The Day After Tomorrow

What happens when a director like Roland Emmerich (Patriot, Independence Day, Godzilla) reads a new theoretical non-fiction book by Art Bell ( of Coast to Coast A.M. Radio fame) & Whiltey Streiber (Communion) titled "The Coming Global Superstorm"?

He gets another chance to destroy the world again.

And that is exactly what he does in "The Day After Tomorrow". Only this time around he trades in invading aliens and giant radioactive lizards for some incredibly unbelievable weather.

Starring Dennis Quaid as Paleoclimatologist Dr. Adrian Hall, and Jake Gyllenhaal as his son, the movie is based around the events of a very rapidly approaching greenhouse effected super-storm that will disrupt the planet's weather systems to the point of bringing on another ice-age. Quaid must save the world from the effects of global warming while also trying to save his son Sam from the new ice-age in New York City.

Although the timeframe over which these storms take place is implausibly short and was tailored for sheer entertainment value, the big-budget special-effects do not disappoint. The veiwer gets to watch Japan get pounded by melon sized hail stones, Los Angeles ravaged by hundreds of giant tornadoes, limitless hurricanes, typhoons, floods, and a tidal wave that almost erases New York off of the map.

Some may read into this movie a socio-political message about how as humans we are dooming our future generations by refusing to control pollution which leads to global warming, and I think that this is one of the only good things about the movie. Although absurdly set up, "The Day After Tomorrow" does have a valid message that we shouldn't ignore.

With an unbelievable time frame scenario and a very thin plot, I only reccomend this movie if you are a huge Jake Gyllenhall fan, or if you just like to see people destroy things. Which is what Emmerich seems to be doing to his career with this movie.