What a silly, silly movie. Disaster flicks are notorious for being over the top and unbelievable, but The Day After Tomorrow aims for new lows (on a global scale no less!).Take the absolute worst (and I mean apocalyptic) possible outcome to unchecked global warming, a process that would take a couple thousand years to play out, make it all happen in a matter of days, and you have The Day After Tomorrow.
Panned and criticized by nearly all respectable scientists and climatologists, the film oversteps its bounds and gets an overwhelming majority of its science wrong in the pursuit of flashy, computer generated destruction. As heavy-laden as this film is with CGI, you’d almost have to watch it on the big screen for it to look good. There’s something about CGI that doesn’t translate well over a normal TV screen.
I will admit that some of the destruction sequences are kind of cool looking, though watching it on a TV made the effects look a tad hokey. The problem is that The Day After Tomorrow doesn’t do enough to grab you and make you believe what you’re seeing could be real. This stems from the fact that the film wants you to believe that global warming can and will ultimately do this to our world. It is far too easy to stop yourself and say “that can’t possibly happen that way.”
Given all that we know about the natural sciences and weather phenomena, having the disaster sequences look cool isn’t enough. Gone are the days of sensational destruction via Mother Earth in films. Far too much of the general population has a good idea of how weather realistically behaves, even in the most extreme conditions. To try and pass off the overblown nature of these cataclysms under the guise of scientific plausibility is futile. Unless you check your brain at the door- a typical requirement of much of the fodder that passes for summer cinema- you’ll find yourself being pulled right out of the movie by the sheer absurdity of what you are being subjected to.
For example: Massive tornadoes ravage downtown Los Angeles. It’s a neat thought, but when was the last time you heard of a twister in LA? The atmospheric conditions are all wrong (but they explain it away by saying global warming totally altered atmospheric conditions everywhere). Furthermore, these massive twisters converge to create a single, gargantuan twister, in effect doubling its size, speed and destructive force. Cool notion, but it’s all wrong. Finally, this mega-twister completely guts a skyscraper, leaving just the concrete and steel skeleton. Cool visual, but it just wouldn’t happen.
Another example is the huge wave of water that bears down on the New York Public Library in tidal wave fashion. Yes, the New York Public Library faces a street (East 41st) that goes straight out to a water source, but this water source is minimal. Unless the surging water were high enough to completely plow through Long Island with very little resistance, the scene is impossible.
Aside from the environmental concerns, The Day After Tomorrow dishes out a few political jabs. The head-in-the-sand Vice President of the USA in the film looks very much like the actual Vice President at the time the film was released, Dick Cheney. The film also touches on the immigration debate. Virtually everything north of Texas is turned into a barren, frozen wilderness that is unsuitable for any living being. Thus, much of the American population ends up fleeing into Mexico, where the new temperate climate exists. It turns the tables on America by making them immigrants in a foreign land.
A similar impact is made on the rest of the world. The last shot in the film shows the whole earth where much of North America and nearly all of Europe has been frozen and rendered uninhabitable. This would force all the survivors to move into developing third-world countries. Now the citizens of many powerful states find themselves being taken in by those nations they were once reluctant to give much help to outside of food drops.
This can’t be a subliminal message, because it’s spelled out so clearly. The makers of this film are trying to send a message to all the wealthy powerful nations of the world, saying that our reluctance to stop global warming will be the end of our supremacy. The first shall be last and the last shall be first.
Aside from the overall message, the plot is pretty decent for a disaster flick. A climatologist warns everyone about the dangers of global warming but is brushed off. Suddenly his theory of world-wide devastation comes true but at an alarmingly expedient rate. His son gets caught in the brunt of the catastrophe and dad goes after him, risking his life. It leads to a predictable ending, but at least he’s a devoted father. That’s more than a lot of dads out there can say.
The strong family ties and commitment to survival is good and always ends up inspiring the viewer to some extent. I certainly wouldn’t want to face such conditions, but I’d like to think I could find a way to survive.
There is a secondary plot line involving romance between characters played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Emmy Rossum. They are longtime friends and he really likes her but she seems oblivious to his swooning. Before the super storm strikes, Gyllenhaal picks up some competition for the lovely Rossum’s affection at an academic Olympiad type competition. However, once the other guy sees how much Gyllenhaal cares for the girl, he tells him to go after her. How sappy and unrealistic is that?
My closing beef with this film is that, while it shows brief clips of destruction in other parts of the world, The Day After Tomorrow never follows up with the conditions the rest of the world. To me, this seems one-sided, as if America is the only country to blame, and that strikes me as lazy work. Yes, the main characters are Americans, so it’s important to show how America turned out, but there’s over 200 countries also being affected by this crazy weather and very little of it is addressed.
The disruption of climate patterns in one part of the world will set off a chain reaction of events across the globe, but The Day After Tomorrow doesn’t acknowledge this, it does not address this, and it does not portray this. This film has a target in mind and it hits it full force.
Had it not been so heavy-handed and preachy at times, The Day After Tomorrow could have been a smash hit 35 years ago. The only problems are that the computer effects didn’t exist back then and, at that time, everyone was worried about Global Cooling and the dawn of a new ice age.
RATING: 1.5 out of 5
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