An Election Year Debut...

Rating: Null/10 (20 June 2004)

Warning***SPOILERS AHEAD***
As far as disaster flicks go, the special effects were outstanding and worth the price of admission. As for the rest of the movie, well....most everybody knows it's bad science and most movies don't usually get everything right anyway. However this movie is a patently obvious springboard for the environmental alarmist agenda. We have the closed-minded, science-hating, baleful VP, a Dick Cheney lookalike and obviously a Republican. The president on the other hand, is much more open-minded, moderate, and willing to save North American humanity, sacrificially sticks around the Oval Office until the bitter end and freezes to death on his way out of the district. He also bears a striking resemblance to Al Gore. Coincidence? I'm thinking no. At the end of the movie, Lady Liberty is sticking out of the snow Planet of the Apes style and President Cheney's evil twin is groveling before what's left of the nation how was wrong about global warming and thanking Mexico for their generosity at letting the US flee there, insinuating that they're much more magnanimous than he ever was.
I can't really see why the wolf scene was inserted. As the rains are pouring into the zoo, the zoo keepers come in to check on the animals and oh no! The timber wolves have escaped! Nothing comes of this initially (I still can't figure out how they escaped drowning along with everything else) until another 30 minutes or so. We then see three snarling curs, growling and skulking towards the ship where our young heroes are on a rescue mission, looking more like demon dogs from hell with glowing eyes than actual, real-life wolves. Why is this in the movie? It really doesn't fit. Maybe it's representative of some sort of primitive struggle between man and beast perhaps? Or maybe, they just needed something to fill 15 minutes of film.
This movie was great on special effects, but low on reality. Most movies are, but the problem with this one is that I'm sure there will be people who walk out and think this could really happen. It's an object lesson in deconstructionism and Emmerich is a perfect shill for environmental alarmists. What better movie to debut during the summer before a presidential election?