The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Director:

Roland Emmerich

Writers (WGA):

Roland Emmerich (story)
Roland Emmerich (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

28 May 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

This year, a sweater won't do.

Plot:

A climatologist tries to figure out a way to save the world from abrupt global warming. He must get to his young son in New York, which is being taken over by a new ice age.

Plot Keywords:

New York | Global Warming | Disaster | Climatologist | Weather

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Dennis Quaid	...	Jack Hall
Jake Gyllenhaal	...	Sam Hall
Emmy Rossum	...	Laura Chapman
Dash Mihok	...	Jason Evans
Jay O. Sanders	...	Frank Harris
Sela Ward	...	Dr. Lucy Hall
Austin Nichols	...	J.D.
Arjay Smith	...	Brian Parks
Tamlyn Tomita	...	Janet Tokada
Sasha Roiz	...	Parker
Ian Holm	...	Terry Rapson
Nassim Sharara	...	Saudi Delegate
Carl Alacchi	...	Venezuelan Delegate
Kenneth Welsh	...	Vice President Becker
Michel 'Gish' Abou-Samah	...	Saudi Translator (as Michael A. Samah)

Also Known As:

Tomorrow (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense situations of peril.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Japanese | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #40177) | Iceland:L | Brazil:Livre | Malaysia:U | France:U | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Chile:TE | Czech Republic:12 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 | Ireland:12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:PT | Philippines:G | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | UK:12A | Greece:K-13

Filming Locations:

Canada

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The casting of Kenneth Welsh as the Vice President was controversial, due to his physical resemblance to then-US Vice-President Dick Cheney. However, Roland Emmerich insisted on it for that very reason, admitting that the characters of the President and Vice-President were intended to be criticism of the Bush/Cheney administration's opposition to the Kyoto Protocol for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: After the Global Warming Conference when Prof. Rapson is hailing the cab, he removes his fingers from his mouth before the whistle is finished. That type of whistle requires fingers to remain in the mouth.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Frank Harris: See how it's done?
Jason Evans: Yeah, I think I got the hang of it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Benchwarmers (2006)

Soundtrack:

Do You Really Want to Hurt Me

Ridiculous Story, But Fun To Watch

I was leery of a heavy propaganda piece on "global warming," but I still saw this and found that, yeah that's what it was but it was really more of just a straight adventure story than anything else.....and not a bad one, at that. The first 50 minutes of this two-hour film have the "fun parts" where the special-effects dominate. We see all kinds of radical weather disasters that are extremely dramatic and entertaining to watch, even if they don't make a bit of sense.

After the blizzard and sub-zero, unlivable weather conditions arrive the movie settles down to a young romance and survival story with Jake Gyllenhaal, Emily Rossum and other people trapped in a library in New York City and Jake's father, played by Dennis Quaid, walking all the way from Philadelphia to rescue him. Yes, it's very, very far-fetched - the whole thing - but it's a fun adventure story with nice people. It's especially refreshing to see Hollywood portray a father as being so loving and selfless. The romance wasn't overdone and the young people were not profane and/or annoying, as so often is the case.

Except for the over-exaggerated and extremely erroneous scare tactics of this movie, and a ridiculous portrayal of the Vice Preseint of the United States, the movie works strictly as an entertaining fantasy-adventure story.