Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6645 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-10-18
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English, French, Italian, Japanese
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 124 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Turning pressing environmental issues into the theme of a big summer blockbuster, you can’t say that director Roland Emmerich isn’t willing to take his chances. And while The Day After Tomorrow does ask you to suspend fair chunks of disbelief, it is both a spectacle and a worthwhile blockbuster to expend your time in front of.

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quaid, The Day After Tomorrow is the silly-but-fun story of a new ice age arriving pretty much overnight. In the midst of it all is a father-saving-son tale, that takes little time to be reduced to the background in favour of an all-out special effects assault.

And what an assault. Criticise the story all you like, but as spectacle, The Day After Tomorrow has few equals. From extreme weather effects to the site of familiar landmarks under mountains of ice, the budget was clearly high, and it’s all there on the screen.

This is, of course, where the joy of high definition kicks in. The Blu-ray-driven, 1080p picture is simply stunning, and The Day After Tomorrow benefits heavily from it. As a film, it still has its flaws, but it’s still good fun, and it’s one mighty workout for your home cinema rig too. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
With THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, director Roland Emmerich (INDEPENDENCE DAY, GODZILLA) trades evil aliens and radioactive lizards in for some seriously bad weather. When a radical change in the temperature of the world's oceans causes deadly storms and sets a new Ice Age in motion, climatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) must race from Washington D.C. to save his son, Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal), in the subzero climes of New York City. Elsewhere, tornadoes and hail menace the globe, leading to international disasters on an extraordinary level.
Emmerich, who has proven to be a master of big-budget cinematic destruction on numerous occasions, aims to outdo himself with THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. Here entire cities are ripped apart, flooded, and/or frozen, adding up to one of the biggest disaster movies ever filmed. Although astonishingly rendered special effects rule the movie, adept actors such as Quaid and Gyllenhaal (along with Sela Ward, Ian Holm, Emmy Rossum, and others) turn in solid performances that help to balance out the meteorological mayhem. Surprisingly, Emmerich also uses the film as a vehicle for clever moments of social and political commentary, making THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW admirably smarter and considerably more entertaining than typical Hollywood blockbusters.

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.