Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a pair of reviews from Roland Emmerich's latest end of the world disaster spectacle, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. The first review is positive, the second not so much. Enjoy!
Last evening I was invited by a friend to the 20th Century Fox backlot for a cast and crew screening of "The Day After Tomorrow". After a brief intro by a producer and director, the show began. The film opens in Antartica as Dennis Quaid's scientist character and company drill for ice samples inadvertantly triggering a total collapse of the very iceberg they are standing in. It's pretty scary. The combo of sound design and special effects really sets the tone for the rest of the film. Barely escaping with the skins on thier asses, Quiad tries to convince the world leaders of a big problem "a few thousand years" away. Of course they dismiss him, especially the V.P. of the United States. After hooking up with Ian Holm to discuss theories, we realize that it isn't eons away, but right now. It's snowing in India, giant hail in Hong Kong, things look bad.
Things are worse at home for Mr.Quaid (D.Q. from herein), whose son thinks he's a dick (I forget why), and ex-wife thinks he's a dick too. As D.Q. drops Jake Gyllenhall(J.G.) to the airport to go to N.Y. Thus begins the buildup to the big mommy of N.Y.... getting really wet. (Not before starting to flood with sewege, a touch I liked)
Meanwhile Ian Holm and D.Q. powow via phone, trying to exchange data to figure this whole thing out. Obviously, they are quite screwed, as the flooded ice caps' discharge is swelling to N.Y.. What follows is more amazing special effects. Floods, instant freezes, giant (and I mean giant) hurricanes, wolves(!), etc, all utilizing impressive digital effects to make life miserable for J.G. and D.Q. who swears to go rescue his brat in N.Y.
Overall, this is a huge step forward from Independence Day. It is still a "fun" movie. You just don't feel like a total idiot for enjoying it. The dialogue is at times clearly written by the people who did "Godzilla". Which is bad now and then. J.G. comes off quite well, I didn't even mind his crush on the girl his academic team. He's really the most fleshed out charcter.
Others like D.Q.'s ex working with the sick kids in a hospice, and astronauts in a space station, I could live without. But in the end, it's a pretty rousing adventure, a summer movie that is exciting with the unfortunate (to some) side effect of being thought provoking. My friend who invited me, just pissed and moaned about carrying things around the set for a year the enitre night, but inbetween his gripes I think I heard a good review of the film, and his lady was squeeling throughout. It won't win anything come Oscar time outside of tech categories, but in a season that has already delivered the likes of Troy and VanHelsing, this is a relief.
-mr.blah-blah
And here's the negative review. Personally, I'm pulling for this film to be a ton of fun, but judging from early word it can go either way.
I went to a Fox screening of “The Day After Tomorrow” last night in Washington, DC. This pretty much meant that the audience consisted of politicians, capitol interns, and other folks living “inside the beltway,” including myself. So you can assume off the bat that this is NOT your typical movie-screening crowd. Example: there was a tremendous roar of laughter from the audience after the President’s character in the film asks everyone in the room after the storm hits – “does anyone know what we should do?”
I have seen all of the Emmerich films. All of them are pretty good, not great, but pretty good. I’ll even admit to thinking “Godzilla” had its fair share of entertainment. But I think it’s fair to say that “Day After Tomorrow” is the weakest of all these films.
The trailers make this film out to be this intense non-stop thrill-ride – with the tornadoes, the waves, the storms, the flying houses… the flying cows, okay, so there are no flying animals (unfortunately). I was looking forward to seeing this one a lot! But the trailer shows just about EVERY action shot in the film that you are going to get. And considering trailers are only 2 minutes long, this is not much.
I won’t go through the story, since you’re only interest is to know whether the film is good or not. Since this review is only my opinion, it’s hard to be objective about it, but I will certainly explain WHY this movie was bad. And I enjoy almost everything too! If a movie has atmosphere, action, interesting music, but NO story, I still think will enjoy a movie.
Yes, some of the shots in this film were amazing, but these shots are not around for very long. “Day After Tomorrow” had VERY MINIMAL action for the movie genre it is in (far less action than “ID4”), an under explained story, horrible dialogue, and my biggest complaint of all – no climax! The real story of this movie is about a climatoligist (Dennis Quaid) trying to get to his son in New York. And for the father, this involves a very uninteresting walk through snow from Philadelphia to New York (yes, you did hear me right). I’m willing to forgive cheesy dialogue if other cinematic elements are present in a movie. But there is no such luck with this one. The storms/tornadoes/waves all occur about halfway through the film. And once this ends, the REST of the movie is nothing but Jake Gyllenhaal trying to stay warm enough with his friends, and the father trying to get to New York through the snow. THIS IS IT! No more spectacular events or tense moments take place, in fact there is very little that DOES happen. The real climactic moment now sets itself up to be: whether or not the father will make it to his son. Is this very exciting? NO, IT ISN’T, or at least, IT WASN’T! This is the plot of a made for TV movie where Joe Explorer find himself trapped in the Arctic, and must wait in silent desperation for a helicopter to appear on the horizon to rescue him. This is the second half of “Day After Tomorrow” ! Yes, the movie has a nice dark and grayish visual atmosphere, yes the few visual shots we do see are spectacular, but that really is all I can say.
I also want to comment on the humor in this film. The laughs from the audience throughout the movie were divided between reaction to the movie’s legitimate jokes, and mockery at the downright silly dialogue (I do understand we were all rigid DC/government people in this room, but c’mon, anyone else with would have laughed at it too). This would be a wonderful college drinking movie! There were a few VERY funny moments that were intentional – including a certain ironic situation with the Mexican border – and since this movie is about a second ice age in N. America, you can probably guess what this joke is.
I’m not a cynical person at all when it comes to movies. I am known for enjoying, and sometimes defending, almost everything I see. Or at least, I try to find elements I like about the film and try to spread them over the parts I feel that are missing. Every Roland Emmerich film I have seen has been like this for me. This one fell way too short though.
The action and story-pacing just was not balanced. Since the trailers market the film as a roller coaster ride with non-stop action and colossal effects, it does nothing but set people like us up for disappointment. I know I have “dumbed” down this review a lot, but then again you can’t really wax too eloquently on this genre. The best way to describe this movie it to compare it to other Emmerich films. Imagine “Godzilla,” or even “ID4,” now take away about half of the action, but keep the same formula and dialogue, and out comes “Day After Tomorrow.” There is even a speech by the President concerning the world’s new found respect for environmental awareness. Think “ID4” speech by president, but replace the word “alien” with “nature.” Although, at least in “ID4” the President’s speech led up to a massive air and space battle. By the time the “speech” in “Day After Tomorrow” arrives, the action and tension has LONG since passed.
I may have enjoyed this a little more than “Van Helsing” – which was 2 hours of loud cgi monsters jumping at the screen, with very poorly-edited and disjointed action sequences. I was surprised not have enjoyed that movie since I had a blast with “Mummy Returns” – another movie with silly dialogue that redeems itself with non-stop action, atmosphere, and entertaining music. I like to think of adventure movies as having several elements: story, atmosphere, music, and action. If three of these elements are there, I am willing to overlook the missing one. And sometimes two of these elements in an adventure film are missing, but the two that do remain can sometimes still be strong enough to eclipse the holes. “Day After Tomorrow” had about one of these elements at best, and that would be a weak helping from the ‘action’ and ‘atmosphere’ bowls.
My only advice: go see this movie on the biggest screen with the best sound system available. This is the only way you might have a chance at having a good time during this movie. After-all, good presentation can sometimes make even the biggest pile of crap bearable to look at.
- "Notre Dame 2000"
