A Different Day After Tomorrow
Environmentalist, Thom Archer (Richard Roxburgh - Sanctum) is sure that the Halo corporation, owned by Anthony Kavanagh (Sam Neill - The Hunter), are damaging the Greenland Glacier with their drilling operation, trouble is he can't prove it. But when a colleague discovers some thing Thom returns to Greenland whilst his wife, Jacqueline (Claire Forlani - Carolina Moon), and daughter, Milly (Brooke Williams), head to England to be with his father, Stephan (Ben Cross), for Milly's birthday. With Kavanagh willing to do anything to prevent Thom from getting his operation closed down it ends up being all too late as a sudden increase in melting ice causes a new ice age which quickly plummets the whole of the UK into disarray with many dead, scavengers willing to kill and Thom desperately trying to return to find and save his family.
"Ice 2020" was originally a two part mini-series and you can clearly see not only the influence of big screen disaster movies but that it was two parts when you watch it as one. For the first 90 minutes it is all about Thom trying to prove the Halo corporation is destroying the ice in Greenland but of course having to contend with the despicable mind of a CEO who cares more about the money than the environment. In some ways this 90 minute intro which has drama, skulduggery and climaxes with the destruction kicking off and Thom trying to escape is entertaining but it goes on far too long.
The second half of course sees Thom trying to make it back to England to rescue his family and this is where "Ice 2020" is a little bit more interesting as whilst it is incredibly similar to "The Day After Tomorrow" we also have a couple of extra elements. One of those is the suggestion that in a new ice age there would be groups of survivors willing to kill as they scavenge for food and equipment. The other thing is that "Ice 2020" is set in the future and Britain has extremely tight border controls with those who are illegal immigrants being taken away and that comes in to play with Thom's wife being arrested for not having up to date papers.
The thing is that whilst "Ice 2020" has some nice ideas and attempts to bring some Roland Emmerich style disaster to the small screen it does start to get a little ridiculous. Now am I the first to remind people science fiction is called that for a reason but the fiction elements in "Ice 2020" are too much from exploding elevator shafts to planes flying through freezing conditions as well as the speed of developments you really have to forget the science part and just enjoy the disaster movie entertainment. In truth that isn't always that easy when you have some corny dialogue and cornier acting going on.
What this all boils down to is that ultimately "Ice 2020" is pretty ridiculous even when you watch it for entertainment value. But in the midst of some major nonsense it has some nice ideas and even some nice special effects, better than what you normally get from a made for TV disaster movie.
