A Chilling Mess.

Rating: Null/10 (27 May 2004)

In the new film `The Day After Tomorrow' a bitter chill will envelope the audience as they realize that they have just spent money to watch one of the worst films in history. This is the reaction that many unsuspecting theatergoers are going to have this Memorial Day weekend as they watch the latest disaster film from Writer/Director/Producer Roland Emerich.
Emerich who along with Dean Devlin created such box office phenoms as `Stargate' and' Independence Day' before coming back to earth with the colossal dud `Godzilla'. has crafted a film so utterly devoid of entertainment value it is as barren as the post storm urban landscapes portrayed in the film. The so called story centers around a dramatic change in the earths weather system brought on by global warming due to industrialism run amuck. Workaholic scientist Jack Hall (Dennis Quiad) has been predicting that catastrophic weather changes are coming but his pleas fall on deaf ears especially those of the Vice President who is more concerned with economic advancement than on climate stability. Jack is estranged from his son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal), as his father seems to have plenty of time to speak to people the world over but has had little time for him and his mother Lucy (Sela Ward), which has lead to a divorce. Sam is heading to New York for a conference and soon becomes trapped in the public library when severe flooding and blizzard conditions arrive. Jack decides that he will brave the elements and trek to New York to rescue his son fueled by guilt over not being there for his son in the past. While it is a nice sentiment, the journey is filled with so many gigantic pauses in credibility and logic that it strains any sort of credibility. My favorite was the weather that is so cold that it can freeze gas lines in a rescue helicopter, but yet does not affect the gas lines at a local fast food location that is buried in snow and caked in a wall of ice. There were also the nice moments of people grasping and holding frozen items in sub zero climates without gloved hands when it was obvious that frostbite aside, they would have stuck to the item in question, especially when this fact was established in an earlier scene. I also liked the pack of escaped zoo wolves that somehow managed to survive the temperatures that flash froze everyone exposed to them and now stalk an abandoned ship as Sam and his friends desperately search for supplies. The scenes of Tornados ravaging Los Angeles and severe flooding and snow in New York are visually impressive, but the characters are so bland that you do not care at all if they live or die. Gyllenhaal is so bland all he does is mug with a blank devoid look and seems incapable of registering any emotion or enthusiasm for his part. Quaid is not much better as it seems like he is delivering his lines in his sleep. You can not blame him as the lines are so bad, that the audience was laughing at them during the scenes of crisis that were supposed to have the audience on the edge.
This film is so bad that people were leaving their seats during some of the so-called dramatic sequences some not to return at all. Who can blame them, as I have seen more tension and drama at a knitting demonstration then in the two-hour mess that was this movie. It is a shame as the message of the film is a good one but it is lost amongst the bland characters and painful dialogue. Here is hoping that the day following this films brings better movies, `Spider-Man 2' where are you when we need you most?
2 stars out of 5 Gareth Von Kallenbach