The next time you relax at home and think to yourself,'I know I think I'll burn some fossil fuel', think again, as who knows what could happen tomorrow.
The concept of our misuse of planet earth has been highlighted on numerous occasions and the 'greenhouse effect' that delivers us hotter summers and harsher winters stands as a testament to our destruction of the ozone layer and all that that will bring with it.
The idea here follows this train of thought and we witness the polar ice caps melting and the sea levels rising. This triggers tidal-waves, tornadoes and freak storms aplenty, but also disrupts the earths air currents and plunges most of the northern hemisphere into the early stages of the new ice age .. as it would I suppose.
This is where this movie differs from most of it's genre, in that we have to accept that this event IS going to happen and that whatever the heroes of the film contrive to do, the world will change forever and any heroics will be on the smaller human scale rather than the greater 'let's save the world' aspect.
We are though able to sit back and marvel at the way these events are portrayed to us in a series of spectacular set pieces. We are treated to the wrecking of Los Angeles by tornadoes as they carve their way through the Hollywood hills. We see freezing of British helicopters in mid-air as they race to save the royal family from Balmoral (a fate befalling our nobility that we sadly do not witness) and the huge scale destruction of New York as it is first pummelled and swamped by a tidal-wave and then frozen still by the eye of the artic storm.
There are of course large scale casualties and in fitting with the movies 12 certificate, most of these are implied rather than witnessed. A news reporter swept to death by a rogue advertisement hoarding in a storm and the president meeting his end in a helicopter freezing (yes another one). The few victims that we do see are convieniently (not for them of course) bobbing up and down under water or frozen solid and 'relaxing' in the snow.
The director of the excellent 'Independence Day' - Roland Emmerich - is once again the instegator of our entertainment and he delivers a piece of work that is brash and grand in it's all action glory and yet touching and sentimental in revealing the togetherness of those fighting to win their own private battles. There is a lot of similarity to be drawn from his previous work, but at least this time he is not so melodramatic in his portrayal of the American presidency and shows most of their actions to be be too slow, pompous and shrouded in red tape.
The actors are admirably led by the ever reliable Dennis Quaid as climate expert Jack Hall, a man who has long predicted the results of our actions on the planet and the man best equipped to predict the devastation that will follow. Quaid is a healthy leading man in the Harrison Ford mould and brings plenty of emotion in to Hall as he seeks first to be heard and then to keep a promise (for once) to his son to travel through the elements and reach him whatever the consequences.
His son Sam is played with the usual quirky style by Jake Gyllenhaal, who retains a measure of humour even as the situation looks it's most bleak and is a tower of strength to those few around him desperate to beleive that someone will eventually come to save them.
The Day After Tomorrow is a very attractive movie to watch, the glorious shots of vast frozen wastelands and satellite shots of the changing surface of the earth are truly awe inspiring and there is little to criticise about the whole experience.
You do feel though that the whole thing moves a little too quickly and that with another half an hour tagged on to the runtime of 124 minutes, we could have really explored the climatictic changes to an even greater depth. Then again this may be in store for us on the DVD release and I for one cannot wait.
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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: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
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
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 ... more
boasts pulse-pounding action and sensational mindblowing special effects. When global warming triggers the onset of a new Ice Age tornadoes flatten Los Angeles a...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
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...
Advantages: Good special effects. good (and possible) storyline, a bit educational for the interested Disadvantages: a bit 'cheesy', a bit melodramatic and end is v. predictable
![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]")
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