From The Makers Of Indepence Day Comes Another Great Hit

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2005)

2004's "Day After Tomorrow" was the second great hit by director Roland Emmerich. His "Godzilla" (1998) was never considered to be good, though it does have its moments, at least for me. But definitely "Day After Tomorrow" is the next best thing since Independence Day. This time the great threat to earth and humanity is earth's erratic weather. Weather experts and geologists discover that the earth is experiencing the same kind of distorted climate in the days of the Ice Age. The ocean begins to fill up, even drowning the land, and snow begins to consume land as well. The affected regions- Los Angeles, which gets its first ever tornado, and usually warm India and Japan get hail. The film stars Dennis Quaid as the heroic Jack Hall. Jack Gyllenhaal portrays his son Sam Hall. Sela Ward plays the mother and wife to Jack. Sam goes off to New York City to participate in an Academic Decathalon, not because of the contest but to get close to the beautiful Laura Chapman, with whom he is smitten by. She's played by Emmy Rossum, who is now better known as Christine Daee from "The Phantom Of The Opera", which was evidently her next film after this one. I was quite surprised. As a dramatic actress, she's OK and has potential for the future. As a singer, she also has equal potential for success. We don't hear her singing in this film.The cinematography is a visual masterpiece, the visual effects are top-notch. Much of it harks back to Independence Day, especially in the team efforts to survive the disaster. A brave group struggles to live in the library of NYC and it is quite suspenseful. At one point, I did feel that they would die. Naturally, humanity survives, life finds a way. This is not just another big disaster film, even if it does have those elements. It is very intense drama and I found the characters easy to sympathize with, especially in the younger characters. Highly recommended movie.