[Crazyeyeskiller]

This jaw-dropping disaster movie makes director Roland Emmerich's previous outings feel like expensive dress rehearsals. For all their epic destruction, his previous features Independence Day and the lacklustre Godzilla are damp squibs compared to this astonishing, cautionary tale. Rooted loosely in scientific reality, the film piles on the Hollywood excess to deliver a US-centred thrill-ride in which global warming abruptly pushes the planet into a new ice age during one incredible worldwide superstorm. Though there's a human element, focusing on climatologist Dennis Quaid's cross-country journey to Manhattan to rescue his trapped son, Jake Gyllenhaal, it's the weather effects that take centre stage. Putting aside the anticlimactic conclusion, this is cinema as pure spectacle, as tornados, flash floods, hurricanes and snow demolish cities including LA and New York. Never mind that the dialogue is frequently laugh-out-loud cheesy and the performances are often melodramatic, what counts here is the enormous entertainment factor.


I normally find Radio Times ratings are pretty much what I would give but I am open mouthed at this. This film has to be one of the shi*test films I have ever seen. The notion that the world is ending and ALL we are meant to care about is Dennis Quaid and his son is LUDICROUS!!!!! Why do American disaster film makers do this? It's like the Oliver Stone's World Trade Centre film on 911 with Nic Cage - another useless film completely missing the point - unlike the BRILLIANT United 93.

What RT should have said is this................

"Has a couple of okay destruction scenes but 90% of the film is absolute tosh and if you really are that stunned by special effects or crazy weather then find a good documentary."

[CJClarke]

Originally Posted by Crazyeyeskiller

The notion that the world is ending and ALL we are meant to care about is Dennis Quaid and his son is LUDICROUS!!!!! Why do American disaster film makers do this?

Film makers do this in disaster movies because having a sympathetic character with a story arc makes the film have an identifiable element for audiences to latch on to. If the film was just 2 hours of bad weather, destruction and people running from random natural disasters with no human story it'd be even more mind numbing than it already is.

I actually don't mind this film though, it's decent enough, far better than Emmerich's following film, '10,000 BC', which is probably one of the worst films i've ever clapped eyes on.

[fmradiotuner1]

Dante's Peak is my best disaster movie but this one also comes close and have always liked it.

[Crazyeyeskiller]

Originally Posted by CJClarke

Film makers do this in disaster movies because having a sympathetic character with a story arc makes the film have an identifiable element for audiences to latch on to. If the film was just 2 hours of bad weather, destruction and people running from random natural disasters with no human story it'd be even more mind numbing than it already is.

I actually don't mind this film though, it's decent enough, far better than Emmerich's following film, '10,000 BC', which is probably one of the worst films i've ever clapped eyes on.

Well yes I realise this! But there are loads of alternatives to the style/story adopted in this film which I can assure anyone who hasn' t seen it is absolute tosh to anyone with a brain.

[degsyhufc]

The good thing about crappy movies is that shows like South Park can parody and rip the piss out of them

[Yuffie]

It is rare to see good disaster movies, be it a natural disaster or an invasion.

[eduble]

I don't remember this film being all that good, but I will watch it as there's nothing else on.

[sbds1]

This is one of the better disaster films in recentish years.

[SillyBillyGoat]

Originally Posted by Crazyeyeskiller

[i]What RT should have said is this................

"Has a couple of okay destruction scenes but 90% of the film is absolute tosh and if you really are that stunned by special effects or crazy weather then find a good documentary."

So, you think that reviewers should always give your opinion? Because they're there to give their opinions, not yours. People do like different things to you, your Highness

[Willbert]

If I was to review " Day after Tomorrow" for the Radio Times, I'd simply write :

" At least it's not 2012"

[Matt D]

Originally Posted by CJClarke

I actually don't mind this film though, it's decent enough, far better than Emmerich's following film, '10,000 BC', which is probably one of the worst films i've ever clapped eyes on.

As bad as 10,000BC is, I think it's better than 2012.

[Crazyeyeskiller]

Originally Posted by SillyBillyGoat

[So, you think that reviewers should always give your opinion? Because they're there to give their opinions, not yours. People do like different things to you, your Highness

Well congratulations on writing three of the most obvious statements ever in succession.


Yes billy I think all reviewers should give my opinion, that's what i think, that's what i really really think

I think i put my criticism in clear context. I respect the radio times for the most part. thing that puzzled me most was that the reviewer seemed to pretty much agree with me about how LUDICROUS the Dennis Quaid story is but we totally disagree as to how exciting some computerised special effects are. In my view they barely raise the bar to 2 starts out of 5 nevermind the 4 he gave it. It really is rubbish this film.

Oh well, each to their own, i'm off to watch Touching the Void, a proper film.

[Crazyeyeskiller]

Brilliant - I've just put the info bar up on it as it starts and the way that describes it illustrates my point so beautifully........


(2004) Disturbing sci-fi drama with Dennis Quaid as a climatologist trying to work out how to save the world from abrupt global warming as well as trying to rescue his trapped son (Jake Gyllenhall)

...........written like the two events should be equally important and this is exactly how the film does it! It just strikes me as dumb.

[koantemplation]

Where does that ice axe come from that saves Dennis' character at the start of the film?

And where does the news reporter go when the bill board hits him? I keept expecting to see him on the other side of the board as it flips over.

[gemma-the-husky]

this is not a bad film at all, although i find the trek to New York too far fetched.

[wiseguy100]

what i never understood is when the big freeze happens, it chases Jake as he's running on his heels constantly, surely everything would freeze at the same time!!!

same thing in 2012, everytime time they escape in a plane or car, the world crumbles 2 millimetres behind the rear bumper.

emmerich takes his audience for ****ing idiots.

[mllfap]

The Day After Tomorrow is great fun.
Its the only one of Emmerichs movies that work because its the only one where you do actually care about the characters .
The same cannot be said for 2012 or Independence Day for example.

Not only that but you get some great action scenes , spectacular effects and a thundering soundtrack.

Citizen Kane it ain't ,but for a rollercoaster of action and spectacle its hard to beat.

In HD with 5.1 sound it's a fab viewing experience.
On regular C4 and through standard tv speakers a lot of the spectacle of the film is lost.

I think thats why C4 show it at peaktime so often .

[Yuffie]

mllfap, you are easily entertained !!

[AppleTango]

Originally Posted by wiseguy100

what i never understood is when the big freeze happens, it chases Jake as he's running on his heels constantly, surely everything would freeze at the same time!!!

same thing in 2012, everytime time they escape in a plane or car, the world crumbles 2 millimetres behind the rear bumper.

emmerich takes his audience for ****ing idiots.

The freeze would happen gradually if it was cold air moving from one place to another.

[Wetherby]

Originally Posted by Yuffie

mllfap, you are easily entertained !!

What films do you like then Yuffie..........what entertains you.

[Yuffie]

Originally Posted by Wetherby

What films do you like then Yuffie..........what entertains you.

Well I reckon a it of everything ...

I like fantasy films .. but a good solid story is a must ...

Course there are always exceptions, like I really enjoyed Battle LA ... that was no masterpiece but I went in with low expectations so I ended up really enjoying it ...

I love Lord of the Rings,
Die Hards,
The Hangover,
Hot Fuzz,
Prince of Persia,
Sucker Punch,
Inception,
most superhero movies ... Batman Begins been the no 1 ...

thats too hard a question, but certainly it seems no disaster movies, they're lame !!

What about you Weather forecaster ??

[mllfap]

Originally Posted by Yuffie

mllfap, you are easily entertained !!

Not at all , I'm very picky which is why TDAT is the only modern disaster movie I like

Originally Posted by Yuffie

Well I reckon a it of everything ...

I like fantasy films .. but a good solid story is a must ...

Course there are always exceptions, like I really enjoyed Battle LA ... that was no masterpiece but I went in with low expectations so I ended up really enjoying it ...

I love Lord of the Rings,
Die Hards,
The Hangover,
Hot Fuzz,
Prince of Persia,
Sucker Punch,
Inception,
most superhero movies ... Batman Begins been the no 1 ...

thats too hard a question, but certainly it seems no disaster movies, they're lame !!

What about you Weather forecaster ??

Everybodys different.
Personally I find the Lord of the Rings movies to be boring shite - at least the 30 minutes of the first one I saw was so I never bothered after that.

I too like all the Die Hards and I even got the uncut DH3 on Bluray from Australia.

Original Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno both great films too.

But I enjoy all types .
From a bit of Disney to gross horror movies from Italy

[Wetherby]

Anyone who rates Prince of Persia, and Sucker Punch, and says someone else is "easily entertained" is taking the piss .

[Yuffie]

PoP maybe ... not the greatest film ever ... I have a soft spot for it though

But Sucker Punch, what is your quibbles with it ....??

[filmfan7]

Well i think i am biast because i love all disaster films from The Day the Earth Caught Fire , The Towering Inferno ,.Meteor , Poseidon , 2012 and this one plus many others ! all are implausable silly and one has to take them with a pinch of salt , never dull though !