The Day After Tomorrow
| The Day After Tomorrow | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Day After Tomorrow is a 2004 American climate science fiction disaster film co-written, directed, and produced by Roland Emmerich and starring Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ian Holm, Emmy Rossum, and Sela Ward. The film depicts catastrophic climatic effects following the disruption of the North Atlantic Ocean circulation in a series of extreme weather events that usher in global cooling and lead to a new ice age.
Originally slated for release in the summer of 2003, The Day After Tomorrow opened in Mexico City on May 17, 2004, and was released worldwide from May 26 to May 28 (except in South Korea and Japan, where it was released on June 4 and 5). A major commercial success, the film became the sixth highest-grossing film of 2004.
Plot
Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), an American paleoclimatologist, and his colleagues Frank Harris (Jay O. Sanders) and Jason Evans (Dash Mihok), drill for ice-core samples in the Larsen Ice Shelf for the NOAA, when the shelf breaks apart. Jack warns of global warming to a UN conference in New Delhi, but Vice President of the United States Raymond Becker dismisses his concerns. Professor Terry Rapson of the Hedland Centre in Scotland shares Jack’s views of an inevitable climate shift and they become friends. Several buoys in the Atlantic Ocean show a severe ocean temperature drop, Rapson concluding Jack’s theories are correct. Jack and Rapson’s teams, along with NASA meteorologist Janet Takada, build a forecast model based on Jack’s research.
Eventually, a storm system forms in the northern hemisphere develop, splitting into three superstorms above Canada, Scotland, and Siberia. The subzero temperatures of the superstorms' eyes cause flash freezing. Meanwhile, the weather becomes increasingly bad around the world, including several tornadoes that destroy Los Angeles and Hollywood.
In Manhattan, Jack’s son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaall), and his friends Brian, J.D., and Laura Chapman participate in academic decathlon. The city begins to flood with rainfall, followed by an enormous storm surge, trapping Sam’s group in the New York Public Library. Sam contacts Jack and his mother Lucy, a doctor, Jack advising him to stay inside, and promises to rescue him. Rapson and his team perish in the European storm, while Lucy remains in a hospital caring for bed-ridden children until saved by the authorities.
Upon Jack’s suggestion, US President Blake orders the southern states to be evacuated into Mexico, the northern half doomed to be hit by the superstorm. Blake is caught in it and dies, making Becker the new President. Jack, Jason, and Frank make their way Manhattan, but Frank falls through the skylight of a mall, cutting his rope to prevent his friends from falling in after him. In the library, most survivors decide to head south against Sam’s warnings, and later freeze to death. Sam, his friends, and other likeminded survivors remain inside, burning books to stay warm.
Lauren, wounded during the flooding, develops blood poisoning from her injury. Sam, Brian, and J.D. search a Russian cargo vessel, that drifted into the city, for penicillin. They encounter a pack of wolves that escaped from Central Park Zoo. The eye of the North American storm arrives, freezing Manhattan, but Sam’s group escapes into the library just in time. Jack and Jason also survive it. Days later, the superstorms dissipate. Jack and Jason reach the library, discovering Sam and the others have survived.
Becker, in his first address as President, apologies on television for his ignorance, vowing to send helicopters to rescue survivors in the northern states. Jack and Sam’s group are picked up in Manhattan, where many people have survived. On the International Space Station, astronauts look down in awe at the frozen Earth, now free of pollution.
Good Qualities
- Spectacular visual and special effects of the disasters along with others.
- Really decent acting and performing from Dennis Quaid.
- Intense and emotional scenes as many people have been killed for example; Sam Hall is telling everyone in the library to stay because the eye will freeze everyone if they go outside but no-one ever listens to him but thankfully he got some people to stay.
- Excellent soundtrack as it has been composed by Harald Kloser.
- Outstanding cinematography.
- Many disasters that you can think of like floods, tornadoes, hails, and even the Eye.
Bad Qualities
- The scientific inaccuracies have been heavily criticized by many scientists.
- The story can be rather cheesy at times.
Videos
External Links
The Day After Tomorrow at the Internet Movie Database
The Day After Tomorrow on Rotten Tomatoes