User Comments: Date: 18 June 2004
Summary: Thrilling, eerie, bitter sweet, frightening...a terrific epic that had me enthralled
I suppose I expected a rainy version of ID4, with nature assuming the
role vacated by the earlier movie's alien invaders. Now as much as I am
a fan of ID4, I would be the first to point out its numerous
flaws...notably its "US saves the world" take and a healthy helping of
cheese (and also the fact that its satire was a little too close to
straight imitation). Instead, with TDAT, I found a much darker, more
interesting film with real heart, and a terrific, if frightening
message. The cast all excelled, and characters that seemed destined to
provide the film's mandatory cardboard cynics actually were given a
chance to develop into something with a bit more depth and much more
unexpected realisation.
The story had sufficient pace as to keep me interested from the very
atmospheric opening credits, through to the dark, if hopeful finale. It
dealt with the epic scale of events wonderfully (placing an orbiting
space station into the story with helpless astronaut witnesses was a
brilliant move) but never lost sight of the characters, and as much as
the effects were on par, if not better, than anything I have ever seen,
it is some of the more character based moments that have stayed with
me.
Yet the effects! The tornado sequence in particular, using a mixture of
sweeping camera work, on the ground point of view and news broadcast
footage really gave me a sense that something wild and horrifying was
happening. The scenes showing the ice-covered aftermath were almost
beautiful, if not for the fact of what they meant. I felt an
explanation for why the wall of water appeared, and targeted New York
went begging (unless I missed something), but aside from that I really
lost sight of these images as artificial effects.
I hate to say it, but I wonder if the non-involvement of Emmerich's
long time producing partner Dean Devlin may have contributed to the
fact that TDAT is a significantly higher quality film than ID4,
Godzilla and Stargate.
True, this movie is not going to re-write film lore, or win consistent
praise for its originality or artistic freshness, but I really think
that it is an extremely well made entry into the disaster/action
thriller genre; put together by a team who felt they had a great story
to tell, and top quality skills at hand to do it with.
I understand it has not done as well in the US compared to its
international success, which I think is unfortunate. Among my friends
and family who have seen it here is Australia, all have come out
buzzing with excitement. Even a few friends who normally avoid the
genre have agreed that TDAT is fantastic.
Mr Emmerich, wherever you may be...you're on to something good here!
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