The film's premise - global warming leading to a radical climate shift and a new ice age - has caused scientists worldwide to flinch. Emmerich takes established facts and blows them out of proportion, and it's the exaggeration that has caused the consternation in the scientific community. (Incidentally, the Weather Channel apparently didn't have a problem with this, since their logo is plastered all over the place.) But who expects realism from a movie like this, anyway? The central disaster is just an excuse for the impressive effects work and the paper-thin character development. If it focuses some attention upon a real problem - global warming - then how can that be bad?
Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is a climatologist who has come to the conclusion that the world is fast approaching a new ice age. He estimates that the event will occur in 50 to 100 years - until he hooks up with British scientist Terry Rapson (Ian Holm), whose measurements of plummeting ocean temperatures in the North Atlantic advance and accelerate the time table significantly. Vice President Becker (Kenneth Walsh) ignores Jack's warnings, leaving the country without a plan of defense when disaster happens.
Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is a climatologist who has come to the conclusion that the world is fast approaching a new ice age. He estimates that the event will occur in 50 to 100 years - until he hooks up with British scientist Terry Rapson (Ian Holm), whose measurements of plummeting ocean temperatures in the North Atlantic advance and accelerate the time table significantly. Vice President Becker (Kenneth Walsh) ignores Jack's warnings, leaving the country without a plan of defense when disaster happens.