Disaster films and Hollywood have enjoyed a long and successful partnership over the years as box office gold has been found in fictional disasters. Irwin Allen had a string of hits such as “The Towering Inferno” and “The Poseidon Adventure” which in turn lead to the films such as “Dante’s Peak”, “Volcano”, “Deep Impact”, and “Armageddon” who kept the tried and true formula of relatable, regular people forced to cope with extraordinary situations where they must battle against all odds to survive.
 
In the new film “2012” director Roland Emmerich follows up his other end-of-the world epics “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow”, with a story about the total devastation of the earth and all life upon it due to an increase of neutrinos from the sun heating the earth’s core causing the displacement of the Earth’s crust.
Keeping to the established formula of the disaster films, 2012 centers around a struggling writer named Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), who learns of the pending catastrophic events while camping at Yellowstone National Park with his children. The presence of forbidden areas and swarms of soldiers and scientists leads Jackson to believe that the local conspiracy radio host Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), might be right in his predictions that we are all on borrowed time, and that the increase in earthquakes and fissures along the fault lines are a very bad omen.
Unbeknownst to Jackson, and the majority of the world’s population, U.S. President Wilson (Danny Glover), and his fellow heads of state, are preparing for the coming tragedy. Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) and a team of geologists lead by Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetal Ojiofore) are trying to determine exactly how much time they have to save what they can of humanity. Unaware that the fate of mankind is being decided by the politicians and those with money, Jackson and his children soon find themselves rushing to stay alive, with his ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet), and her boyfriend in tow. Jackson learns of a plan to save select members of the population and pins their very survival on being able to arrive at what they hope is their salvation before time runs out.
 
Spectacular effects follow as Los Angeles and other cities are swallowed up by massive sinkholes and buried under collapsing bridges and buildings in some of the most amazing sequences of mayhem and destruction ever captured on film. The movie does an amazing job of showing the absolute calamity and chaos and does a passable job with the relationships between the characters. There are some nice supporting performances from Thandie Newton and George Segal. It is just a shame they were not given a bit more to work with. The cookie cutter scenarios that many characters faced seem to have been lifted from the book of disaster film plots.
I did not go into the film expecting realism, as I fully expect the world will go on as normal on December 22, 2012. However, I did have to note some of the absurd developments that strained any semblance of credibility the film may have had. One such scene had the characters being flooded and trapped for an extended period of time by water. Since their locale was near Mt Everest, I had to assume that it was not warm spring water they were submerged in, and had to wonder if hypothermia just went the way of most of the human populace.
Then again, we were dealing with a heated core that was essentially melting the earth’s crust. So maybe the water was warm.
 
As with all disaster movies, I do have to remember the audience is asked to suspend all disbelief, at least for 160 minutes. While the film does take some vast leaps of logic, there is enough good action, special effects, and strained levity to make this a good distraction, as long as you are willing to check your brain at the door and just enjoy the ride.
3 stars out of 5

Mankind surely is ahead of it's time making falsified movies about our demise.

 

Ohhhh the Mayans predicted it....
 
 
Right.... take advice from people who couldn't forsee their own total annihilation....
 
Good game that.

is the cgi average?

The scary thing about this movie is people are going to believe this is what will happen in 2012.

calis


The scary thing about this movie is people are going to believe this is what will happen in 2012.

 
Yeah Im staying inside until all the crazies knock em'selves off.
 
 

the movie was meh

awesome cgi destruction

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE CHARACTERS

seriously every character was so one dimensional and a huge cliche.

woody harrelson had the only good character.

and was it necessary to have a main character killed off by having him torn to shreds by gears?

silverchode


is the cgi average?

Very average.

You know what this movie would be awesome for though? A motion master. You know, those things where you're strapped in seats in front of a huge screen and the whole thing moves to match the action. Numerous times I looked at the moment and wanted it so badly.

thedisagreefairy


the movie was meh

awesome cgi destruction

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE CHARACTERS

seriously every character was so one dimensional and a huge cliche.

woody harrelson had the only good character.

and was it necessary to have a main character killed off by having him torn to shreds by gears?

Wow thanks, I really wanted to know that before having seen this movie.  Good job. 

dont listen to teh disagree fairy. this is a perfect disaster film much better than the day after tomorrow

thedisagreefairy


the movie was meh

awesome cgi destruction

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE CHARACTERS

seriously every character was so one dimensional and a huge cliche.

Sounds just like The Day After Tomorrow.

As for Woody Harrelson, no doubt he was better in Zombieland.

- The Corrupt -

thedisagreefairy


the movie was meh

awesome cgi destruction

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE CHARACTERS

seriously every character was so one dimensional and a huge cliche.

Sounds just like The Day After Tomorrow.

As for Woody Harrelson, no doubt he was better in Zombieland.

i actually didnt like that movie much either. (the day after tomorrow i mean, zombieland kicked ass)

i like apocalypse movies usually though as long as they have good characters (independence day, the road warrior, etc)

like i said though. the movie wasnt bad because the destruction kicked ass. idk...if you are going to make a 3 hour movie, you might as well make the characters more likable or more "human"

like when they escape from a cataclysmic event they almost died in, they werent even panicked and were completely calm. is it hard to make the characters respond realistically to whats going on?

well i'm not so worried about the whole ending of the world thing of 2012 but i mean really it's just a movie and just relax enjoy it b/c u'll love the action and if u remember The Day After Tomorrow...that was another good "end of the world" movie

(*The Xbox 360, it will melt through your floor*)

B Man

thedisagreefairy


the movie was meh

awesome cgi destruction

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE CHARACTERS

seriously every character was so one dimensional and a huge cliche.

woody harrelson had the only good character.

and was it necessary to have a main character killed off by having him torn to shreds by gears?

Wow thanks, I really wanted to know that before having seen this movie.  Good job. 

You actually wanted to watch this piece of **** movie?  B Man, I hold you to higher standards. 

"The only reason you're still conscious is because I don't want to carry you."

JackBauerIsHIGH

B Man

thedisagreefairy


the movie was meh

awesome cgi destruction

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE CHARACTERS

seriously every character was so one dimensional and a huge cliche.

woody harrelson had the only good character.

and was it necessary to have a main character killed off by having him torn to shreds by gears?

Wow thanks, I really wanted to know that before having seen this movie.  Good job. 

You actually wanted to watch this piece of **** movie?  B Man, I hold you to higher standards. 

What can I say, I'm a sucker for good CGI.

- The Corrupt -

thedisagreefairy


the movie was meh

awesome cgi destruction

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE CHARACTERS

seriously every character was so one dimensional and a huge cliche.

Sounds just like The Day After Tomorrow.

As for Woody Harrelson, no doubt he was better in Zombieland.

Woody harrleson made zombieland imo. "looks like you can use a little off the top big boy" lmao

 

B Man
What can I say, I'm a sucker for good CGI.

Trust me on this one, it's not good CGI

What the hell is all this hate for the film about, it was great.
Some of the best CGI ever, good acting (lots of it used green screen so give em a break) and a good story.
I though the film was going to just be about amazing cgi but then a crap story but it had a really good storyline aswel.
Its definatly somewhere in my favorite films

calis


The scary thing about this movie is people are going to believe this is what will happen in 2012.

The funny thing is...well they recalculated the date and its 2220 L O L.

there goes your 2012.

[It is not so much that I give a damn about corporations, but the amount of garbage being spewed is just ridiculous] ~Arius Dion

walker01


What the hell is all this hate for the film about, it was great.
Some of the best CGI ever, good acting (lots of it used green screen so give em a break) and a good story.
I though the film was going to just be about amazing cgi but then a crap story but it had a really good storyline aswel.
Its definatly somewhere in my favorite films

That low-res trailer makes it look alot better than when it's displayed on the full screen. It reaches the very pit of the uncanny valley at points, but some parts are just bad. I thought the story was average at best. Perhaps it was the flaws in the technobabble that made me lose interest, but I just couldn't get into it. It may have even been the fact that the whole thing is a rather silly concept that made me go in with a negative view mof the story, but my views have nothing to do with the quality of the CGI. Some is good, most is bad.