Disaster movie maven Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) crafts this apocalyptic sci-fi thriller following the prophecy stated by the ancient Mayan calendar, which says that the world will come to an end on December 21, 2012. When a global cataclysm thrusts the world into chaos, divorced writer and father Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) joins the race to ensure that humankind is not completely wiped out. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton, and Oliver
Platt round out the cast of this end-of-the-world thriller co-scripted by the director and his 10,000 B.C. writer/composer, Harald Kloser. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
2012 is reminiscent of yesteryear '80s shlock-tastic blockbusters -- total popcorn entertainment with ridiculous dialogue and impossible situations and special effects that will boggle the brain for a good two-plus hours.
2012 is so long, and its special effects are at once so outrageous and so thunderously predictable, that by the time I lurched from the theatre I felt that three years had actually passed and that the apocalypse was due any second.
[Nothing] will give you more respect for how difficult it is to be an actor than watching top talent like John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet and Oliver Platt struggling to treat the film's ungodly language and situations with perfect seriousness.
Most of all, I liked the airlifting of giraffes to ark safety via helicopter and the bizarrely unreasonable cheeriness of the beleaguered survivors who all but shout "hip-hip-hooray" after billions of other Earth citizens lose their lives.
Over the top scenes of destruction aside 2012 is generally unimaginative in every way, from conception to execution. It's not particularly bad, but never has the end of the world seemed so quaint.
A headache inducing mess of apocalyptic proportions, 2012 is a woeful greatest hits package of disaster film clichés, mixed with shallow social commentary.
In line with the U.S.-centric heartbeat of 2012, most other nationalities, particularly the Russians, are viewed as imbeciles and/or mere extensions of crude stereotypes - clever Indians, honourable Chinese, stylish Italians, and so on.
You don't have to say more than "it's a Roland Emmerich film" to get the full brunt of the quality of the production. Great visuals, but weak dialogue and scenarios.
I can't claim to have seen every terrible film in cinematic history, but in my fairly extensive watchography, 2012 is certainly in the top 5 worst ever.
It's the end of the world as we know it%u2026 again! But hand it to Roland Emmerich, an old hand at cinematic Armageddon, for making the apocalypse such an entertaining ride.
Emmerich doesn't mess around when intent on messing up the world for good. But his pop apocalypse multiplying man's worst fears, always goes down easy with a side order of popcorn. Apocalypse Wow.
I loved every second of this over the top completely ridiculous movie. But than again I like end of the world flicks. A movie with a group of good actors and I just enjoyed it. In the end if I am entertained a good review it will get.
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