Better the Second Time Around

Rating: 8/10 (22 December 2005)

We watched this on DVD tonight, and I enjoyed it even more than I did when I saw it the opening weekend.
The sound and special effects are awesome. Too often what looks great on the screen at the theatre doesn't look as good when you see it on video. The special effects in THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW suffered on the small screen and it was all too obvious when miniatures were cut in.
This looked REAL every minute.
The analogy with 9/11 is clear: Tom Cruise coming into the house covered with white dust after running for his life through the streets, the walls of buildings plastered with pictures of missing people, the desperate attempts of people to locate their loved ones.
Sure, the first half is way better than the second and the whole basement scene could have been cut, and Dakota way overacted. But it was a thrill ride, and a darned good one. If I want serious drama the video store has a whole section of it. The scene in the car is amazing. I'm pretty literate about film making, but throughout this all I could think was Wow! How in the world did they do that? I'm sure that they didn't destroy a whole neighborhood in New Jersey and an elevated highway. Well, I guess they didn't. But, boy, it looked like the real thing.
There was a lot I admired about this movie, but the biggest thing is that Tom Cruise did not save the world singlehandedly. He takes out exactly one of the however many thousand warships the aliens have. The character is an average Joe trying to keep himself and his family alive against rough odds. Way to go, Tom. I'm sure the suits who run the studio suggested that the script be rewritten so that the high dollar leading man could wipe out the aliens himself. Mr. Spielberg, thank you.
If this had been about twenty-five minutes shorter, it would have gotten those other two stars.