The Day After Tomorrow WOW!!!!!

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I am a HUGE fan of Roland Emmerich movies. As over the top as they are, they never fail to entertain me. Since I love disaster movies, I was very anxious to see this one since I missed it in the theater. I am sure many of you are familar with the story line.

Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is a meteorological scientist who makes a disturbing discovery. The climates around the globe are changing and he can see the shift toward a new ice age. He tries to warn the US government of the problems which, according to his calculations, would take effect over the course of the next one or two generations when suddenly things seem to accelerate. Within days, strange weather patterns appear and gigantic storms begin wiping out parts of the northern hemisphere. It soon becomes evident that nature has taken matters in her own hands and that within days mankind will be faced with a new ice age.

Video wise this movie has no faults. The picture in clean, razor sharp, with vibrant colors. There is no bleeding of colors, and dynamic contrast between the sheet white snow, and deep blacks is nothing short of amazing. Skin tones are on the money, and the visual depth is terrific. I saw no compression errors, or edge enhancement problems. I was able to notice some things were CGI(the wolves, water, wave) but for the most part everything looked very natural. I think Fox did an excellent job on this transfer.

Sound wise this is a hometheater nuts dream. There is both a 754kbps Dts soundtrack along with a 448kbps Dolby digital soundtrack. Each sounds extremely good, yielding an extremely wide dynamic range and frequency response. It is emmersive with sound effects exploding from every channel(and the same time in some cases). The score is well recorded, with great lateral and depth imaging, and is spread nicely into the surrounds. The sound effects are at times VERY intense and system challenging. There is a great deal of sub 25hz information in the LFE, and front three channels. There is also quite a bit of sub 20hz information if your sub is up to the task. There were times I heard nothing directly from the speakers(in terms of bass) but the floor, air, windows, and walls were shaking as if a 7.0 earthquake was rolling through my room(excellent example of my speakers performance under 20hz)

Comparing the Dts soundtrack to the Dolby Digital one I found some subtle but noticeable differences. The LFE of the Dts soundtrack has more detail and tightness to it. It goes deeper and sounds cleaner. The DD soundtracks bass is somewhat boomy and indistinct at times in comparison. Also the Dts sound images slightly wider, but has a very noticeable deeper and better delinated depth to it. The Dolby soundtrack sounds flat and every so slightly constricted in comparison. Dts soundtrack throws up a huge soundfield that seems to put your right in the center of the action. Effects seems to be nestled nicely within that soundfield, and popped out only when punctuated. The Dolby soundtrack seems to pool around the speakers. I had to listen closely to notice these subtle differences, but clearly Dts is the winning soundtrack here. Both soundtracks deliver a nice solid punch, and are sure to please any avid listener.

I really liked this movie, so Roland when is the next one coming out?