Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118864 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-10-12
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 124 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Supreme silliness doesn't stop The Day After Tomorrow from being lots of fun for connoisseurs of epic-scale disaster flicks. After the blockbuster profits of Independence Day and Godzilla, you can't blame director Roland Emmerich for using global warming as a politically correct excuse for destroying most of the northern hemisphere. Like most of Emmerich's films, this one emphasises special effects over such lesser priorities as well-drawn characters and plausible plotting, and his dialogue (cowritten by Jeffrey Nachmanoff) is so laughably trite that it could be entirely eliminated without harming the movie. It's the spectacle that's important here, not the lame, recycled plot about father and son (Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal) who endure an end-of-the-world scenario caused by the effects of global warming. So sit back, relax and enjoy the awesome visions of tornado-ravaged Los Angeles, blizzards in New Delhi, Japan pummelled by grapefruit-sized hailstones, and Manhattan flooded by swelling oceans and then frozen by the onset of a modern ice age. It's all wildly impressive, and Emmerich obviously doesn't care if the science is flimsy, so why should you? --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Not too preachy
Paleoclimatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid - Vantage Point [DVD] [2008]) tries to tell a conference on global warming that the world will enter a new ice age, in maybe a hundred or a thousand years (he's in need of a better calculator, because it's already happening and he hasn't noticed). Fortunately, he meets Scotland based Professor Terry Rapson (Ian Holm - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Extended Edition Box Set) [DVD]) at the conference, and it is Professor Rapson who sees the changes happening and warns Hall.

Hall has an iffy relationship with his ex-wife and son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal - Jarhead [DVD] [2005]). Sam is also a (nervous/shy) genius in the making, and on his way to an inter-school scholastic competition in New York - strangely without a teacher or chaperone.

Unfortunately, New York is in direct line of the storm, and anyone there is doomed to die, unless they are prepared. Hall sets off to save his son.

The storm effects are superb: the tornados, the cloud structure (from earth and space), the freeze scenes, etc; but it is not just a special effects film, it is also a film about family, courage, determination and trust.

The DVD has two commentaries, and an "inside look" feature on the film Aliens vs Predator (?!?!).

It is a good action film, and, even though it did feel like the makers were jumping on the climate change bandwagon, it didn't feel too preachy.

WOW!
I saw this being advertised about a month before it's release and i could not wait to see it. Roland Emmerich directs this fantastic epic. It's special effects are amazing.

Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid, Inner Space, The Parent Trap) is a climatologist who is suspicious that an ice age is going to strike the earth but he is not believed. But when tornadoes strike Los Angeles and a tidal wave floods Manhatten while Japan and all countries around the world are hit by blizzards, giant hailstones etc, they start to believe him.

Jack's son, Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal, Donnie Darko) is trapped in New York in a pubilc library with many others. Jack finds out where he is and sets out on a brave mission to find him.

Will Sam and the other people of New York be frozen to death by the ice age? Will Jack find his son before it's too late??

The performances in this are fantastic and could not of been acted better. Overall a fantastic movie directed by the man who directed, Independence Day and Godzilla.

Definitly one to buy.

If the world's future is threatened, find a public library
The Day After Tomorrow is everything you'd expect from the director of Independence Day; spectacular special effects, a beautiful cast who manage to look immaculately groomed throughout - despite their lives being turned upside down - and a good stack of dramatic one-liners. In a surprise twist to the trend of big-budget action films depicting America as the good guy however, the writers should be praised for the alternative stance they take. The film is often thought-provoking in this way, and the political statement it makes regarding important issues allows it to stand out from the deluge of mediocre blockbusters of the same genre.

The story follows Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) as a government climatologist who, when he learns of the powerful storm forming a path of destruction across the world, treks through the killer conditions to find his estranged son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal). Sam, however, has found safety a long with a group of friends and fellow citizens, in the New York Public Library. As the storm closes in around the terrified crowd, they attempt to salvage food, warmth and - cheesy American film as it is - hope. The thing that most surprised me about the film is that it was often very funny. There are numerous memorable lines, and a clever use of ironic humour.

The special effects are, of course, outstanding. Then again, you'd expect nothing less from a film of this capacity. In particular, the birds eye view of New York City conveys the lengths the art department have gone to to create an authentic look. It is interesting to note that director Roland Emmerich (who also directed Godzilla) makes a point of emphasising the carelessness of the world's inhabitants, and the destructive effects their pollution is having upon the planet.

It does, of course, have its disgustingly sentimental moments, and is often highly predictable. Saying that, it is a film i'd watch again, not least because it seems to have somewhat of a prophetic air about it. It's well worth watching.