So What's Wrong With The Recent Disaster Movies ?!

Rating: 5/10 (12 September 2008)

Weak Drama: Nearly there isn't much of a drama but the main event's noise. There isn't running theme but being a hero, a human who can sacrifice, or not. Some may die because no dramatic reason; as the disaster is insane, so the screenplay must be too!
Not Too Many Stars: One very important point. The 1970s' memorable disaster movies were cleverer. The producers knew early that there wasn't much of a drama, so they hired big names to cover the small storylines, the bad dialogue, and the unfound purgation. Every movie was a star-studded, which was a smart tradition that disappeared during the 2000s. Maybe because of the shameful reputation of some of the previous era's movies as proud turkeys; (The Swarm - 1978) is a pretty good example. Or maybe the big budget of the CGI left no money to bring golden casts. Or the stars of today refuse being in a movie that may not focus on them inasmuch as the disaster. Anyhow, now they deal with one star, sometimes half a star!, and bunch of unknown people, which exposes the shoddy scripts, and lessens the attraction. The funny thing is that the only disaster movie in the last years that crowded all star cast was the black comedy flop (Mars Attacks! - 1996).
Hyped CGI: Let's be honest, now the majority of the movies have obvious special effects. I hate, in most of the cases, to see that computer work and exaggerated too, I'm an old-fashioned guy maybe, but the good old stuff was somehow more believable, coarse, and effective. In the 2000s, it's just so exposed, and adolescent. And they put the real thing proudly, as the making, in the DVD, and sometimes as advertisement while the movie is shown! They ruin the whole thing by their own hands!! Just compare (The Towering Inferno - 1974) with (Independence Day - 1996). It's like live on air from a disaster zone vs. video game. I'm not who you can call: a Stanley Kubrick's big fan, but at least he said about 8 thousand extras for (Spartacus - 1960)'s battles: "This Is Not Enough". You can call me a fan of that!
The Truth: WAW, maybe the only time to witness the 1970s beats the 2000s in something!
Thank God For: The TV, Cable, DVDs, etc.. to re-watch that again.
Now, About This One (The Day after Tomorrow - 2004):
Weak Drama: I didn't like its drama. Yes, there was a father who wanted to reach his son, but there wasn't more! The strangest thing was that this movie got, unlike maybe all its likes, an issue to arouse, and a case to propound, meaning the abrupt global warming. But it dumbly didn't serve it much, since dramatically I didn't feel the selected characters to catch on some lucid meaning out of their deaths, or even got emotional because of their performance; because there weren't respectably written characters basically. So the "end of the world" wasn't the hero here intellectually as it was visually.
Not Too Many Stars: Although the cast presented fair performance, but the flat characterization didn't even make me worried about them. God. Even the connections between them weren't strongly built. They transformed into marginal cameos in a skillful CGI show; which's old fact about disaster movies, however this time the presence of (Jake Gyllenhaal), (Dennis Quaid), and (Emmy Rossum) didn't make me lenient with it!
Not-Hyped CGI: Save the phony wolves, it has some of the sanest CGI, and it's - in fact - the whole show. Missing this movie in theaters is something to regret for as it's the sole thing to be watched there. The movie's CGI was the very-well made element, and maybe what this movie was all about.
The Truth: Compared to Roland Emmerich's previous 2 "end of the world" disaster movies, (Independence Day - 1996) and (Godzilla - 1998), it has better CGI, and some satire anyway. But it's also less less intense, and less fun.
In itself, I consider (The Day After Tomorrow - 2004) a little action movie, yet sad, with good image and some inside message. But I didn't find any attribute that could make it my movie, or qualify it for a second viewing.
Thank God For: There is no sequel. Yippeeeee!