The Day After Tomorrow (DVD 2004)

I just love disaster movies and eagerly awaited the release of ‘The Day After Tomorrow’. I eventually saw it on a flight from the UK and even on that little screen I knew ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ would be joining the ranks of ‘Armageddon’ and ‘Deep Impact’ in my all-time favourite disaster movies collection.
This movie centers its story around global warming and the disastrous effects its having on the planet. Scientists believe that as global warming takes hold the planet will see massive changes in weather patterns. The timeline for these events is sometime in the next 10,000 years. Cue snow in Delhi, tornados in LA, hailstones the size of basketballs in Japan and non-stop rain in Manhattan. The Ice Age is upon us and the US President has to decide how to deal with the mass evacuation of the northern states. Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) has other problems – his son is holed up in the Public Library in downtown Manhattan and although he’s been an unreliable father in the past this time he must get there. But will he make it in time?

The story is the usual disaster movie scenario of man surviving the end of the world but ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ is about the special effects more than the story. The walls of water that hit Manhattan engulf it in seconds. And seeing a tanker sailing down a street in Manhattan…….fantastic!

If you’re a disaster-movie fan you’ll love this. Although the story is predictable and there are some seriously cheesy lines in the script, the special effects more than make up for it.