The Day After Tomorrow isn't satisfying in every way, but it satisfies in the ways that count. It is a superior disaster movie depicting the sudden onset of a new ice age, with well constructed action sequences and amazing special effects. Dennis Quaid plays Jack, a climatologist who realises something is wrong when an ice shelf unexpectedly cracks. Of course no one listens to him, but before long the scary stuff begins: tornados in Hollywood. Ice chunks falling on Tokyo. And seriously alarming turbulence for airline passengers!

The story divides itself between the exploits of Jack, in Washington, D.C., and those of his son, Sam (Gyllenhaal), who is stranded inside Manhattan's Fifth Avenue library burning its priceless holdings to keep warm. Some of the dialogue is corny, but no one goes to this type of film expecting a Shakespearean play! Unfortunately, some moments are funny without anyone intending them to be, and that's a bit of a worry! But the movie offers many incredible special effects and Quaid acts as though the story is considerably better than it is. Since Emmerich's Independence Day, there hasn't been a disaster movie on such a scale, nor one so well executed or enjoyable.