DVD Review: The Day After Tomorrow
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::Movie review
Those wolves. Those damned wolves.
I really don't know what compels filmmakers to think they they have to push for more, more, more. In The Day After Tomorrow, Roland Emmerich and Jeffrey Nachmanoff have placed their characters in a New York City that has been flooded a few stories deep. The water has now frozen over. One character is moments away from death if she doesn't receive an immediate dose of penicillin. And to top it off, the eye of a massive hurricane threatens to bring super-cooled air down on our heroes that will freeze them to death in seconds.
Why, oh why, does a scene such as the one described above also require a pack of CGI wolves? The only answer I can think of is that the writers simply don't care about plausibility or in creating dramatic suspense through character development.
The Day After Tomorrow exists for one reason and one reason only: to show a bunch of stuff getting destroyed.
The premise of the film is that global warming has caused the ice caps to begin melting. This, in turn, causes a shift in the ocean temperatures, which sparks off a series of super storms. One of the first victims is Los Angeles, which suffers from a massive outbreak of tornados, which dutifully wipe out the Hollywood sign and other landmarks.
Next up are hurricanes, which are so large that they bring not just rain, but snow storms and super-cooled air directly from the upper reaches of the atmosphere.
As is the formula for Roland Emmerich disaster films, there is only one man who sees all of this coming. He is scientist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) and the film makes a big deal out of the fact that no one believes him until it is too late. Of course, if you apply a little logic to the situation, you would realize that the coming events are inevitable, whether anyone believes him or not, so why fall back on such a blatant and flimsy cliche?
It's possible that The Day After Tomorrow was built from a checklist of disaster movie cliches. If so, the next item on the list is the scientist's son. Sam Hall (Jake Gyllenhaal) is attending a science event in New York when he is trapped by the hurricane. Following the death of millions of people, the film then focuses on Jack's unrelenting determination to hike across country to save his son.
Also, don't forget the little kid dying of cancer, who awaits just one last ambulance to plow through the blizzard.
Now don't get me wrong. Disaster films are supposed to be silly spectacles and when they are well made, it really doesn't matter how stupid they are. Except for those wolves.
I was really fully willing to play along with Emmerich's little indulgence until he assaulted the patience of his audience with those CGI wolves. They are a gratuitous and unnecessary and ultimately spoil what would have otherwise been a fun little movie filled with technically spectacular special effects.
::Video
The image quality on this disc is fairly average, which isn't necessarily a point in this disc's favor. A special effects picture like The Day After Tomorrow really demands the best of the best in terms of picture quality and I'm just not sure we get that here. Colors and contrasts are good, black levels and shadow details are strong, but there just doesn't seem to be quite enough detail throughout. If this were a Columbia Tristar picture, I'd look forward to a Superbit edition, but it isn't to be.
It's not that the picture quality here is bad. In fact, it's quite good for an average DVD, but this sort of movie simply wants more.
I did notice a bit of grain, which is likely a source material issue. Digital artifact problems are very minor, but edge enhancement is a little too strong.
::Audio
If the video quality falls short of expectations, the audio presentation certainly manages to shine. Both the Dolby Digital and the DTS tracks are excellent, but the DTS offers up just a bit tighter bass response and slightly more transparent separations in the surrounds. Regardless, your speakers will get quite the workout and there's a good chance that your neighbors will never speak to you again.
::Special Features
The extra features begin with 2 audio commentaries. The first features writer / director Roland Emmerich and producer Mark Gordon. There are some good behind-the-scenes comments in here, but also an annoying amount of back-patting.
The second track, featuring co-writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff, director of photography Ueli Steiger, editor David Brenner and production designer Barry Chusid gets much more techical, which for a film such as this, proves to be far more interesting.
Next up is an "Audio Anatomy" feature. Essentially, this bit showcases one of the flash freeze scenes and allows you the opportunity to play with the sound mix to see how much the audio adds to the impact of a scene.
Finally, there are a few deleted scenes.
There is almost a feeling that these extras were just tossed in as a token effort to justify such a quick DVD release. Fox almost certainly is planning a much more extensive special edition release. If so, this is an example of exactly what is wrong with the DVD industry. The studios simply need to release one, feature packed edition, and stop trying to milk consumers for every dime by tossing out edition after edition.
::Bottom Line
The Day After Tomorrow is mindlessly fun disaster movie that is marred by a few wrong steps. Still, it's a lot of fun to watch with some truly jaw-dropping special effects. The lackluster special features, however, are a point of concern, as they hint at a better release down the road.
Buy The Day After Tomorrow at DVDEmpire.com
| Movie |  |
2 / 5 |
| Video | |
3 / 5 |
| Audio | |
2.5 / 5 |
| Extras | |
3.5 / 5 |
| Family Friendly | |
1 / 5 |
| The older kids can handle this one, but it will scare the youngsters. | ||
| Overall | |
2.5 / 5 |
- Robert Wurth, ©2005
::Technical Specs
Studio:
Fox Home Entertainment
Year of Theatrical Release:
2004
Disc Format:
1 single-sided, Dual Layer
Image Format:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1
Region Encoding:
1 (North America)
Sound Format:
Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS
Running Time:
123 minutes
Director:
Roland Emmerich
Stars:
Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhall, Sela Ward, Emmy Rossum
MPAA Rating:
PG-13
Disc Supplements:
- Commentary by Roland Emmerich and producer Mark Gordon
- Commentary by co-writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff, DP Ueli Steiger, editor David Brenner, production designer Barry Chusid
- Audio Anatomy interactive sound demo
- Deleted scenes
