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Member since:14.04.2004
Reviews:32
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I am quite a big fan of big action disaster movies such as 'Armageddon', 'Independence Day' and 'The Core'. So I was really looking forward to this one and after seeing the trailer it was on my top 10 list of films to see. Though I actually was going to see Harry Potter on that day but it was sold out.
The film opened in the US with a very respectable $70 Million Dollars into the number 2 spot of the Box Office as Shrek 2 still was hoilding the no 1 slot on it's second week and totaling up $238 Million. 'Day after Tomorrow' was made on a $125 Milion budget so it will easily get it's money back in the US alone and the worldwide intake will count towards profits. So it looks like something else may come from the director 'Roland Emerich' further down the line.
The film is made and written by, as I stated above by Roland Emerich who made films such as 'Godzilla', 'Independence Day, 'The Patriot' and 'Stargate'. He also recently produced 'Eight Legged Freaks'. So all in all he has a very good filmography but does this film live up to the reputation of his past projects?
Well as you know the story is kind of based on true facts of something similar that could happen according to scientists. The main storyline is basically about a natural disaster of the ice melting and then falling into the ocean causing it cover the North of the Globe with disasterous weathers and tidal waves.
The main characters in the film are Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), Sam Hall (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Sam's love interest Laura
Chapman (played by Emily Rossum). First off in the story Jack is giving a speech about global warning or something to goverments from around the world at a summit in India and tells them that the effects of global warming will start to appear in a hundred or so years. He asks for funding to help try and prevent any major disasters but his comments are discounted by most, especially the vice president whom later realises that Jack was right. So obvilously disaster strikes in Los Angeles and New York. Jack's son who is in New York with school friends gets caught up in it all when the tdal waves hit so the four take refuge in the public library with others who have managed to escape the deadly tidal waves that have washed New York's streets clean out.
As with most action films we start off straight into the action when Dennis Quaid's character and his associates are in Alaska (or Anatarctica?) and the ice starts to break away forcing Jack to do a cheesy stunt to save their lives. We then move more into the story when Jack gives his speech. After that the action really starts when all the mini disasters start happening so as it can lead up to the big event in New York.
The first action sequence takes place in Japan when it starts raining with massive hail stones the size of footballs. This was a funny sequence as there was some old guy who looked like Miogi from Karate Kid who was like standing their just looking around him at people getting hit by these hail stones for about 3 thirds of the sequence and didn't get hit once. He did finally manage to take cover under a truck in the end. The effects were quite good but this wasn't a very heavy effects sequence to the ones to come.
We then went onto the hurricanes in Los Angeles. This was very loud and amazing to watch. The speakers in the cinema were practically blowing up as the twisters smashed through office blocks, vehicles and houses. The visual effects were put to good use here and were very beliveable of something that could happen. I would though, have liked to seen more in this particular sequence in the movie.
Finally about an hour or so into the film we come to the main action tidal wave sequence in New York and I must tell you you won't be dissapointed. There is a big build up to this scene and it's worth the wait becuase the set pieces are excellent and just seeing the people fleeing for their lives as a tidal wave comes up behind them just adds to the excitement. People are running in to each other, on top of cars, trying to get into buildings and basically anything to escape, that's why this has to be one of my favourite scenes in the movie because it's got the action and the characters to go with it. Unlike the Los Angeles scene where it was mainly just reporters saying that there are hurricanes around them and that they are destroying buildings. Who cares about that shouldn't you be running all ready? Anyways thats why with the scene in New York you can actually imagine you are there running for your life and pushing people out of the way as you try and get cover or something.
That scene had obviously havey use of CGI and it worked really well. I didn't like the overhead shots of the tidal waves coming from the ocean into Manhattan as it did look a but fake but the bits on the streets were great.
After the main action is over we concentrate on the four friends who are in the library. I didn't mind this part and was very entertained throughout. There was also a love story thrown in with Jake Gyllenhaal's character and Emily Rossum's caharcter which I think worked quite well as there was good chemistry between them. All of the characters in the library scene were very good and I was impressed by all their performances. This was something that helped the film dramatically after the big event as these characters kept the film alive and watchable to the end.
The story also followed Dennis Quaid's character and his two colleagues who go off to New York to search for Dennis Quaid's character's son. Dennis Quaid's performance was very strong throughout and was the best overall in my opinion because he made his character very interesting as climatologist and also brought out the father side of his character.
Although not in much of the film I quite enjoyed Ian Holm's (Bilbo from Lord of the Rings) input to the film as the Proffesor who first noticed that something was going wrong. Jack Hall's wife played by Sela Ward was also quite good but as she didn't have that many lines in the movie wasn't able to show her full potential but overall gave a pleasent performance.
So altogether I thought this was an amazing movie with a special effects extravaganza but I somehow felt that things were left out and thought that the ending was a bit predicatible. I though that the director/writer may have tried something new for the ending but didn't. The direction was good but the writing needed a bit of sorting out. Overall though the combination of exellent performances and great special effects makes me gives this a thumbs up and a good rating. I recommend you have a look at this film on the big screen.
Thanks for reading.
Pictures of The Day After Tomorrow (DVD)
Disaster strikes!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1945 - Drama - Director: David Lean - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond
Production Year: 1999 - Drama - Director: Dick Maas - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: William Hurt, Jennifer Tilly, Denis Leary, Michael Chiklis, Francesca Brown
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
I got to admit i didn't relize the same guy done all those other films but now that i know pritty much all those film are on my top 50 fav films well done with the outstanding review on this great film i loved it and i have watched it god nows how many times.
The review was very well detailed and a lot of time and effert went into writing it.
MotherMacLean
tom_very1st 14.06.2005 20:26
Great review, got this one on dvd. I first saw it on a turbulent flight to Greece though, not a smart move! - tom
Turning pressing environmental issues into the theme of a big summer blockbuster, you cant ... more
say that director Roland Emmerich isnt willing to take his chances. And whileThe Day After Tomorrowdoes ask you to suspend fair chunks of disbelief, it is both a...
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From the Director of Independence Day comes a spectacular roller-coaster ride that boasts ... more
pulse-pounding action and sensational, mindblowing special effects. When global warming triggers the onset of a new Ice Age, tornadoes flatten Los Angeles, a tida...
Turning pressing environmental issues into the theme of a big summer blockbuster, you cant ... more
say that director Roland Emmerich isnt willing to take his chances. And whileThe Day After Tomorrowdoes ask you to suspend fair chunks of disbelief, it is both a...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
![The Day After Tomorrow - Two Disc Edition [DVD] [2004]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78519533.jpg "The Day After Tomorrow - Two Disc Edition [DVD] [2004]")
![The Day After Tomorrow (Special Edition) [DVD] [2004]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78483817.jpg "The Day After Tomorrow (Special Edition) [DVD] [2004]")
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