Monday, May 31, 2004
Movie Review: The Day After Tomorrow
At the conclusion of The Day After Tomorrow, I heard a guy near me applaud. Then a few more scattered rounds of applause followed. I'm guessing they were happy to be spared any further medocrity.
I wasn't surprised that DAT was an awful movie (and it is). I was, however, surprised that director Roland Emmerich apparently tried to make a serious movie. He seems to try to convince the viewer that this absurd, innane plot can somehow happen.
I've seen ridiculous movies that I still found entertaining (Deep Impact, Armageddon and Emmerich's own ID4) and I think all of them had storylines just as implausible as a global climate shift that occurs in a span of a week. But none of them portrayed their plots as some noble warning to change our ways. They also didn't use thinly vieled jabs to insult American leaders and policy.
Now there were parts of DAT that I enjoyed. The effects were great. But since the incessantly aired trailer has been promoting Mother Nature's role in the film for weeks, I felt a little disappointed. It reminded me of a comedy whose trailer promises big laughs, only to disappoint because nothing beyond the five-minute preview is remotely funny.
I also felt drawn in by the sappy father-son story. Call me sentimental, but with all the negative stuff out there these days about deadbeat dads and such, I have a hard time ripping something for showing a father put his son's welfare ahead of his own.
Ultimately, though, DAT just felt empty. I think the environmental lobby in the US overplays the severity of man's abuse of nature. After all, we've has Ice Ages before. Were SUVs and CFCs responsible in those instances? DAT's condemnation of humanity for causing this calamity is even sillier than it happening to begin with. Throw in the fact that it's clearly a propaganda piece, and not just a popcorn movie, and DAT is just hard to enjoy.
4/10
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I wasn't surprised that DAT was an awful movie (and it is). I was, however, surprised that director Roland Emmerich apparently tried to make a serious movie. He seems to try to convince the viewer that this absurd, innane plot can somehow happen.
I've seen ridiculous movies that I still found entertaining (Deep Impact, Armageddon and Emmerich's own ID4) and I think all of them had storylines just as implausible as a global climate shift that occurs in a span of a week. But none of them portrayed their plots as some noble warning to change our ways. They also didn't use thinly vieled jabs to insult American leaders and policy.
Now there were parts of DAT that I enjoyed. The effects were great. But since the incessantly aired trailer has been promoting Mother Nature's role in the film for weeks, I felt a little disappointed. It reminded me of a comedy whose trailer promises big laughs, only to disappoint because nothing beyond the five-minute preview is remotely funny.
I also felt drawn in by the sappy father-son story. Call me sentimental, but with all the negative stuff out there these days about deadbeat dads and such, I have a hard time ripping something for showing a father put his son's welfare ahead of his own.
Ultimately, though, DAT just felt empty. I think the environmental lobby in the US overplays the severity of man's abuse of nature. After all, we've has Ice Ages before. Were SUVs and CFCs responsible in those instances? DAT's condemnation of humanity for causing this calamity is even sillier than it happening to begin with. Throw in the fact that it's clearly a propaganda piece, and not just a popcorn movie, and DAT is just hard to enjoy.
4/10
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