2012
Review
by Anthony Morris
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2012
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Once upon a time, disaster movies were expected to be semi-plausible. Not any more...
Not only does 2012
expect us to swallow the idea that the Sun's radiation is suddenly
going to "mutate" and microwave the planet, but all this has something
to do with a planetary alignment that the Mayans predicted.
Uh, ok.
Fortunately for 2012,
none of that matters one little bit, and the film itself skips over it
exactly as hurriedly as we want. Because we all know why we're here: to
see a whole lot of stuff get well and truly wrecked up.
And,
for the first hour or so, this provides exactly what we want from a
disaster movie: a few quick scenes to establish our lead (John Cusack)
as a distracted and divorced dad - because nothing brings a family
together like having everyone around them die horribly over and over
again, right - a bunch of supporting characters stick their heads in to
say hi and then wammo...
Los Angeles is crumbling all around us!
From
then on it's one amazing sequence after another as our nuclear family
(plus a stepdad who probably shouldn't be making any long-term plans)
drive then fly out of an LA that's literally falling apart, then have
to drive then fly away from a massive brand new volcano in Yellowstone
park, then have to escape Las Vegas just as it too falls apart, only
this time they're in a massive jet.
Just as things start to get a little bit dull they switch it up and it's time for the tidal waves.
Sadly
the second half gets a little bogged down in character moments and a
creaky plot about the survival of the human race - yeah, like anyone
wants to see that here - but it manages to keep on stumbling forward to
an end that... well, you can probably guess it's not going to be all
bad news for everyone.
Big, bloated, impressive yet kinda dull at the same time, this is exactly what a disaster movie should be. Only bigger.
3.5 out
of 5
2012
Australian release: 12th November,
2009
Official
Site: 2012
Cast: John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Woody Harrelson, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover
Director: Roland Emmerich
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