total BS?
There were two things I did enjoy about the movie, however. I did enjoy the SFX VERY much, very realistic in quite a few ways. And I did enjoy the uplifting tone of the movie that we can ALL pull together and face adversity and near-certain death with dignity and nobility if we choose. Otherwise, lots of high-tech sizzle but no steak.