A trip of guilty pleasure. You laugh at the lack of scientific fact,and the impossibility of the stunts, and yet you cannot look away. Forget drama, for there is not much surprise here beside the anguish of seeing our world destroyed. If you are into simply watching visual effects and action sequences that can render you speechless, this is your movie. Therein lies the greatest strength of this movie and also its greatest disappointment.
The movie is VERY LOSELY based on the mayan long count calendar. The Mayan documents do not include such a date, but they do mention star alignments and signs which happen to be on the same day the Mayan calendar expires. The movie doesn't dwell on the Mayan theory.
American geologist Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his friend Satnam discover that neutrinos from a massive solar flare have penetrated the Earth. Helmsley returns to inform the authorities of how this will result in cataclysmic events that will end the world. The rest of the world then decides to take action to ensure the survival of the human race.
As quakes on the west coast intensify, cracks appear on the ground and fumes are appearing in the Yellowstone Park where Jackson Curtis (played by John Cusack) is taking his children on a camping trip. Enter Chairlie Forst, a conspiracy theorist, who tells Curtis about the disappearance of the world's scientific leaders and speculates that there might be a cover-up.
They did not spare resources on the production of this film. There were 522 people on the visual effects team. They all deserve applause. The casting was exceptional. But Roland Emmerich, though an exceptional director, should have relinquished the reins as a writer, or at least paired with someone other than TV Veteran Harald Kloser (2004 AVP:Alien vs Predator, 1995 the OJ Simpson Story).
Roland Emmerich is a directing genius. He brought us ID4 (1996) and Godzilla (1998). I am not bashing his writing skills. The last time he directed a major motion picture without being the writer, he delivered The Patriot (2000). The dramatic success of this movie could have been much greater had the producers contemplated rewriting some of the story.
To their credit they did not spare on casting. Quiet force Henry O plays Lama Rinpoche, teaching life lessons from the Tibetian heights. Elizabeth Richards, known as the international Queen Elizabeth II look-alike, is here as well. Chiwetel Ejiofor (Endgame (2009), American Gangster (2007), and Amistad (1997)) stole the show as Adam Helmsley. A quiet presence from legendary Chinese actors Lisa Lu and (of course) Chang Tseng give an epic aura to 2012. Few can resist the British actress Thandie Newton. Someone please give her a lead role in a drama and watch her take over.
In 2012, Danny Glover plays an American President and a father worthy of the great cinematic presidents of the past. Woody Harrelson is on a roll this year, performing in Zombieland, the Messenger, Defender, and Bunraku. The rest of the cast includes other greats such as John Cusack, Amanda Peet, George Segal, and upcoming greats Liam James, Morgan Lily.
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TAGS
2012, Mayan, Danny Glover, Woody Harrelson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Cusack, end of the world |
