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Barnes & Noble The science behind this one may be a little shaky -- the possibility of a new Ice Age sweeping the planet overnight is pretty remote. But once you can get past the basic implausibility of the premise, youll find that The Day After Tomorrow is, well, one of the coolest pictures to come along in quite a while. Its really a throwback to those great Irwin Allen disaster movies of the 60s and 70s. Allens 1961 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, for example, took the opposite tack and posited that Earths atmosphere could catch fire overnight. You take a group of people with disparate backgrounds, interests, and agendas; throw them together in a life-threatening situation caused by Mother Nature; and see how many of them survive to discover a means of reversing (or escaping) the effects of the calamity. In this case, climatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), having foretold the possibility of global warming suddenly triggering a new Ice Age, gets no satisfaction from seeing his prediction come true -- because his son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) is trapped in New York City, which has already been swamped by a tidal wave and essentially frozen solid. As the planetary freezing moves southward, Jack heads northward to rescue Sam and others that may have survived. Director Roland Emmerich, no stranger to such apocalyptic goings-on, marshals assistance from his art director, cinematographer, and special-effects team to make this frigid farrago convincing, and its to his credit that he succeeds admirably. Formulaic plotting and stereotypical characters aside, The Day After Tomorrow, like Jack Hill himself, plots a course and doggedly pursues it to a successful conclusion. Although the submersion of Manhattan by tidal wave was done fairly convincingly in 1933s Deluge, that films visuals dont begin to compare to the digital magic conjured up by Emmerichs special-effects sorcerers. There probably isnt a viewer on the planet -- in hot or cold climes -- that wont feel a chill up his or her spine when the Statue of Liberty is swept under by a monster tsunami. Quaid and Gyllenhaal are appropriately stolid in their roles and more than adequately supported by Ian Holm, Sela Ward, Jay O. Sanders, and others. Relative newcomer Emmy Rossum makes a strong showing as Jakes plucky companion and (if she lives through the ordeal) probable girlfriend. Providing old-fashioned thrills served up with new-fangled technology, The Day After Tomorrow makes an ideal "popcorn movie," and one that will certainly stand the test of time with repeat viewings. Ed Hulse Interested in the song lyrics? - Check out themostlyrics.com! Looking For A DVD? - Check out dvd-a-rama.com! |
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