Starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejifor, Oliver Platt
Director Roland Emmerich
Released 2009
Plot A man tries to save his family from a global apocalypse in 2012, which was predicted by Nostradamus and the Mayans.
Plot A man tries to save his family from a global apocalypse in 2012, which was predicted by Nostradamus and the Mayans.
Well here we go again. Roland Emmerich presumably is due a mortgage repayment, so once again we are treated to an epic tale of death, destruction and the end of the world as we know it. Let's face it: this chap has found a formula, and by Jove he's sticking to it.
That's not to say that it isn't somewhat comforting to go to a cinema and know exactly what you're going to get. Here is a film where you can show up, buy popcorn, watch the carnage and go home exhausted but satisfied, if not downright grateful for not having, as yet, succumbed to a tsunami or some such.
There will be no major plot twists. There will be varying natural disasters. The Hero (usually an anti-Hero) will always survive until the end in the face of tremendous adversity. He will always get the girl. There will be several deep and meaningful speeches/reflective moments about the importance of humanity and our survival. And, of course, we the audience will be treated to a series of budget-breaking special effects in which we can witness our own destruction, amidst that of our famous landmarks. I, for one, always look forward to the moment when the Statue of Liberty gets drowned/burnt/buried (delete as appropriate).
Which brings me, in fact, to my next point. This film is refreshing in one respect: it doesn't focus on the end of the world as per the end of America. It shows, at last, that Emmerich has been informed that there are other countries in the world, and that maybe for our money we may want to see some other historically significant structures obliterated by a natural disaster as well.
Alas, I do have to hold the scriptwriters to account on one very serious level though - how many times can a plane take off, under the care of a novice pilot, with the runway crumbling behind it? How many times can you show a boat of some kind being enveloped by a tidal wave? Just because you have spent all your money on albeit very pretty special effects, doesn't mean that we won't notice that you've basically just done the same scene three times in a row.
However, whilst battling calamity, the cast did fairly well in a script filled with highly improbable situations. I have time for a quality actor like John Cusack who can still make you genuinely smile in the midst of apparent Armageddon. They could so easily have fallen into the trap of the stereotypical often two-dimensional characters the script was offering them, yet they didn't.
All in all, this was a real crowd-pleaser. It did what it said on the tin, and I didn't begrudge the cost of a cinema ticket to go see it. In fact, this, as with most Emmerich creations, is best seen on the big screen and that's that. So go, enjoy, and don't forget your lifebelt.
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