"They should've destroyed the Kaaba at Mecca."
Roland Emmerich has always loved disaster movies, as is evident from "ID-4" (1996), "Godzilla" (1998), "The Day After Tomorrow" (2004), and now "2012" (2009). Critics both professional and amateur continuously blast him for relying too much on digital effects to make his movies with typical dialogue of the genre. However, the BORs always shout "IN YOUR FACE" to such critics, who themselves have forgotten that Roland Emmerich is the brain behind some other greats as well, like "Stargate" (1994), "The Patriot" (2000), and "10,000 B.C." (2008) which is more enjoyable for finally seeing that time period displayed somewhere other than a blurry documentary flashback from a NatGeo documentary or an ancient cave painting. And he's even got a couple genre pictures under his belt as Producer of "The Thirteenth Floor" (1999) and Executive Producer of "Eight Legged Freaks" (2002). So why we continue to blast him when he decides to top digital arts every few years is beyond my comprehension, for each disaster film made as many more accomplishments behind the camera than what became its final product. I however disagree with most critics about how "stereotypical & bad" this disaster film is, and respect it for what it REALLY is: A master showcase of the latest in digital effects. And after globally nearly breaking even within $40,000,000 of its $260,000,000 budget before its three day weekend opener has even ended, then there's no reason for him to stop making these flicks.
Unlike "The Day After Tomorrow" which marketed global destruction with only a brief montage of it and then has the rest of the film set in New York, "2012" travels to India, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Yellowstone National Park, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Tibet, and Hawaii during the story, while some other relics like the Sistine Chapel are briefly featured for the sheer awesome images of their destruction. But going globe trekking story-wise rather than just in a montage is a big plus for me. One of two central plots follows sci-fi writer Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), his two kids Noah (Liam James) & Lilly (Morgan Lily), his divorced wife Kate (Amanda Peet), and his replacement Gordon (Thomas McCarthy) as they travel through the crumbling LA via limousine and airplane in physics defying stunts to Yellowstone amid the exploding super volcano that it is, and then through Las Vegas International amid the falling Strip. Through it all Jackson isn't trying to bond with Kate and the kids as most disaster movies have it, but is rather encouraging Gordon to remember that he's his kids idol that mustn't breakdown in their globe trekking mission for survival. Granted some typical disaster flick dialogue goes along with this, but there's plenty of comedy amok as well which is realized through Jackson's discouraging words to his children, and the crazy hermit like radio talk show host Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson) who prophesizes the end of the world amid the exploding Yellowstone.
The second plot follows the U.S. President's Scientific Advisor Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetal Ejiofor) as he attempts to put a timeline on the inevitable doom that they all face. His passion is clear, and he represents the human side to the end of the world as his shock grows greater throughout the film as he realizes what lengths the world's richest and most influential went to to save themselves and keep the approaching doomsday under wraps. His exact opposite being realized through U.S. Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) who tries to get Adrian to realistically grasp the impossible task of maintaining order among chaos, while losing his compassion along the way. Both Oliver and Chiwetal give excellent leading performances which is surprising given their careers of playing supporting roles. I've been a fan of both of these guys for a while, and think this film will boost their notoriety in Hollywood.
In other atypical roles is Danny Glover as U.S. President Thomas Wilson, Thandie Newton as his daughter Laura, John Billingsley as Professor West who assists in the disaster analysis, and Jimi Mistry as the Indian scientist Satnam who uncovers the evidence to the impending doom. Each of them are good in their respective roles. Two other surprising supporting roles were of Blu Mankuma & George Segal as singers on a cruise ship near Japan. The duo seemed genuine.
Comedic supporting roles went to a Russian billionaire Yuri Karpov (Zlatko Buric) who's got a plane full of expensive cars who lends Jackson and company a ride with his twin children Alec (Alexander Haussmann) & Oleg (Philippe Haussmann), his pilot Sasha (Johann Urb) and girlfriend Tamara (Beatrice Rosen). Mostly comedic for his sense of entitlement and tech savvy.
Of course story logic flails as well, such as when the plane loses landing gear in Vegas, they think they can land in Hawaii to refuel and takeoff again. Or a continental plate shifting 1,500 miles in mere days when it'd actually take months. These things can all be forgiven however when you take a step back to see that the incredible 158 minute runtime isn't chalk full of destruction, but actually spends at least an hour of the film building up to the beginning of the end. This is reminiscent of "ID-4" which did it a lot faster, but didn't sport all the scientific garb here which you get from events taking place from 2009-2012 before all hell breaks loose.
However having the so many locations and these two main plots makes some of the story suffer, as unlike "The Day After Tomorrow" which focused on the same groups of characters in roughly the same locations, "2012" spends loads of time and money on digital effects, which strains the amount of time dedicated to good storytelling from the two plots, as it seems that entire chapters in the destructive saga are missing. Though as I said before, this was a showcase of digital effects, not a typical romantic reuniting on the brink of disaster type of flick.
Given the amount of chrominance used in the film (blue screen/green screen), then cinematographer Dean Semler and editors David Brenner & Peter S. Elliot had a whole lot of nothing to work with during editing and filming to achieve the great edits and camera moves seen in the film. So kudos to them for surviving the agonizing digital process.
Oh, and another thing which gets you really into this movie besides the spectacular effects is the emotional roller coaster ride you've got. Not in terms of tragedy. But in regards to the fact that those with the plan to survive are truly evil, yet you'll find yourself routing for them anyway.
In all, this IS a big screen movie. Probably better in IMAX if the released it in that medium. Definitely not a film for the small screen. And not a movie meant to showcase Harald Kloser's story as much as its special effetcs. Basically the rating for directing is attributed to these things rather than the story at hand. And given that Roland Emmerich makes these types of flicks, then I rate him as such. But as usual, this is a one time viewing for me, as this genre inparticular doesn't do much for me after the first viewing. So if you love these kinds of flicks, or big over the top special effects, then go out and see this now before it's gone.
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