2012 (PG-13: 2009)
Director: Roland Emmerich. Starring: John Cusack … Jackson Curtis; Amanda Peet … Kate Curtis; Chiwetel Ejiofor … Adrian Helmsley; Thandie Newton … Laura Wilson; Oliver Platt … Carl Anheuser; and others. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190080/.
The Epic tale of the forthcoming prophecy/conspiracy theory/claustrophobia belief that based on the Mayan Calendar the world will come to an apocalyptic end on December 21, 2012. I’m a big fan of catastrophe and disaster movies, but this one was a stinker. Mainly because the authors felt they had to re-enact the biblical “flood” as the end of the world. Doesn’t Christianity prophesize that God wouldn’t destroy the world again by “flooding”? Full-blown re-telling with modern-day space-tech “arks” gathering together people, animals, art, flora, fauna, and the world’s treasures. Seriously lame, though the effects were semi-spectacular and visually stunning, but definitely far-fetched and unbelievable. The story is based on findings in 2009 by geologists who determine the Earth’s core’s temperatures were increasing too rapidly. As they inform the White House staff in Washington D.C. and President Thomas Wilson (played by Danny Glover) to figure out what to do. The governments of the world decide to keep it a secret and join efforts to build these life-saving arks with a pre-determined guest list. John Cusack’s character (always a top-notch actor) of Jackson Curtis, while on a camping trip with his kids, discovers the upcoming world end and its a race for survival as they tromp all over the planet, getting out of the brink of disaster in extremely far-fetched unbelievable circumstances. Everyone’s dying and the world is losing its ground … but somehow the family jumps a plane to plane and crash lands in the arctic peaks of China only to yet again have an unbelievable journey to illegally board the arks. That’s ok though because they save the Ark from yet another disaster. Failed plot and scheme. Only worth watching for John Cusack and the disaster fun effects. Rating: 2.75 stars out of 5.