The Day After Tomorrow

lobal warming is a serious matter but this is ridiculous. Ask Dennis Quaid to do many things, but not save the planet. It’s not his strength. And it’s a waste of Ian Holm, who’s stuck in the melancholy scientist ditch. The film’s first 20 minutes are optically promising. Birds fall dead. Strange weather moves in. Continents are under siege after a sudden, catastrophic melting of the polar ice caps. Roland (“Independence Day”) Emmerich makes Manhattan go under water and freeze in less than a New York minute, a tribute to his busybody digital side. But when the apocalypse is mostly done, we’re get a milquetoast plot about a heroic scientist Quaid out to save his stalwart son (Jake Gyllenhaal), not to mention humanity. “Independence Day” was over-the-top and allowed for parody. This one dies of Al Gore earnestness.