Jake Gyllenhaal: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. Sam Hall - The Day After Tomorrow

The human stars of Roland Emmerich movies don't matter a jot. The marketing materials for the likes of 2012 don't feature any of the cream of tinsel town talent he's somehow (with money) coaxed into appearing in his latest piece of disaster porn, it's the disaster porn itself: thus The Day After Tomorrow didn't place its young star Jake Gyllenhaal front and centre, but focussed on familiar landmarks like the New York skyline and the Statue Of Liberty completely frozen by a new Ice Age. In which case you can't really blame Gyllenhaal for being eminently forgettable in the part of Sam, plucky son of Dennis Quaid's Professor Jack Hall who is the scientist called upon to explain why global warm is not only more real than Fox News made out, but why it's so p*ssed. He doesn't have a whole lot to do but hang out in a library, show concern for Emmy Rossum, and deliver exposition in the least cringe-inducing way possible. He doesn't quite succeed but, Jesus, does anyone?