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BY PETER KEOUGH
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Experts have scoffed at its scientific validity, but for me the most unbelievable suggestion in Roland Emmerich’s environmental disaster blockbuster is that Dick Cheney might actually apologize for something. Cheney look-alike Kenneth Becker plays Vice President Becker, and he brings to mind September 11 Commission revelations when he brusquely blows off palæoclimatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), who has warned him that global warming is shutting down the Gulf Stream, ushering in a new Ice Age, and worse. When the mega-tornadoes lay waste to Los Angeles and a tsunami washes over the Statue of Liberty, Becker has second thoughts — too late, of course, to stop the monumental CGI shitstorm Emmerich gleefully orchestrates. It’s like every disaster movie wrapped into one, laying waste to all the landmarks left standing after Emmerich’s Independence Day. Not 10 minutes pass without an image springing up with the spectacular surreality of the climactic scene from Planet of the Apes. And for those who find the human interest dwarfed, like the characters, by the effects, Emmerich tags on a father-son reconciliation subplot in which Hall searches for his son (Jake Gyllenhaal), who’s snowbound in the New York Public Library. An impressive version of the Apocalypse, but this film is not so much a prophecy about tomorrow as it is a reminder of disasters past. The scariest, funniest moment comes when the feckless president turns to his veep and asks, "What do you think?" At the Flagship, Holiday, Providence Place 16, and Showcase cinemas. (124 minutes)
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