 Movie
Reviews
with Evelyn Gough
The Day After Tomorrow
Directed by Roland Emmerich
 Oh no - what's next? New Yorkers flee the onrush of a tidal wave.
I'm no Freud or Dr Phil, but do you get the feeling German director Roland Emmerich has a bit of a hang up about the United States of America? Wonder where I'm going with this? Well, what do Independence Day, Godzilla and his latest blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow all have in common? Now don't be mean. Sure, I thought Independence Day and Godzilla were both stinkers but I really enjoyed The Day After Tomorrow. That is if your idea of a good time is sitting glued to the edge of your seat chewing your fingernails down to the quick.
Yep, Roland has come up with yet another novel way to wreak death and destruction upon America. Forget aliens and giant radioactive lizards, this time it's all our fault. Humans, that is. Mass consumers of fossil fuels and everything else that contributes to the greenhouse effect and global warming.
Dennis Quaid plays Dr Jack Hall, a paleo-meteorologist. Or is it a paleo climatologist? Anyway it's a boffin who studies ancient weather patterns. He warns the world in general and a disbelieving vice president (Kenneth Welsh) that at the rate the polar ice caps are melting the earth is headed for another ice age within the next one hundred years. Unfortunately his calculations are just a tad out and the big freeze is actually due to arrive the day after tomorrow. Yikes!
This is bad news for anybody up North. Southern states like Texas and countries like Mexico and Australia, (rather insultingly referred to as a third world country!) are going to be okay. Yippee for us! Bad news for Europe though. Its been turned into one big snow cone.
And Dr Hall's son, 17 year-old Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) is stranded in New York in the direct path of the killer storm. Time for Dad to buckle on those snow shoes and go to his rescue...
Disaster movies have always been popular. Think The Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, Titanic. Audiences just love watching other people in peril and I'm no exception. Sure these films are unashamedly manipulative and can verge on the corny side but there's nothing like holding your breath as you watch several million people get pounded to death by huge tidal waves, (when you know it's just make-believe).
Of course disaster movies on a grand scale like The Day After Tomorrow would not be possible if it weren't for CGI. To have audiences believe the unbelievable the special effects have to be exceptional and trust me, in this later nail biter they are!
(Naturally I spent the whole movie worrying about the dog!)
As far as the thrill and chill factor goes, The Day After Tomorrow rates a big thumbs up for me. Admittedly the finale is a bit hokey but during all the mayhem and carnage I was riveted. Just remember to take a jumper!
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