Competently-Made Environmental Disaster Movie

Rating: Null/10 (2 June 2004)

In this film, the world's weather goes haywire, causing tornados, massive tidal waves, giant hail stones and sub-zero temperatures around the world. The film is made up of four storylines: The main ones deal with a scientist (Dennis Quaid) who knows what is going on and is trying to persuade the authorities to act, and his son (played by Jake Gyllenhaal)who is stuck in the New York Public Library amidst fatally low temperatures. The other storylines see a hospital doctor (and the scientist's wife) (Sela Ward) try to evacuate a sick child and another scientist (Ian Holm) working in a remote climate research station in the Scottish Highlands.
The film is well-made with some spectacular special effects, however it does feel stretched out (at two hours) and it is difficult to sympathise with some of the characters (some of whom seem very cliched) partly due to the switching between storylines. Also the climate change seems to occur in an absurdly short space of time (I realise this was necessary to make the film at all dramatic, but still..)
It's alright though, and it is pretty entertaining with quite an important environmental message.