The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Wow. That was my first word to my friend with whom I saw this movie as soon as I stepped from the theatre.

Wow because, to be honest I could barely believe that this movie made it past Hollywood quality control (not that it's been known to be all that efficient anyway).

There are 2 reasons I actually felt mental anguish watching this movie, and 1 marginally redeeming quality. To start with the latter observation, I have to give them credit for putting together some quality special effects. All of the disaster sequences were excellently done, and at no point did I feel that it was too computerized or lacked visual believability. It could be worth the watch just for the effects.

Now, on to the two big critiques... (and let me emphasize big).

1) Screenplay, Acting & Story.

Quite possibly the most painfully clichéd screenplay I have ever seen. Not to mention that it was not really written in English, but rather "Kindergarten". I mean, we don't go to big budget movies like this to feel inspired by philosophical dialogue, but come on, you can at least do better than this. I actually felt pained watching some of the scenes (especially those melodramatic ones from Dennis Quaid going after Jake Gyllenhaal in NY...) and I know I wasn't the only one. I had never heard so many groans so frequently in a theatre before. Furthermore, the wafer-thin plot about the "distanced father" who realizes his mistake of not paying enough attention to his son on account of being too committed to his job, etc etc etc is so overused and boring it does nothing but detract from the rest of the movie.

The acting was mediocre, but don't get me wrong, I like Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quaid... it's just that there isn't much they could have done with this crap.

2) The "Message".

Now, let me preface this by saying that I realize this is "just a movie", but still, it is a movie that is meant to have a highly political message.... and the way they pass off this supposedly wise message ensures that this movie goes down in my books as one of the worst I have ever endured. OK, global warming is a controversial issue, and there opposing opinions, and this is just one of them, fine. But, I felt that the whole time the makers of this movie were just trying to stuff every conceivable facet of social justice down my throat at every possible opportunity. It wasn't just global warming, it was third world debt relief, anti-statism, the rich-poor divide.... etc etc etc. Regardless of my personal view on climate change (I think it's a complicated issue, and I did my degree in evolutionary genetics and had all the opposing and supporting arguments driven into my head, so I am not just some left or right clone on the matter...) I couldn't help but feel somewhat violated by the constant presence of such an over-arching political agenda - almost as though the director felt I was an idiot and would buy these messages as profound or substantiated. Probably the worst was the new President's speech at the end when he starts talking about Americans "reaching out" to their 3rd world guests, and that whole line where he basically says "We used to think we could burn fossil fuels with reckless abandon. We were wrong. I was wrong."... I almost choked on the cheese. Another was the "classic" scene with the homeless man showing the rich-kid how to stuff newspapers in his shirt for warmth... how touching...and transparent. I mean, couldn't you guys have just stuck to the one message (global climate change), rather than trying so obviously hard to force every other possible social justice issue in? In some ways this movie may as well have been a propaganda film for the Green Party and/or Comintern. And for those that would respond to me by saying "it's just a movie", yes, it is, but so is "Triumph of the Will", and I believe this movie comes close to deserving the same skeptical treatment we give to that, otherwise well-done, film.

And also, before anyone accuses me of being a "Bush-Clone" or "right-winger" or some nonsense, let me point out that I would have equally scornful words to say about a movie that promoted the opposite agenda in such a ridiculous way.

On a side note...I can't imagine how anyone who is actually concerned about Global Warming or these other issues could really feel this helped their cause... if anything it presented the case in such an amateur and dumbed-down way that it actually takes away credibility from the issue.

So, overall, I conclude by saying this: Great effects, decent disaster scenes, but clichéd to the point of physical discomfort, inexcusably bad screenplay, and, worst of all, intolerably riddled with thinly veiled (if at all) political messages that are forced down your throat at all opportunities (appropriate or not).