The Day After Tomorrow — Review

It would be foolish to expect any thematic subtlety from a Roland Emmerich film, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW is as bold-faced as it is. Emmerich opts to engage with both teenage melodrama and typical disaster movie thrills equally, which threatens to alienate those who expected more of the latter. Principally though, the goal was to spotlight the serious threat that accompanies the flagrant disregard of global climate change, and through the application of hogwash science, the movie makes its point. Inaccuracy became a lightning rod for criticism, but a greater awareness of climate issues was achieved regardless.

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW attempts to moonlight as a popcorn blockbuster, but the limited depth handed to the core characters makes it difficult to form emotional connections. Emmerich champions visual spectacle, as one should expect from a filmmaker often dubbed a “master of disaster”, and he uses the characters as little more than props through whom he can accentuate the disastrous nature of the tornados and ice storms. Though the latter half devolves into a series of low-stakes action sequences and contrived fetch quests, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW is an effective statement piece that underlines the importance of climate management by painting a picture of a possible (albeit implausible) future.