Nature's awesome power

Just what would happen if the planet suddenly had an angry reaction to the level of greenhouse gases we’ve been pumping into it for decades? That’s what The Day After Tomorrow wants to show you.

With barely no warning - not months, not weeks - but days, the ‘Atlantic shift’ — that’s the warm winds to you and me — is thrust into cool, putting the northern hemisphere on quick freeze.

From very early on in the film you’ll realise the screenplay is pure cheese. One paleoclimatologist (weatherman who studies past weather patterns, here played by Dennis Quaid) attempts to save the entire planet by standing up against bad Mr President who just won’t listen. You could write the rest of the script yourself. But don’t write it off.

The Day After Tomorrow should be seen, and it must be seen on the big screen. The opening scene shows off immediately how visually stunning this film is. It pans over the Arctic Circle in a helicopter that glides through near-misses with colossal icebergs in the brilliant sunshine. You feel like you’re flying through the cool, pure air yourself.

Another visual stunner is the danger sign that things are not quite right in Tokyo. It comes in the form of killer hailstones — tennis-ball-sized diamonds that cut through metal, electrics and people. There’s no escape from nature’s big bullets.

But the absolute climax of the film has to be the moment when a colossal tidal wave engulfs New York. You can’t help but remember 9/11 as you sit there, and feel relieved that this isn’t real (yet). Taxis are scattered through the avenues like dominoes as a wall of water 20ft high gushes down them. With buildings engulfed, Manhattan sinks into Atlantis. Though whether it will be lost forever you’ll have to see.

It’s a bit of a shame that the plot — which consists mainly of Jack Hall (Quaid) trying desperately to reach his son Sam, (Jake Gyllenhaul) in the most adverse weather conditions unknown to man, is too thin — and so cheesy — but try to ignore it and instead absorb nature’s terrifying prowess.