Is This Some Kind of Bad Joke?

Rating: 4/10 (17 October 2004)

Great special effects, sound and editing can't make up for stupidity in writing. "The Day After Tomorrow" takes a fine hypothesis and runs it into the ground with unbelievably trite storytelling. CAN "Global Warming" usher in a new Ice Age? Maybe, but this movie leaves WAY too many questions unanswered, while violating some basic realities. For example, "Global Warming" caused by the excessive use of fossil fuels makes sense as presented. However, climatologists have been telling us since the 60s that we are overdue for another Ice age. Dennis Quaid's scientist tells us we have to look back 10,000 years for previous climate history. WHO was burning excessive amounts of fossil fuel then, "Atlantis"? I'm OK with that, but the movie never says so. WARNING: SPOILERS "The Day After Tomorrow" REALLY lost me in the second half, when Quaid travels to New York City to rescue his son. Let's see, he walks from north of Philadelphia to NYC, a distance of over 150 miles. How long does it take? The movie gives us the impression he does this in a couple of days(!!!) Initially, there were roughly 30 people held up in the New York City Public Library. They stayed until the ice froze 100 FEET from the city street. How long would that take, even under these conditions? Days? Weeks? No problem that 30 people have virtually no food, no drinking water and no sanitary conditions. After they leave, it still would have taken Quaid a month or more to walk to NYC. Yet, the movie would have us believe ten people could survive this long with a few tins of food and junk food. It also asks us to believe the "girl genius" would ignore a potentially fatal cut instead of asking the librarian for a first aid kit.
My favorite stupidity was the belief that Mexico and Central American countries would allow close to 100 MILLION Americans into their country in exchange for "debt forgiveness"! Come on, WHO would be alive to collect those debts anyway. I could certainly believe the President would order National Guard and Army regulars to invade Mexico under the circumstances. Now THAT would have made for an interesting story.
I hate to give a movie as well-made as "The Day After Tomorrow" a "4," but that is CERTAINLY as much as it deserves, given the plot stupidities. However, if you enjoyed "Independence Day," an even STUPIDER movie, you'll probably enjoy "The Day After Tomorrow." Which reminds, me, the Emmerich Brothers gave us a "heroic" Hillary Clinton in ID, but we have a stupid Dick Cheney in this one. Quick, what did Clinton-Gore do for reducing the consumption of fossil fuels? FACT: Corporate Average Fuel Consumption has been rising since REAGAN, thanks primarily to our love affairs with SUVs.