2012
2012 (12)
D: Roland Emmerich
Columbia (Harald Kloser, Mark Gordon & Larry J.
Franco)
US 2009
158 mins
Science Fiction/Adventure
W: Roland Emmerich & Harald Kloser
DP: Dean Semler
Ed: David Brenner & Peter S. Elliott
Mus: Harald Kloser
John Cusack (Jackson Curtis), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Adrian
Helmsley), Amanda Peet (Kate Curtis), Danny Glover (Thomas Wilson), Thandie Newton (Laura Wilson), Woody Harrelson (Charlie Frost)
It was a risky choice for Roland Emmerich to direct another
new age disaster film which prophecies events so close to the film's release date, and though it tapped into a market, this special effects extravaganza dated itself within three
years.
Using the theory that the world would end in December 2012,
Emmerich uses the same mould from The Day After Tomorrow (qv), throws in far too many soap opera characters and allows expensive visual effects to tell the story instead, as a series of
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis lay the planet to waste as a small group of survivors seek refuge while a corrupt politician only seems interested in saving his own
backside.
Though the CGI effects are often impressive, the set pieces
follow the exact same blueprint over and over and over until its underwhelming climax.
5/10
