Throw science and avoiding cliche out the window

Rating: 3/10 (29 May 2004)

The movie opened up with what is quickly becoming the most cliched movie opening, the camera flying over the water. That is far from the only cinematic cliche that this movie had the poor judgment to use. Another memorable one is when Sam can't open a door, so he decides to climb out on some pipes to smash in the window with an axe rather than just using the axe on the door. Or how about the cliched street person who is the only one who knows whats going on? The list really goes on and on. If it isn't cliched it is CGI filler.
On top of all the cinematic cliches there is the simple fact that the science isn't even close to reflecting reality. Sure in the grand scheme of things over decades polar ice melting could upset the Atlantic circulation. It wouldn't happen in a week. According to the makers of the film it was condensed from dramatic effect, but it could all really happen. First off, tornadoes in LA, but not in places like Oklahoma? Freezing to death in seconds? Frost chasing people down the hall? The water in New York harbor rising 200+ ft to surround the statue of liberty (that the statue was even standing is pretty silly, but I willingly chalk that up to dramatic license), but not high enough to drown everyone in the library?
Then to make it all worse the movie closes with an incredibly preachy speech. Sorry, it opened with some incredibly preachy stuff. Oh, and there was a bunch of preachy stuff in the middle. And that doesn't include the "I've been a bad father" reflections.
The only good thing that can be said about the movie is that the acting wasn't bad. Sure there were some annoyances, but you expect that even from good disaster movies. But all in all the acting was pretty decent. Of course, it could just be that the rest of the movie was so bad it was almost funny.