Does It Hold Up? The Day After Tomorrow
The short answer? Yes and no.
Yes in the fact that I continue to watch it year after year so it must be doing something right and no in the fact that even though I do watch it every year I am fully aware of the movie’s faults. But that’s the beauty of film. That even a mediocre one can be entertaining enough to stand the test of time achieving cult status. I wouldn’t say Day After Tomorrow is quite cult status but it’s definitely a movie that has stood the test of time.
At least for me.
Directed by the king of entertaining disaster films, Roland Emmerich, The Day After Tomorrow depicts catastrophic climate effects following the disruption of the North Atlantic Ocean circulation that ushers in a new ice age. We follow Dennis Quaid as he treks through this hellish landscape to save his son, Jake Gyllenhaal, who is stranded in the heart of the storm in New York City. The film was a commercial success becoming the sixth highest grossing film of 2004 and opened to mixed reviews upon release with critics praising the film’s special effects but criticizing its writing and numerous scientific inaccuracies.
Which looking back on seems like a real nitpicky thing to complain about. It’s a fiction movie. As long as it’s entertaining and the science makes sense for what the movie is presenting, who gives a shit if the science is realistic or not? If I wanted reality I wouldn’t be watching a movie.
And man did they really go in on the movie for its scientific inaccuracies with one scientist, Patrick J. Michaels, even going so far as to say the movie was pure propaganda using lies as ‘science’ to influence political discourse. Like for fucks sake man, relax. It’s just a movie.
Those of you will know Roland Emmerich from his most famous film, Independence Day and he continues adding to his wheelhouse with another visually epic disaster film that takes sheer delight in destroying as many things as possible and he really wrings the tension out of a lot of these scenes. There a two really awesome set pieces in this film that have you on the edge of your seat. When the tidal wave first hits New York City and when Jake Gyllenhaal and his buddies sneak onto a derelict boat to find medicine for one of their sick friends. The man knows how to stage action and he does so with aplomb. It’s why he continues to this day to create some of the most audacious disaster films around. The man knows how to entertain from Independence Day to 2012.
The acting is about as standard as you get in a film like this. It’s not what draws you in but it helps that there’s great actors here to help sell the terror going on around them and the trio of leads in Quaid, Gyllenhaal and Emmy Rossum all do a fine job of selling this horrific scenario. It’s the best kind of summer movie you could hope for. One that you can just turn your brain off and enjoy CGI mayhem for two hours.
Now let’s break this script down.
Opening Image/Inciting Incident: Dennis Quaid and his team drill for ice-core samples in Antarctica when the ice shelf suddenly splits away and almost swallows them hole.
Theme Stated: At a UN conference, Quaid discusses his research showing that if they don’t curb climate change they could be facing another ice age.
Set Up: We are introduced to our players. A professor in Scotland that befriends Quaid because of his research, the one man who believes him. We meet Quaids son, Gyllenhaal, who is going on a school trip to New York and has a tenuous relationship with his father.
Catalyst: The weather worsens around the world. Tokyo is struck by a giant hail storm. Nova Scotia has a storm surge. A helicopter team crashes in Scotland after all their fuel lines freeze, and finally, LA is decimated by tornado’s.
Debate: Quaid argues with the VP and warns them of what’s going to continue to happen and they agree to order the southern states to be evacuated to Mexico; Because of their failure to act in the theme stated, all the Northern states are doomed to the superstorm.
Break Into Two: Gyllenhaal is in New York for an academic decathlon where he hopes to get closer to his teammate, Emmy Rossum. The weather becomes violent as time goes on and they are caught in the massive tsunami-like storm surge that hits Manhattan. Gyllenhaal and his friends are forced to seek shelter at the New York Public Library, but not before Rossum cuts her leg. Thanks to the libraries payphones Gyllenhaal is able to contact Quaid to find out what to do. His father tells him to remain inside and will come rescue him.
B Story: The professor in Scotland waits out the storm with his team but they soon learn it is a losing effort and they will not survive the oncoming storm. Quaid’s wife also remains at the hospital she works at caring for the bed-ridden children waiting to be evacuated.
Fun and Games: Gyllenhaal and his friends burn books to stay warm. Quaid and his team drive through the storm towards New York.
Midpoint: Emmy Rossum develops blood poisoning from her cut. The only way to treat her is with medicine so Gyllenhaal and his friends sneak onto a vessel that has drifted into the city for penicillin.
Quaid and his team have made it as far as they can in the car and must now progress on foot if they are to make it to New York.
Bad Guys Close In: While searching for medicine on the ship, a pack of wolves show up looking for food. Wolves that escaped from the Central Park Zoo. They must fight off the wolves and find the penicillin.
Meanwhile, Quaid and his team are trekking across the snow when one of his teammates falls through the skylight of a mall that they had been walking over. To save the whole team from falling in with him and perishing, he cuts the rope sacrificing himself so the others could live.
All Is Lost/Finale: Gyllenhaal and his friends evade the wolves, gather the supplies and must race back to the library as the eye of the storm threatens to freeze Manhattan solid. They make it to the library and the warmth of the fire just in time and throw books upon books on the fire to keep it burning and them alive.
Likewise, Quaid and his remaining team member take shelter in an abandoned restaurant as the eye of the storm hits them. Days pass but the superstorm dissipates and Quaid and his ally make it to New York City and find his son and friends very much alive.
Final Image: Rescue helicopters are being sent north to find as many survivors as possible. Mexico opens its borders for all fleeing refugees. On the International Space Station, the astronauts look down on a changed Earth where ice sheets extend across the northern hemisphere.
For the most part this is a well structured movie. All the beats hit and while the dialogue can be clunky at times and the finale doesn’t feel so much like a finale the film still works in the long run. The father son relationship is the core of the film. It took Gyllenhaal living through this ordeal and using the things his father taught him for him to realize just how much an influence his father had on him even if he wasn’t always there. It’s a solid blockbuster film and that’s really all you can ask for at the end of the day.
I saw this movie opening day May 28th, 2004. The start of memorial day weekend and it was a hell of a way to start the party. Thanks for reading guys. Look forward to the next time we return for Does It Hold Up? where we dive into the first weekend release of June. The third film in a massively big franchise, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Until next time, Adventure On!