The Day After Tomorrow (2004, Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal) – Classic Film Review 1086

In co-writer/producer/director Roland Emmerich’s 2004 fantasy thriller, it seems that the weather’s suddenly got much, much worse and a new Ice Age is upon us. ‘It’s incredible!’ says weather expert Professor Dennis Quaid.

And incredible’s the word for the not-much-of-a-plot of this pretty laughable summer science-fiction disaster movie. As heroes go, a weatherman isn’t all that great – you can’t imagine vintage British TV weatherman Michael Fish as an action hero, can you? And as plots go, New York freezing over isn’t really much good.

Poor old Quaid can’t do much with his big star role except look worried, and, worse still, poor young Jake Gyllenhaal, so stylish in Donnie Darko, is pretty much lost here as Quaid’s son, hiding out at dad’s orders with his girlfriend (Emmy Rossum) in the New York Public Library, with only a bunch of old books to keep them warm.

Catastrophic climatic effects events that usher in global cooling and lead to this Ice Age. But if Quaid and buddy Dash Mihok can get to Gyllenhaal and his band of survivors, they can all head south and be put up by nice Third World countries till the big thaw starts and America can be restored as the world ruler.

With only so-so sets and effects fleshed out by real bad-weather footage, this disaster movie’s afflicted by a totally glum story that takes the serious subject of global warming, trivialises it, then tries to turn it into blockbuster entertainment and fails fairly dismally.

It is watchable, actually sometimes quite fun in its creaky, old-fashioned, daft way. But, sorry for the cold reception, guys, bah, humbug!

The film was made in Toronto and Montreal and is the highest-grossing Hollywood film to be made in Canada (if adjusted for inflation). It survived mixed reviews and was a huge hit. On a $125million budget, it grossed $545million.

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(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Film Review 1086 derekwinnert.com