The Day After Tomorrow: Movie Review

September 14, 2005 - On a recent sojourn to Wal-Mart, I came across a particularly odd pairing in a DVD two-pack, "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Napoleon Dynamite". I had been waiting for the price to go down on "Napoleon Dynamite" for quite some time, and this was a pretty good bargain, considering you got a second movie to boot. I had, of course, seen both films before, loving "Dynamite" and being pleasantly surprised by "Day".

"The Day After Tomorrow" is an exaggerated tale about the Earth very rapidly returning to the Ice Age as a result of global warming. On a more personal level, it follows the story of the climatologist (Dennis Quaid) who figures out what is happening before anyone else, and his race to make it from Washington, D.C. to NYC to save his son (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has taken refuge in the public library with others trying to survive a storm that has first flooded and then frozen NYC.

First of all, the movie's concept's absurd, so let's just get that out of the way right off the bat. I mean, it's not "The Core" (the Earth's core has stopped spinning, and you're just going to hop down there and jump-start it? Riiiiight [I actually liked "The Core", though, so I shouldn't talk]) level absurd, but it's close. All that being said, I knew what to expect going in and accepted it, but I can certainly understand how a lot of people can't/couldn't. I love movies and readily suspend my disbelief, and in many cases put my brain on autopilot for the sake of the entertainment and escape they provide, but that's me. Anyway, "The Day After Tomorrow" is entertaining as hell. It has heart, action, and all the elements of a good story. It, of course, contains cheesy summer blockbuster cliches aplenty, but it's fun, so it's forgiven. "Day" is also a bit talky as far as scientific lingo/exposition/BS goes, but it's all seemingly necessary, and fortunately its clunkiness is usually trumped by its brevity. The special effects are extremely impressive, and catapult the film up a notch to a level that its story can't always keep up with.

Young up and comer Emmy Rossum ("Mystic River", "The Phantom of the Opera"), is absolutely adorable as Jake Gyllenhaal's character Sam's crush, and newcomer Arjay Smith steps into the admirable best friend role without missing a beat. Also, lookout for Tamlyn Tomita (Daniel's love interest Kumiko in "Karate Kid, Part II") in the role of NASA scientist Janet Tokada.

There are some humorous moments amidst all the carnage, including some not so subtle jabs at our current President and Vice President, and an ironic twist involving the U.S.-Mexican border. As for suspense, the best scene would have to be Sam's call to his parents from a pay phone on the rapidly flooding lower level of the NYC Library.

Lastly, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the eerie parallels between this disaster flick, and the current situation in the Gulf Coast region, specifically New Orleans. And while nothing could give someone who wasn't/isn't there an idea of what those people truly went through and are still going through, viewing a film like this can in its own strange way provide a shred-albeit a tiny shred, but a shred nonetheless-of perspective on the subject. Honestly, I might not have watched "The Day After Tomorrow" if I had considered the parallels beforehand. Still, at the end of the day, it's not like the slight similarities ever really make it difficult to lose sight of the fact that it's just a popcorn flick that lives up to its billing. It's just that like 1974's "The Towering Inferno", "The Day After Tomorrow" is able to elevate itself above your average, run of the mill disaster movie with its message-heavy handed to be sure, but with its heart in the right place-about our relationship with this planet, and the prices we could pay for our lack of respect for Mother Nature.