2012

Dir: Roland Emmerich

Starring:John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt

Small time scientist who discovers something that none of the world's experts notices? Check! Scientist gets taken straight to the President as soon as he tells someone his discovery? Check! Father with a failed marriage and career trying to do right by his kids, and whose son doesn't call him 'Dad'? Check. A global peril which destroys lots of famous landmarks in spectacular fashion? Check! A US President who cares for the people more than himself? Check! Someone says, "We're running out of runway!" at some stage of the film? Check! 

This can only mean one thing....A Roland Emmerich film! 

2012 is pretty much the standard level of entertainment that Emmerich seems to deliver each time. We should be grateful that he is a director, as if he wasn't he'd be a real life Bond villain, living in an underground lair and blowing up famous landmarks for real! In 2012, much like he did with Day After Tomorrow, he blends pseudo-science with special effects to deliver a disaster movie that ticks all the cliche boxes, but looks good whilst doing it. This time, the focus is on the prediction of the end of the world in 2012 (according to one of the Mayan calendars at least), and extra activity from the sun has caused the earth's crust to become unstable, resulting in earthquakes, devastation, and the like. Survivors fight to survive, and real a secret rescue plan that the world's governments has in place. 

This isn't a bad film, but at 2 hours and 40 minutes it is a long one, which at times outstays its welcome. WWhen a film repeats a runway takeoff thrill scene, with the ground breaking apart underneath the plane, not once, but twice, you kind of worry about how lazy the writers actually are! Sure, it looks good, but the same basic scene three times? Is that really necessary? Then there are the obligatory continuity errors, but they can be overlooked if you just accept it as popcorn fuelled nonsense. What is kind of jarring, however, is the really misplaced humour in the film. An early scene of disaster, with Cusack and family racing in a limo through an LA landscape that is literally falling apart around them seems so callous at points. We have the japery of the occupant of the car, and the crazy attempts to outrun the destruction, whilst the exteral scenes could be classed as really harrowing, with people toppling to doom from collapsing buildings, cars being crushed, an elderly pair slamming to their deaths into an uprooted crust. The scene lacks the powerful impact it could have had because fo the flippant way it is handled, and the way the threat is placed upon the vehicle over and over to somewhat ridiculous extent. 

This occurrs again and again at various moments of the film, and to be honest seems a bit over-the-top in nature. This is the Armageddon to the Deep Impact, and for those who just want sanitised Hollywood disaster movie, with an attempt at a heart, then it will be pleasing enough. For those who want something a bit meatier, and hard hitting, I suggest waiting for the DVD, and then skipping past any moments with Cusack and crew in it, letting the rest of the film soak you up. 

Overall, nice effects, and some phoned in performances collide to create yet another generic disaster flick that will be forgotten by the time the year in question comes around.