There are two kinds of movies that come out during the summer: the BLOCKBUSTER, and the movie. The movie is something that could come out any time of the year, but happens to be released in the summer. The BLOCKBUSTER is a movie that's made for the summer, and tends to be something geared not towards depth or nominations, but big market value. The BLOCKBUSTER can be any genre, though most are either action, scifi, comedy, or some amalgam of the three, and most of the action/scifi BLOCKBUSTERS have several rules they follow:
-The plot is as shallow as a kiddie pool
-The special FX are bigger stars than the actors (and sometimes better actors)
-The good guys don't die unless you are considered a supporting actor
-The trailers show all the good visuals, the best lines, and may even spoil the ending
Now this is not to say that the BLOCKBUSTER is a bad movie. Especially if you go into the BLOCKBUSTER knowing those four rules and not expecting more then that you can have a rather fun time. They're fluff in every sense of the word; nothing you'll remember too long afterwards unless it was a really really good BLOCKBUSTER, nothing that'll win an award outside of MTV, but at least a few good laughs, a cool visual or three, and an excuse to hang out with your friends.
The Day After Tomorrow is a pretty obvious BLOCKBUSTER movie. Do not be swayed by the preaching about our effect on the environment. Do not be distracted by those claiming that the VP in the movie is supposed to portray real life VP Dick Chenny in an underhanded attempt to bash the Bush administration. Do not be fooled by the fact that Ian Holm is in it and show up with Hobbit feet on. This is a BLOCKBUSTER.
So, let's look at our four rules and see if they apply:
1) The plot is as shallow as a kidde pool
Yeup. We screwed up the environment, and now Mother Nature is opening up a can of whoop-ass. That's pretty much the plot. There's a few tiny little subplots; Dennis Quaid's family is slightly dysfunctional but only in a normal way, and his kid is working his way towards a romance that may or may not blossom by the end of the movie. But pretty much the plot is OH CRAP WE GOTTA SURVIVE THE BAD WEATHER!
2) The special FX are bigger stars than the actors (and sometimes better actors)
Yeup. Ask anyone walking into this movie why they went to see it and it's not to see the subtle grace of Iam Holm in a non-Hobbit role, or Dennis Quaid kick butt, or any of the other actors who...well...darned if I can remember any of 'em. They're gonna say "Dude! Huge ass tornadoes taking out LA, New York City in an ice cube, I am so THERE!" Though in the actors defense I can't really say anyone did a bad job, but they were overshadowed by the weather. And this movie does dish out plenty of eye-popping FX to keep you interested, though they blow the wad in the first hour and the second hour we are reduced to a killing frost and timber wolves.
Yes, TIMBER WOLVES.
I'm sorry, but if your movie villain is the weather, and the most dramatic, climatic moment you can come up with is your heroes being chased by a bunch of CGI timber wolves, then you need to go back to your room and don't come out till you've re-written that ending, mister! And to add insult to injury they're not even GOOD CGI timber wolves. Unlike the tornadoes, hurricanes, ice storms, and other freaky weather that looked pretty darn realistic, this pack of timber wolves looked plucked from a bad horror movie.
3) The good guys don't die unless you are considered a supporting actor
Yeup. Oh, forgive me if I give anything away *snicker* but everyone important survives. And by important I mean Dennis Quaid, his wife, his kid, or anyone those three are in love with. Even the attempt to place some of these guys in danger and try to leave the audience hanging with if they are alive or not is almost as laughable as the timber wolves.
4) The trailers show all the good visuals, the best lines, and may even spoil the ending
Yeup. And that's the biggest disappointment of the whole movie. I can forgive 1, 2, and 3 because this is a BLOCKBUSTER, and up until 4 came true it was at least a fun BLOCKBUSTER. But the coolest things in the entire movie are in the trailers and previews we've all seen. The tornadoes ripping through LA, New York City looking like Buffalo in January after God had fun with his flocking machine, gigantic hurricane-like storms looking gigantic and stormy...95% of the cool footage you've already seen.
There were some things saved for the movie, though not much and certainly nothing cooler than what got spoiled. Pretty much the only saving grace is seeing it on the big screen, so even if the shot isn't new you can go, "Oh wow, it's so cool because it's so BIG!"
There are other problems with this movie. Like most BLOCKBUSTERS with an element of science, that element apparently was created by the writers. Yea, they make good points, but the actual science in this movie is more fiction than reality. Overly sensitive Americans after 9/11 may be a little turned off to some of the destruction scenes in NYC, though even I have to admit that there's a few shots of people fleeing through the corridors of the city from a grey cloud of water that's eerily familiar to those shots we saw of people fleeing through the corridors of the city from a grey cloud of dust after the towers fell.
Overall it's not really a bad BLOCKBUSTER, it's just nothing new, nothing we haven't seen already, and nothing worth paying eight bucks for unless you just wana oogle some huge cool visuals.
And next time, leave out the timber wolves?