The Moose Hole - Review of The Day After Tomorrow

Rating: 2/10 (30 May 2004)

Who would have thought that one of the summer's most anticipated films would become the political lightening rod the liberal activists have made it today? How did this happen? Whether 20th Century Fox or the filmmakers wanted it or not, radical activist groups such as the ever-delusional Moveon.org have openly embraced the film, even going so far as to hold a rally not far from the premiere of the film. Among the speakers that were expected to attend was environmental nut-job himself, Al Gore, who spoke in New York City about the subject of global-warming on the coldest day in over half-a-century. That alone should demonstrate the credibility of these people but they embraced the film none the less, all to no avail to be sure. With less then one-third of the country concerning themselves with the environment, few will find this film to be more then flashy special-effects and unrelenting, if not mindless, destruction.
The story centers on the aftermath of global warming as one 'rogue' scientist battles both man-made and natural blockades in order to save his son who is trapped in a now ice-incased New York City. Professor Adrian Hall is one of the leading scientists in his field trying to raise awareness over the growing environmental problem the planet will eventually face in the not too distant future but few will listen. That is until numerous natural disasters begin to engulf the planet. Tornadoes rip through California, snowstorms pound Eastern Asia, and gigantic tidal waves slam into New York City, where his son is attending an academic-decathlon competition. While the rest of the United States heads further south in order to avoid continuing cataclysmic disasters, Adrian Hall is the only one marching north all in an effort to rescue his son and save any hope left for humanity. The story for The Day After Tomorrow is so ridiculously absurd and laughably clichéd that you may actually question the mentality of the radical liberals using this film as a launching pad to resurrect a dying, if not already dead, environmental proposal. To start things off, the film's entire concept, outside of the myth of global-warming being taken for serious fact, is decisively unrealistic. Granted that was the same situation with another Emmerich disaster-flick, Independence Day, but at least that film had a credible script and a group of heroing characters that the audience cared about; something The Day After seriously lacks. The problem lies in the fact that the film becomes tremendously bogged down by so many intertwining characters and their separate story lines that it becomes increasingly difficult for any audience to singularly attach themselves to a particular character within the film which, as a result, makes any actions on screen emotionally-meaningless.
The supposed hero of the film is Professor Adrian Hall, played to the best of his abilities by Dennis Quaid. As great of a ruggish actor as Quaid can be, it doesn't fit well with this particular character that is suppose to be a rogue but isn't, in that Hall has to report to someone before any situation even if it concerns the life of his son. While on that subject, why does Hall go to New York after stating just minutes earlier that the best they could do for the people stranded in the area was pray? And supposing he did make it to New York then what did he plan on doing? All communications were out so how was he going to get them out of there? And is it asking too much to question Hall's skills as a scientist? All these freakish weather anomalies are occurring that apply to your theory and yet you let your son go to New York. Does that make sense? And why is it that he is able to have this shocking theory that many slowly begin to accept but only begins collecting data to back it up once the effects of global warming are in full swing? Samuel Hall, played by environmental wacko Jake Gyllenhaal, is a prime example of the typical emotionally depressed teenager always fervent in clichéd films. He mopes because his father isn't around all the time  Boo-hoo! At least he has a father, it's not like his father is dead or his parents are divorced and he's never around. And the story about the 'F' he received for not showing work on his mathematics test and talking back to the teacher  What bull-crap! Show your damn work even if you can do it in your head (to be sure, his teacher isn't the only one in mathematics within the country who enforces such a policy) and don't talk back. It's that simple! And if Sam is as upset with his father as he appears to be, why does he choose to believe his father's promise to get him in New York if he has failed him so many times in the past? Worse-case scenario or not, it doesn't make sense.
Overall, Roland Emmerich and his band of disaster-flick cronies dispatch with all concepts of space and time, not to mention any at all scientific merit, in order to achieve their goal of promoting an overly-drawn out environmental agenda so clichéd that by the end of the film's nearly two hour run you'll be saddened to contemplate the thought of this being the last stand of the environmental wackos of the world. If these people so vividly believe the ideas that they promote, why would they ever soil their core beliefs by having them mixed together with over-the-top special effects and bad science that, in the end, contradicts any serious scientific merit they are trying to achieve? Time serves no purpose within the film, although humanity seems to be always short of it whenever the script calls for it to be. In what should take it thousands, if not millions, of years, the cataclysmic effects of global warming unfold before our eyes in a time frame of less then two weeks, though that is a rough estimate as no accurate time line of events is given. Granted things need to fit within a two hour film but even for the sake of global warming even that is a little ridiculous. On top of that, the liberal propaganda machine rolls out a weak excuse to lift current immigration policies via a turning of the tables scenario late within the film. In the future has Mexico gone loco when they are dealing with a global catastrophe and they are more concerned about getting even on immigration policies then saving lives? As was said earlier, The Day After suffers severely from predictable and overly clichéd situations that become more abundantly clear as the movie progresses. So much so that one wonders why not a single studio executive raised the red-flag before letting this get off the drawing-board. Without rambling out an entire list, which would be tediously long, let's say the best, if not the most unnoticed, example lied in the scene in which Sam Hall watches another guy come in and flirt with Laura, the girl he likes, while 'You don't want to hurt me  You don't want to make me cry' plays softly in the background of the cafeteria. And lastly, it is absolutely disturbing to contemplate the filmmakers ever wanting to showcase the destruction of New York City after the destructive event that took place on September 11th, 2001, and yet it is prominent here. Haven't New Yorkers, let alone Americans in general, been through enough that they should witness this on screen? How many damn times does Emmerich have to destroy NYC before he gets his final kicks? Perhaps one day the FBI would like a conversation with Mr. Emmerich and his disaster team. On a more serious note, no amount of eye-popping special-effects can save this film from being anything more then environmental propaganda to warn of an event they themselves can not substantially prove.
My Rating: * out of 5 (Grade: F+)