2012
(2009)

Starring: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures

It’s the end of the world! And who better to be at the helm than Roland Emmerich, famous for his large-scale-destruction streak? After all, this is the man who brought us Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998) and the Day After Tomorrow (2004). Emmerich’s student film Das Arche Noah Prinzip (The Noah’s Ark Principle) about a weather-controlling satellite that creates mass floodings, was one of the most expensive student films in German history, and Emmerich himself acknowledges that 2012 owes a lot to this early work.

In 2009, the sun emits the largest solar flare in recorded history, and American scientist Adrian Helmsley (Ejiofor) discovers that the earth’s core temperature is rapidly increasing and that a global disaster is impending. He alerts the Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) who appoints him as an advisor as the world’s governments make secret plans for how to deal with the impending doom.

Fast-forward to 2012-Jackson Curtis (Cusack) is a divorced writer and limousine driver who takes his kids on a camping trip to Yellowstone. However, he discovers the park swarming with military personnel, and sees that a lake that he and ex-wife Kate (Peet) used to visit is completely dried up. Curtis meets end-of-the-world conspiracy theorist Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson). Enormous surface cracks and disruptive earthquakes, coupled with the government’s assurance that all is under control, further convince Curtis that something is not right.

From here on out, the hell that we came to the theatre to see breaks loose, as Curtis struggles to save his family from a myriad of destructive phenomena. Los Angeles sinks into the Pacific Ocean, Las Vegas collapses, St. Peter’s Basillica falls on praying masses, Yellowstone itself turns into a supervolcano, the earth’s poles shift such that the south pole is now Wisconsin and a tsunami sweeps an aircraft carrier into the White House, crushing it. I must admit, that last one is one of the most creative ways the presidential residence has been destroyed onscreen.

The ensemble cast put in gnerally strong performances and you could mistakenly think you were watching some kind of tour de force drama from the cast list. Cusack is not the first name that immediately comes to mind when one thinks “apocalyptic blockbuster”, but for that exact reason he works well as the harried everyman faced with–literally-the end of the world. He and Amanda Peet make a decent divorced couple, and the two are assisted by competent child actors Lily Morgan and Liam James.

Woody Harrelson clearly relishes his chance to go over-the-top as the prophet of doom who is actually right, and Chiwetel Ejiotor comes off as fairly intellectual as he wades through the psuedo-science as Dr Helmsley. Oliver Platt does a good job at making himself unlikeable as the amoral Anheuser and the dignified Danny Glover is believeable as the self-sacrificial president of the United States, especially now that we really have an African-American president in office.

Thandie Newton as the first daughter, Thomas McCarthy as Gordon, Kate’s current boyfriend, Zlatko Buric as a Russian billionaire, Beatrice Rosen as his girlfriend, Johann Urb as their pilot, Jimi Mistry as Helmsley’s Indian associate and Singapore’s very own Chin Han as a Tibetian ship-welder round out the cast.

With that many names however, the film finds itself spread too thin trying to tell everyone’s stories and cover all the bases at times, so despite multiple attempts at depth, several characters are still left out in the cold. However, credit has to be given to the writers who have created more than a semblance of a plot, even if it isn’t the best possible plot by a long shot.

But who are we kidding, nobody wants to see 2012 for the performances. At least, not for the performances alone. True to its promise, the film delivers some awe-inspiring visuals and the spectacular sweeping shots of utter destruction are a sensory feast. As is the staple in disaster movies, iconic landmarks get knocked over as if by a gleefully sadistic child. Not only that, entire cities go under in a matter of minutes. One particularly heart-thumping sequence involves Jackson and his family in a limousine outrunning collapsing buildings and uprooted roads as Los Angeles meets its doom. That scene is the epitome of the big-budget disaster movie and paves the way for more destruction as the film runs on.

However, the film running on is a bit of a problem. At 157 minutes, 2012 is way too long by half. The first half-hour or so of the film is spent on mostly redundant setup and psuedo-scientific explanations, so it is a while before anything gets properly destroyed. I would have rather the movie jumped straight into the action and blow us away with a terrific opening sequence.

In the end, 2012‘s greatest strength is that, unlike the Himalayan mountains it depicts, it doesn’t get drowned in the visual effects and it doesn’t deteriorate into a mind-numbing epilepsy-inducing lightshow. It’s as blockbustery and disastery as blockbuster disaster movies get, and it is a popcorn-munching thrill-ride. However, thanks to strong performances and truly impressive visuals, it rises slightly above being just another empty, big-budget Hollywood vehicle. Slightly.

RATING: 3/5 STARS