The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

 

The Day After Tomorrow - 2004

Up next we have 2004's "The Day After Tomorrow", a film about cataclysmic climate change and a small group of storm survivors who struggle to stay alive and reunite with their loved ones.

The film's cast includes Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum, Dash Mihok, Jay O. Sanders, Sela Ward, Austin Nichols, Arjay Smith, Tamlyn Tomita, Ian Holm, Kenneth Welsh, Mimi Kurzyk, and Perry King.

A team of paleo-climatologists led by Jack Hall are drilling ice core samples in Antarctica.  While there, they witness the breaking of the ice shelf.  The ice that breaks off is about the size of the state of Rhode Island.  Jack narrowly survives the break.

At a climate conference in New Delhi (where it happens to be snowing), Jack predicts that the world is on path to a major climate shift.  The global warming that the earth has been experiencing will soon result in another ice age.  A fellow scientist, Dr. Terry Rapson, concurs with Jack's theory.

The trouble is that the politicians in Washington D.C. don't believe it at all and brush Jack's theories off as impossible.

People get an inkling that strange things are happening when birds by the thousands start flying south.

The city of Los Angeles is destroyed by massive tornadoes.  People are glued to their televisions as they watch the drama unfold.

In New York City, monsoonal rains and rising oceans flood the city.  People scramble trying to get to high ground.  It is too late for most of them.

One small group of survivors in New York City is Jack's son Sam, who is there for an academic decathlon with some of his friends.  They take shelter in the New York Public Library, where they burn books to stay warm.

And they are going to need all the warmth they can get.  When the center of the storm settles over New York City, it pulls freezing air from the upper troposphere down causing -150 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures outside.  Everything instantly freezes over.

Jack, meanwhile, has been traveling to New York City on foot from Washington D.C. when he heard from his son when the storms started.  He finds him and his small group and rallies them together so they can head for warmer climates.

They are picked up by helicopters sent by the US president, who has authorized search choppers for any survivors.  Jack and Sam are surprised to see so many people waiting to be rescued as they fly over the frozen city to safety.

Cast rundown:

   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

   Ian Holm...................................Dr. Terry Rapson

   Kenneth Welsh...........................Vice President Becker

   Mimi Kurzyk...............................Secretary of State

   Perry King..................................President Blake

And that's all for The Day After Tomorrow.  The director of the movie has said that the Statue of Liberty would have been turned over by the force of the water that hit it.  He wanted to keep it standing upright as a symbol of American values.  After this film's release in theaters, the American Red Cross had stands with brochures available to concerned movie goers on what to do in case of tornadoes, floods, and blizzards.

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