For almost a decade and a half, director Roland Emmerich has been intent on destroying parts of the world and causing general chaos amongst its inhabitants. To facilitate this he has made full use of the special effects available, whether it be the giant lizard in Godzilla (1998), the flooding of New York in The Day After Tomorrow, or the destruction of the White House in Independence Day, his best film to date. However, not content with what's done so far, Mr. Emmerich has targeted the entire world and made 2012, using a Mayan doomsday prophecy as the basis - or perhaps excuse - to reek havoc on Earth once more.
And as hard as it may be to imagine, especially if you've seen Emmerich's previous work, the man has outdone himself in terms of scale of destruction and the visual effects which make it all believable (if that word can be used to describe an Emmerich movie). The film is all about, for its whopping 158-minute runtime, causing as much destruction as possible on a worldwide scale. And for that it achieves its primary goal. However, there's never anything different to the film than that, not really, and because of that it gets boring by the time we get to the fifth or sixth visual effects-laden destruction scene, and watching our hero, played by John Cusack, and his family narrowly escaping death gets more than a little bit repetitive and tiring.
The story is simple: a Mayan prophecy predicts that the end - or rather, destruction - of the world will happen in the year 2012. The government prepare for the worst, keeping that a secret from the public until "the time is right." Finally we land at the dreaded titular year, and things start to go very bad for humanity. Sea levels rise, floods are abound, earthquakes appear left, right and centre, building collapse, volcanoes erupt and you can add every other type of disaster you can think of to that list. We specifically follow Cusack's Jackson Curtis (something to be noted: switch those two names around and you have the real name of rapper 50 Cent - on purpose or just a coincidence?) and his family as they try to flee and evade disaster at every interval.
Article comments
1 - Shazan
I still cant wait to see this. Although you say "since" Independence Day, I found that wasnt very strong either. All of his films are fun up to about half way. ID fades after the destruction, Will Smith doing Will Smith got boring, Godzilla was the same, and after the flooding (except maybe the ice) DAT got boring too. This will probably be the same, but what can I say, I am a sucker for disaster movies.
2 - Dyd
I saw last night the movie, and its really cool. i think it desives, many congrats:)
There are some funny moments in dialogues and lots of special effects.
3 - Rudy
This movie was extremely dissapointing. The special effects were good but not great. Special effects do not make a movie though. John Cusak is not a very convincing hero. He is just not believable. The story was very cheesy and the acting was horrible. Is there evr going to be a disaster movie that has it all?? I have high hopes for a good story and incredible acting in the upcoming movie "The Road". Pleas do not waste your time with 2012. Woody Harrelson did a great job but that is about it. Way too long too.
4 - Bill
What everyone seems to miss is that 2012 is the story of the human body; the ravages of a microscopic warfare we do battle with every day of our lives - until our demise when the elements win.
5 - Mary
Roland Emmerich's 2012 movie pretty much depicts what is to happen in 2012, only the cause of the cataclysm is wrong. He, unknowingly, has done a great public service by making the public aware of the Mayan end time date of Dec. 21, 2012. The Maya were not the only ones who knew about 2012 as most of the ancient world did from 3,000 BC up till the 1800s when the knowledge was lost. Washington DC was laid out to reflect 2012 as a reminder to visitors. Monuments carved in stone were left world wide to warn our generation of 2012. Christ taught it in the Bible but few today have understood it. The ancient world understood 2012 very well; the modern world, lest of all the modern Maya, lack the knowledge and understanding thereof, and are stumbling in the dark for answers to 2012. Read the non-fiction 2012 trilogy, The Ark of Millions of Years, by E. J. Clark, the most comprehensive 2012 books in the world...for the answers...thanks.
6 - Jim
This was a very interesting movie. I beleive that the world will end when I dont know. The bible say that there will be signs of Christ coming. Earthquakes, weather changes, famine, disease, war,nations rising against nations. We have been seeing these things come to pass. We all don't know the time or day of his coming. Just know that he is coming. Read the book of revelations.
7 - Andrew
Sure thing the world wil end, sooner or later, but it is well known that absolutley no one knows for sure when, and all this presumtions are nothing else but simple opinions and historical interpretations of old prophecies. Either way we should be prepared for it in absolutley every moment!