Director Roland Emmerich enjoys making epic effects laden movies, you just have to read his CV to see “Stargate,” “Independence Day” and “The Patriot” appear from the page. This desire to make big Fiction movies with the latest cutting edge technology can't be scoffed at, but where those previously mentioned movies had a certain viewer appeal, Day After Tomorrow is sadly boring in the extreme.
The story follows Scientist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) as his research reveals that the planet is heading for an ice age as a super storm begins to rumble. Of Course the Government won't listen to him until things get very bad for man kind indeed. Jack's son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) heads to New York to represent his school along with two friends, but as the weather begins to close in, it turns into a race against time for Jack to save his son. Add this rather flimsy storyline to a remarkably stunning opening 20 minutes of the movie as the storm begins and you certainly feel this movie has great promise. But once the fireworks have been seen once or twice you soon tire of seeing another city biting the dust. Think about any weather condition that can cause devastation and Emmerich has used it here.I could call this film a pop corn thriller, but after the first 20 minutes things go down hill very quickly. The characters that we follow during the last third of the movie are clichéd and boring to watch. Dialogue is terrible at times and when the effects die down, the lack of character development rears its head to devastating effect. Emmerich seems to have spent his entire effort on his cutting edge effects and forgot about the actors. Even ID4 has more sole than this dire effort, watch it to see the effects but you will soon ignore the actors. Or to put it another way, think Twister and then lower your expectations by half, Great Effects though!.
The story follows Scientist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) as his research reveals that the planet is heading for an ice age as a super storm begins to rumble. Of Course the Government won't listen to him until things get very bad for man kind indeed. Jack's son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) heads to New York to represent his school along with two friends, but as the weather begins to close in, it turns into a race against time for Jack to save his son. Add this rather flimsy storyline to a remarkably stunning opening 20 minutes of the movie as the storm begins and you certainly feel this movie has great promise. But once the fireworks have been seen once or twice you soon tire of seeing another city biting the dust. Think about any weather condition that can cause devastation and Emmerich has used it here.I could call this film a pop corn thriller, but after the first 20 minutes things go down hill very quickly. The characters that we follow during the last third of the movie are clichéd and boring to watch. Dialogue is terrible at times and when the effects die down, the lack of character development rears its head to devastating effect. Emmerich seems to have spent his entire effort on his cutting edge effects and forgot about the actors. Even ID4 has more sole than this dire effort, watch it to see the effects but you will soon ignore the actors. Or to put it another way, think Twister and then lower your expectations by half, Great Effects though!.
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