"The Day After Tomorrow" – The Iceman Cometh
by Homer Yen
(c) 2004
If the do-or-die success of a retail shop depends
on location-location-location, then the success
of a film probably depends on
timing-timing-timing. If this movie wasn't one
of the headline summer offerings, I'm not sure if
people would be flocking to see this in much the
same way that people in this film are flocking
across the Rio Grande and into Mexico to avoid
the oncoming chill. With its serious doomsday
approach, "The Day After Tomorrow" is the kind of
sobering stuff that you'd likely see in the fall.
Other than the wonderfully executed special
effects, this is not the typical package of
escapism that one might expect.
However, what really nagged me was the distinct
feeling that I've seen this film before. Back
then, it was called "The Core," a pleasing thrill
ride released about 14 months ago. The DNA of
these two films is almost an exact copy. In
"Core," the world was on the verge of burning up
as the ozone layer began to break down, which
allowed the sun's microwaves to melt everything
that it touched. In "Day After," the world is on
the verge of icing up as the troposphere begins
to break down, which allows freezing temperatures
(the kind of deathly cold that will freeze people
in their tracks) to turn everything it touches
into ice.
I usually don't like using a compare and contrast
approach to reviews, but consider this. One
element of this kind of film is the ominous signs
that something is terribly wrong. "Core"
featured birds behaving in frighteningly
unnatural ways and people that suddenly dropped
dead. "Day After" features ocean buoys
registering an across-the-board 13 degree drop in
temperature. Which is more fun to watch? "Core"
also had more potential for imagination as an
intrepid crew journeyed to the center of the
Earth. "Day After" has an intrepid crew that
journeys across vast plains of snow. Which is
more fun to watch? For those that missed "The
Core," go rent the DVD and I believe that you
will find that to be the better summer-type film.
Another oddity is that "Day After" lacks the
im****tant concept of goal-and-sacrifice. You
have to destroy some oncoming asteroid using
unproven techniques and someone will die
heroically in the line of duty. Or, you have to
sacrifice yourself so that you can manually blow
up a bomb to save the world. Someone has to die,
and we are all better off for it. But in this
film, all they do is run for cover. There's no
fighting Mother Nature. When it's man versus
nature, it's no contest. And thus, it's never
too compelling.
But the biggest question left unanswered is the
tagline to this movie. The trailers asks, "where
will you be the day after tomorrow?" Well, the
future of mankind and the consequences of the
global climatic change are never addressed. It
does, however, have lots of nifty effects. If
you think that watching the Weather Channel is
fun, then this will be a real treat.
My feelings for this film are tempered. I left
with the same kind of déjà vu that I felt when I
had reviewed "Armageddon" only two months after
watching "Deep Impact." "Day After" is a
competent piece of filmmaking. The acting is
fine. We come for the effects, and they are
exhilarating. But if a truly good disaster film
also needs to integrate character-driven stories,
sacrifice, and heroism, then these components
aren't quite here. Well, maybe that's what we'll
find the day after tomorrow.
Grade: B-
S: 1 out of 3
L: 0 out of 3
V: 1 out of 3
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X-RAMR-ID: 37938
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1287382
X-RT-TitleID: 1132625
X-RT-AuthorID: 1370
X-RT-RatingText: B-
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