Very silly

Rating: Null/10 (12 October 2004)

I'm not averse to sensationalist disaster movies that have special effects as their main plot-motivation. I actually liked Independence Day. But at least that contained some humour. This movie takes itself so seriously that you're constantly aware exactly how silly it all is. Or have you ever seen a TV-anchor reporting live while standing a few hundred metres from not one, but TWO tornado's. I say, he deserved to get hit by that piece of debris!
The characters are all utterly uninvolving, so that you really don't care a hoot what happens to them. Random subplots are inserted to add interest, but fall completely flat. What's it with that sick boy the scientists wife is looking after? And oh yes, while the whole nation is crumbling under an unprecedented natural disaster, they're sending an ambulance through the blizzards especially to pick these two up...!? (Not to mention the army of helicopters flying into NYC to save daddy and son - as if that is all they have to do). The ship drifting into the NY streets is ludicrous, of course, but worked in a surrealistic way. The wolves however are the movie's worst idea, and badly done at that. I must say that in general I did not find the special effects particularly impressive, with the exception of the tidal wave flooding New York. All in all I found this pretty boring and instantly forgettable.