---
title: "The Day After Tomorrow"
year: 2004
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-day-after-tomorrow"
fi1m_id: "the-day-after-tomorrow"
imdb_id: "tt0319262"
tmdb_id: 435
wikidata_id: "Q14320"
fi1m_score: 57
critics_score: 56
critics_reviews: 18
published: "2026-09-22T21:53:22.923692+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-22T21:53:35.477624+00:00"
region: "BE"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Directed by Roland Emmerich · 2h 04m · Kijkwijzer 16 · Science Fiction, Thriller, Adventure

## Identity

The Day After Tomorrow

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-day-after-tomorrow
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-day-after-tomorrow
- **IMDb ID:** tt0319262
- **TMDB ID:** 435
- **Wikidata ID:** Q14320
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319262/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/435, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14320

**Fi1m score: 57** · Critics 56 from 18 reviews

*In a sentence:* Tornadoes flatten Los Angeles, the sea comes up Fifth Avenue, and still nobody has anything to say

> Roland Emmerich’s disaster film freezes the northern hemisphere in a week, and for an hour the destruction is frightening enough to forgive the writing. Then the weather settles, the people start talking, and there is not much left to watch.

## Synopsis

Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is a climatologist drilling ice cores on an Antarctic shelf when the ice splits open beneath his camp. At a conference in New Delhi he warns that melting polar ice could shut down the North Atlantic current and bring on a new ice age; Vice President Becker (Kenneth Welsh) tells him the economy cannot afford his theory. In Scotland, the oceanographer Terry Rapson (Ian Holm) watches his buoys record the sea temperature falling. Jack’s son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) flies to New York for a school quiz competition alongside Laura Chapman (Emmy Rossum). Then hail the size of grapefruit falls on Tokyo, tornadoes tear through Los Angeles, and a storm the width of a continent forms over the Atlantic, with New York in its path.

## Review

Roland Emmerich has already blown up the White House with a spaceship and marched a lizard through Manhattan. For *The Day After Tomorrow* he needs nothing from outer space; the weather will do. Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is a climatologist drilling ice cores in Antarctica when the shelf splits under his camp. He tells a conference of delegates that the melting ice will shut down the ocean currents and freeze the north, and Vice President Becker (Kenneth Welsh) tells him the economy comes first. Within a week the currents stop. The film’s point is that Jack was right, and it makes the point for 124 minutes.

For its first hour it is a frightening film, and the fright is earned by pictures. Hail comes through the windscreens in Tokyo. Three or four tornadoes cross Los Angeles at once, filmed by Ueli Steiger in ordinary afternoon light rather than storm-dark, which makes them look like something that could happen on a Tuesday. Then the sea arrives in New York, a wall of grey water moving between the buildings at about walking pace, faster than the people, and Steiger holds the shot long enough for us to count the taxis it picks up. David Brenner cuts between the three cities and the two Halls without losing us. Harald Kloser’s score swells where you expect, but under the flood he pulls it back and lets the water make the noise.

We had seen the trailer and knew the water was coming, and it still got us. We were properly frightened, gripping the arm of the chair while cars went past the windows of a second floor. Forty minutes later Quaid was walking through snow and we were bored, and then cross about it, because a film that can frighten us that well ought to have somewhere to put the fear afterwards. This one puts it down and starts talking.

The talking is the trouble. Emmerich and Jeffrey Nachmanoff have written a script in which nearly every scene is a briefing, and the person being briefed is usually Becker, who exists to be wrong so that Quaid can be right at him. Quaid does the square-jawed decent father; he has nothing else to do. Jake Gyllenhaal, as his son Sam, spends the film looking damp and apologetic, and his courtship of Emmy Rossum’s Laura Chapman is conducted in whispers in a public library. Sela Ward, as Sam’s mother Lucy, a doctor, is given a sick child to sit beside and a telephone to hold. Ian Holm is the one who gets out clean. As Terry Rapson, the Scottish oceanographer watching his buoys go cold with Adrian Lester’s Simon beside him, he talks like a person, and the film’s one quiet scene belongs to him.

Barry Chusid’s sets do more storytelling than the dialogue. Rapson’s weather station is a cramped room of monitors and cardigans, and the library reading room becomes a camp of desks and burning books. The second half lives in these rooms and on a long walk north, and once the storm has settled into a steady white there is nothing left for the camera to do. Emmerich fills the gap with a lecture about the climate that arrives with the subtlety of the hail, and one dry joke about who ends up crossing which border, which comes late and which we will leave where it is.

The old disaster films knew the trick. [*The Towering Inferno*](https://film.one/film/the-towering-inferno) (1974) had one building and thirty stars, and it kept the stars in the building. Emmerich has a hemisphere and half a dozen thin people, and he sends them off in different directions, so that by the end we are watching a man in a parka and hoping for another tornado. [*Independence Day*](https://film.one/film/independence-day) (1996) knew it was silly and enjoyed it. This one thinks it is serious, and the seriousness is where the enjoyment leaks out.

Watch the first hour with the sound up and the curtains drawn. How long you stay for the second depends on how much you like snow. It carries a 12 and runs 124 minutes, about half of which are weather.

*Fi1m score 57, published 22 September 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is The Day After Tomorrow worth watching?**

*The Day After Tomorrow* is worth watching for its first hour of tornadoes and flood, and we scored it 57. Once the storm settles into steady snow the film becomes a run of briefings and a long walk north, with Dennis Quaid given nothing to do but be right. Watch the destruction with the sound up; how long you stay after that depends on how much you like snow.

**How long is The Day After Tomorrow, and what is it rated?**

*The Day After Tomorrow* runs 2h 04m and is rated 16 by the Kijkwijzer in Belgium. It is a science fiction and thriller film.

**Where can I watch The Day After Tomorrow in Belgium?**

*The Day After Tomorrow* is streaming on Disney+ in Belgium, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from €3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is The Day After Tomorrow, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Day After Tomorrow* carries a 12A in the UK and is frightening for its first hour rather than violent. The fear comes from scale: hail through windscreens, tornadoes across Los Angeles in daylight, and a wall of grey water moving up the streets of New York with taxis in it. Older children who can take a city drowning should be fine; younger or nervous ones may find the flood too much.

**How does The Day After Tomorrow compare to Take Shelter?**

*The Day After Tomorrow* is the louder film and [*Take Shelter*](https://film.one/film/take-shelter) the more frightening one. Emmerich freezes a hemisphere and fills the second half with lectures; Jeff Nichols keeps his storm inside one man's head and lets Michael Shannon carry the dread, though the slow pacing sometimes gives us too long with a fear we already understand. Choose Emmerich for spectacle and Nichols for a film that stays with you.

### Reviews we read (18)

- **Empire**, Colin Kennedy (80/100, inferred): The critic calls it arguably Emmerich's best film, praising its focus on the disaster genre and three standout sequences of destruction (LA tornados, New York flooding, and superfreeze) that showcase his flair for spectacle with a chilling subtext. He notes it sustains interest better than prior works despite some clichés. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/day-tomorrow-review/)
- **Radio Times**, Sloan Freer (4/5): This is praised as a jaw-dropping spectacle that surpasses Emmerich's earlier films, delivering thrilling weather effects and entertainment value despite cheesy dialogue and melodramatic performances. The focus on global warming and superstorms makes it a cautionary tale worth the Hollywood excess. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-e83nwu/the-day-after-tomorrow/)
- **The Telegraph**, Tim Robey (80/100, inferred): The film is both sillier and more enjoyable than Emmerich's prior works, with gleeful political satire and special effects that reach a high-water mark, especially the icy Manhattan transformation. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3617865/Its-a-new-Ice-Age-cool.html)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the movie profoundly silly but also very scary due to its awesome special effects, which make it work despite cornball plotting. He singles out the stupendous effects and amusing moments like Americans becoming illegal immigrants in Mexico. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-day-after-tomorrow-2004)
- **Screen Daily** (75/100, inferred): The film is called a superior blockbuster that delivers visceral thrills and spectacle through Emmerich's B-movie style, with gleeful unreality in its effects. It praises the fun diversion and strong box-office potential while noting the formulaic plot holes. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/the-day-after-tomorrow/4018799.article)
- **The Times**, Cosmo Landesman (70/100, inferred): The special effects are genuinely impressive and deliver the disaster spectacle well, but the human drama and characters lack depth and emotional impact. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/film-these-special-effects-are-really-wizard-62gk3mhh0wv)
- **The New York Times**, A. O. Scott (65/100, inferred): The critic views it as an entertaining disaster movie in the tradition of 1970s calamity films, most engaging when it acknowledges its own swaggering cheesiness. He singles out the lead performance by Dennis Quaid for walking credibly in the footsteps of classic action heroes. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/movies/film-review-smart-hero-dumb-officials-huge-sheet-of-ice.html)
- **Time Out**, TJ (65/100, inferred): The critic finds Emmerich's disaster spectacle entertaining in its over-the-top destruction of New York and other cities, grounded loosely in climate warnings. While acknowledging the cheesy elements and lack of real thrills, it notes a cautionary note about environmental policy. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-day-after-tomorrow)
- **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (60/100, inferred): The critic finds it a disarmingly pulpy, eye-popping disaster movie in the first half but an increasingly dull survival melodrama in the second. He singles out the spectacular special effects depicting devastation in New York and Los Angeles. [Read](https://variety.com/2004/film/markets-festivals/the-day-after-tomorrow-3-1200533149/)
- **The Independent**, Nicholas Barber (50/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's outstanding destruction sequences, such as an ice storm in Tokyo and an ocean liner in flooded Manhattan streets. However, the review faults the thin plot and weak character moments between the set pieces. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban-pg-the-day-after-tomorrow-12a-565367.html)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Manohla Dargis (40/100, inferred): The critic notes the funereal, sober tone unlike Emmerich's previous gleeful destructions and finds it less fun because viewers can imagine themselves in the peril. She singles out the impressive digital destruction of New York for its eerie, mesmerizing force. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-may-28-et-dargis28-story.html)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the special effects spectacular but is overwhelmed by terrible dialogue, insincere environmental waffle and poor acting, feeling the silliness and boredom close in. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,,1225934,00.html)
- **The AV Club**, Keith Phipps (35/100, inferred): The film carries on Emmerich's tradition of not being particularly good, with slack storytelling and watered-down Spielbergisms, though its talent for stretching a simple concept remains impressive. After the initial disaster spectacle, it becomes the dull kind of bad, running out of tricks once the freeze sets in. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-day-after-tomorrow-1798199640)
- **Slant Magazine** (25/100, inferred): The stolid disaster flick saddles its spectacle with an election-year political message about environmental mishandling but remains too beholden to action-movie quotas and clichéd human drama to succeed. Mother Nature may be a bitch, but another Ice Age would at least put this sermonizing blockbuster filmmaking on deep freeze. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-day-after-tomorrow/)
- **Evening Standard**, Will Self (20/100, inferred): The critic dismisses the film as a 'write-off' and 'behemoth of twaddle,' arguing it fails as a disaster movie due to weak casting, simplistic storytelling, and self-deluding environmental messaging that promotes more consumption. He notes the impressive effects but finds the overall execution unconvincing. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/a-disastrous-writeoff-7380979.html)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (20/100, inferred): The critic calls the film irretrievably poor, a shambles of dud writing and dramatic inconsequence. He singles out the nerve of its puffed-up ecological pride and the way it lectures viewers while offering spectacle. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/06/07/cold-comfort-4)
- **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (77/100, inferred): The critic says that if accepted as science fantasy adventure rather than serious speculative fiction, the film stands up surprisingly well. It is well cast, edited and storyboarded, not slow, with a vein of humour that helps forgive inconsistencies, and provides passable entertainment for its genre. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-day-after-tomorrow-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)
- **Den of Geek**, Simon Brew (3/5): The critic finds the film itself a little ropey but good, dumbass fun when the spectacle kicks in. The Blu-ray transfer and lossless audio are singled out as excellent. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-day-after-tomorrow-blu-ray-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Roland Emmerich
- **Director:** Roland Emmerich
- **Screenplay:** Jeffrey Nachmanoff, Roland Emmerich
- **Story:** Roland Emmerich
- **Cinematography:** Ueli Steiger
- **Editor:** David Brenner
- **Music:** Harald Kloser
- **Production design:** Barry Chusid
- **Producer:** Mark Gordon, Roland Emmerich
- **Cast:** Dennis Quaid as Jack Hall; Jake Gyllenhaal as Sam Hall; Ian Holm as Terry Rapson; Emmy Rossum as Laura Chapman; Sela Ward as Dr. Lucy Hall; Dash Mihok as Jason Evans; Kenneth Welsh as Vice President Becker; Jay O. Sanders as Frank Harris
- **Runtime:** 2h 04m
- **Certificate (Kijkwijzer):** 16
- **Release (Belgium):** 26 May 2004
- **Genres:** Science Fiction, Thriller, Adventure
- **Budget:** $125 million
- **Box office:** $553 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUBDFoMNXzA

## Where to watch in Belgium

- Disney+: streaming, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent €3.99, hd
- Apple TV: rent €3.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy €9.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy €9.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-22.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Poseidon Adventure* (1972): One upturned ship, a dozen stars, and nobody stops to lecture anyone.
- *Twister* (1996): The tornadoes are the whole film, and the film is honest about it.
- *Take Shelter* (2011), Fi1m 83: A storm that may only be in one man’s head, and far more frightening. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/take-shelter.md)
- *The Impossible* (2012): A real wave, a real family, and the water shot from inside it.
- *The Wandering Earth* (2019): China freezes the planet on purpose and has more fun doing it.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-day-after-tomorrow