We all like our guilty pleasures. Go ahead admit it, nothing to be ashamed of. I’ll start. I like disaster films, usually no matter how bad or nonsensical they might be. I also have lots of problems with Roland Emmerich’s INDEPENDENCE DAY, but must admit sometimes I just like to putting my brain down next to me on the couch, sitting back, and watching cities being destroyed and aliens blowing the shit out of everything. So, suffice to say, yeah, I’m a hypocrite. I scream obscenities about the director for his lack of creative depth or originality, but at the same time, I can be an eight your old boy watching Sci-Fi Theater on a boring Sunday afternoon all over again. The same can be said for Emmerich’s last effort (or lack thereof) with THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. Sure, it’s implausible, even extremely hokey and exploitative when it comes to trying to pull at the heartstrings, but did anyone rush out to see this for its high dramatic moments? Or did they just want to see humanity destroyed by the elements? Come on, you wanted to witness people freezing instantly, tornadoes tearing apart big cities, and the world’s largest flood envelop New York City. So let’s count the destructive scoreboard, that’s Natural Disasters with 33 and New York with a big whopping 0.
Much like ID4, Emmerich manages to put together a very likeable cast. The main focus centers on the Hall family. Dennis Quaid plays the paleoclimatologist who figures the earth, as we know it, is coming to an end. His son, Sam, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is stuck in New York City for a big scholastic tournament when disaster strikes. Meanwhile, Dr. Lucy Hall as doting wife, caring mother and incredible children’s Leukemia physician, stands by trying to get the last sick child out of the local hospital before they are all doomed. Before anything can approach After School Special calamity, we are kept busy with unlikely scientific events until the incredible catastrophe hits us in the face not with one, but several disasters. There are tornados, tidal waves and floods, hail the size of cantaloupes, and the impending ice age all rolled into one.
Of course, this means a race against time. The government doesn’t listen until it’s too late. People need to head south or they will become instant flesh-cicles. Dad needs to put on them snowshoes and traipse his frozen ass through the new icy tundra to New York and save his kid. While waiting for his father to come to the rescue, Sam only has so much time to tell Laura, his high school sweetheart (Emmy Rossum), how he feels in order to get some extra warmth on those long cold nights. Meanwhile, Mom can’t believe nobody seems to care about this last dying child in the evacuated hospital, and before Graham Chapman in a British Military uniform can say, “Wait for it,” along comes the final ambulance and driver left to save the day. And best of all, we get fellow Hobbit Ian Holm and a couple of comrades together, drinking some expensive Scotch and waiting nostalgically for their inevitable end. You can add the “yada yadas” and the “Oh boys” now, but thanks to the cast and the talent behind the sincerity, it isn’t as bad as it sounds. At least not until about a half hour after it is all over and you start to think about it. Outside of its presentation, great effects and all its entertainment value, the film is instantly forgettable. This is strictly soaked with butter popcorn time, folks. Check the brain at the door and enjoy the end of the world.
I keep mentioning the disasters and the effects, and simply put, they are a marvel to look at. They are more detailed than usual, with headlights of airborne cars shining through and smashing in the middle of tornadoes or tidal waves, instant military flesh freezing, and the largest swirling cloud you are ever likely going to see. It’s CGI time, but it looks great, at least on the small screen. I felt I had better movies to spend my hard-earned cash on at the time than another Emmerich flick on the big screen. The sound effects are multi-layered and effective, the music by Harald (ALIEN VS PREDATOR) Kloser and Thomas (THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR) Wanker is appropriately melodramatic, while David (THE DOORS, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME) Brenner’s editing keeps everything moving fast across the screen despite its over two hour long running time. I could go over the list of special effects and makeup artists, not to mention some of the amazing stunts that the stunt crew probably will never get noticed for, but it would take too long to cover it all. Suffice to say, they are the backbone to making this production work.
Given its big advertising campaign and the loud fanfare for THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, I was surprised by the lack of extras on the disc. You get two commentaries, one with director Roland Emmerich and producer Mark Gordon and the other more technical one with co-writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff, director of photography Ueli Steiger (who does some amazing work here), editor David Brenner and production designer Barry Chusid. There are two deleted scenes, which are actually only one scene with the other being more of an alternative version. Both are inconsequential to the plotline. Last on the disc is a pretty interesting sample of laying in the 8-track sound to complete the overall audio effect. It’s pretty cool to check out each layer playing separately during the helicopter scene, displaying how everything fits together. The final extra is a DVD-Rom feature that is suppose to take you to a special website link so you can watch about an hour worth of exclusive “making of” footage. Unfortunately, since my DVD-Rom drive is also a CD-drive (or at least that’s the only thing that made sense), I couldn’t get it to work. It just sat there and told me to put it in my computer DVD Drive, which was where I was sitting at to begin with when checking out the extras.
Looking over my review, yes, I’m still a hypocrite. I can understand someone reading this tirade of complaints and cynical jaded jabs at this brain-dead movie as being a negative recommendation of THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. They would be right! Yet, I can’t help but enjoy it. Sure, it won’t have the nostalgic power to match revisiting EARTHQUAKE, THE TOWERING INFERNO, or even THE SWARM, but someday it might. If that happens, it will be one with several disasters on the screen and behind the camera.