Film Review: 2012
A Spectacular Disaster
By Rianne Hill Soriano
“2012” is everything you could possibly expect from a blockbuster disaster movie: an irresistibly visual spectacle that is perversely entertaining. And the people behind these films really seem to live up to the idea that: “You don’t get off a rollercoaster and complain about the lack of storytelling.” It is totally not credible especially with its unequivocally cheesy, ridiculous story; and yet, it is hugely engaging primarily through its mind-boggling visual effects that makes this cinematic popcorn worthy to be seen on the big screen.
The story is your basic end-of-the-world chaos narrative. It’s your usual Hollywood cash cow with the doomsday premise offered as escapism. It doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the table, but it’s still one hell of a fun ride. They sure do blow up things real good. In fact, its graceless mess may kind of insult the intelligence of the logic-demanding crowd, yet for some reasons, it still leaves most people thrilled.
It’s everything you can expect from such an apocalyptic movie. The special effects are topnotch in making the film an intense and gripping popcorn experience where the protagonists are expected to flee and escape the most horrific events happening around them at all costs. The main premise is the usual mix of that American family, that responsible and all good scientist, and the devoted and principled US president all struggling to make it through the last days of the Earth. The story is filled with much clichés and everything is just too predictable that it’s just a matter of enjoying the flick’s audio-visual flair and nothing more. Nevertheless, some philosophical and emotional elements of redemption and survival of the fittest still become apparent at some instances.
Formulaic and frenzied, it’s a spectacular but ultimately silly blast from Master of Disaster Roland Emmerich (“Independence Day,” “The Day After Tomorrow”). In his tradition of catastrophic flicks, he offers another look at the end of the world in “2012.” This time around, it’s the End of Days if based from the idea that the Mayan calendar’s last day is said to be Dec 21, 2012. In the film, the earth’s crusts are shifting – causing earthquakes and volcano eruptions on a global scale, followed by inescapable tsunamis. And the movie follows the family’s journey towards their destination, en route to China – where the governments of the world have some sort of a solution through giant ships reminiscent of Noah’s Ark. And this convincingly shows the film as another Noah’s Ark story – interpreted in a 21st Century setting.
“2012” has heavy investment in time and popcorn. Its unrelenting pace, almighty effects, and sheer tongue-in-cheekiness make it consumingly enjoyable. Emmerich provides rollickingly good visual thrills, but it lacks a strong enough script to support its massive scope and inflated length. It gets tad monotonous by the middle part and it further loses momentum by the last act. It really gets too corny by the end that what keeps you with that sigh for that bang for your buck is the fact that you got some sit back moments of fantastical, mind blowing visual feast.
If you want massive destruction spectacle, “2012” has it. Amazing, gasp worthy special effects assume the starring role here. Thanks to cutting-edge technology, the movie’s relentless emphasis on destruction ensures that most viewers will inevitably walk away satisfied with it. And on a big screen, it’s quite a blast to see the mind-blowing, photorealistic scenes of earthquakes, tsunamis, and fireballs, along with the demise of all things on earth including the most famous landmarks as The White House, the Eiffel Tower, the Jefferson Memorial, the Christ the Redeemer statue, and the Vatican, all having that enveloping majesty for this cinematic offer’s sound and visuals.
This end of the world flick throws in bits and pieces from all other disaster movies. Its familiar plot taps into virtually every disaster flick ever produced. The poorest parts of the film can get to the nerves of those wanting something more intelligent in making a preposterous story cinematically convincing. More than the clichéd speeches and unintentionally funny drama, there are just too many clichés that merely relied on the not so challenging storytelling formula of just making the special effects impressive. Period.
For those who want something within the logical wavelength of a really good film that can be both visually and aurally kick ass good while keeping a coherent plot that goes beyond the real but can be justifiable for creative reasons, these are a few of the clunkers: even during the apocalypse, when all communication on Earth has ceased, you will have excellent mobile phone reception when you call from a tsunami-stricken India to the soon to be tsunami-stricken China while inside a tsunami-safe ark; deadly gases in the park that can kill a 250-lb. animal can’t even harm the nostrils of an adult man and his two kids; the metal doors of a high tech ship that is the last hope to protect a handful of humans from the end of the world, built with billions and billions of euros, can easily get jammed by a handy tool, while at the same time, it’s not jammed by a dead man’s body; a limo can be driven in the harshest situations like flying through a collapsing skyscraper, without a scratch or the usual dirt, dust, debris, and dents. The following are also questionable but considerably forgivable enough for that specific idea better known as film license: showing the shots of a helicopter carrying a giraffe than other more reasonable but still landscape shot-friendly animals of better use to humans like cows (well, the story could pass this thing off by showing the better animals that provide humans with food and clothing already inside the ark); and if you want to survive the doom-laden world, whether you are a cosmetic doctor, or whatever field you are in, you should take a couple of flight lessons and you can surely, expertly fly all sorts of planes from a small one to a big Russian jumbo plane – flying them like what hustler players can do best in video games.
Despite the fact that the breathtaking sound and special effects are on the top ranks here, the acting performances are considerably fine. It is quite a job to act in front of all the merely solid colored screens and other film machines then pretend to be already seeing the apocalyptic mess as required in the story. At the least, the characters get to add a certain humanistic touch to make you feel that incredible sense of urgency brought about by the world’s end and the emotional struggle of humans trying to survive the annihilation. A number of recognizable actors including John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, and Woody Harrelson are faced with the biggest challenges of living up to the nonsensical script and at some point being kind of dwarfed by the requirements to maintain all those stunning CGIs. They struggle to make the best performances for the movie’s ungodly language and situations, and they strive to keep up with some inane and mostly clichéd dialogues.
At the end of the day, go for the great effects. Take them for what they are and leave logic behind. And amidst the fact that some parts of the laughs are available for the wrong (or bad) reasons, this fundamentally terrible, but almost irresistibly entertaining Hollywood product is still a value-for-money hoot on the big screen.
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