2012

2012 (Columbia Pictures)
Directed by Roland Emmerich

It’s funny how the most ridiculous of things can become the norm in Hollywood, but it happens day after day and for a long time now, we have accepted it all with open arms. Just think of those times you see a preview for a movie that looks so incredibly stupid and yet, someway or somehow, you wind up watching it anyway. Next thing you know, we all do this, over and over again, eventually vaulting us into some acceptable notion that these films have a certain standard to follow, when in reality, they don’t. How could they? The stories aren’t even close to being realistic and the things people are able to say and do would never happen, but for some reason, we just can’t get enough of these kind of films. Whether it’s some ‘over the top’ action/adventure or thriller/horror flick, people flock to the theater and the box office numbers prove this, here and abroad. And it’s in this spirit a film like 2012 gets released with the hope it too will become successful, despite all its obvious shortcomings that turn out to be a little larger than predicted once you scratch the surface.

When I say this film is based loosely off the 2012 Mayan phenomenon argued by many conspiracy theorists, I mean loose, as in barely hanging on. It all begins in India 2010 where a local scientist discovers that neutrinos (elementary particles that travel at the speed of light), generated from a gigantic solar flare are acting as heat combustors’, causing the Earth's core temperature to increase faster than normal. He immediately calls his friend, Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who travels to see this extreme data in person. After confirming the seriousness of the threat, he immediately informs White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser of the discovery, advising this was the beginning to the end of the world, thus forcing the U.S. and other countries around the world to plan and come up with a project to sustain life by whatever means possible.

The idea was to build huge arks to house roughly 400,000 carefully chosen people, to help restart life as they once knew it. A novel, yet warped notion that quickly gets compromised when the Earth’s crust begins to break apart earlier than planned, thus forcing all end of the world plans into hyper-mode, which can’t be good for anyone. That is, unless you’re Jackson Curits, a mildly successful writer who stumbles upon conspiracy theorists Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson) in the woods of Yellowstone Park, while on a camping trip with his kids. Charlie informs him of this government ship program in China and the next thing you know, Jackson gathers up the rest of him family and before you knew it, he was on a plane narrowly flying away from LA which was literary falling into the Pacific Ocean. So, while millions were falling victim to tsunami’s and apocalyptic earthquakes, Charlie and co. were making their way toward the Himalayas, in hopes of staying alive when no one else would resulting in a exaggerated conclusion that felt more like a letdown than anything else.

For a film that doesn’t necessarily require a good cast, there sure were a lot of known faces. Leading them all, of course, was John Cusack, who always seems to be crawling out from under a rock to get into a new film. And 2012 almost looks like a move of desperation for the actor, especially when the cast is far from the most important part of the feature; but he made the most of his role in that “Cusack way” we all have become accustomed to. But, in the end, it didn’t really mater a whole lot, given everything else that was going on around him; so whether it was Cusack, Danny Glover, Oliver Platt or anyone else from this overachieving cast, you just never were allowed to care too much about their individual character(s). Maybe that’s the fault of the director or maybe that’s just the way it goes with this type of film, but if it is, Chiwetel Ejiofor never got the memo, because each and every scene he was in, he stole, making his performance the best out of the entire group.

When it comes to films like 2012, you just never know what you’re going to get as far as “cheese.” Come on, you have to admit; when you see any so-called “end of the world” flick, a certain caveat has to be placed on it. If not, who knows what kind of feeling you will get after watching something with as many innuendos and unrealistic features as 2012. For years we have seen these types of stories come and go without too much thought, but given the talent behind this film, a certain expectation has been set, not by fans, by the director himself. Roland Emmerich has been here before, with INDEPENDENCE DAY and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, and having been fairly successful with both, I for one expected a certain quality with 2012. And although that certain quality and entertaining value was there, you could tell not as much attention was given to this film, like his previous from this pseudo-genre. The running time alone will give you that hint, at a hefty 158 minutes, which is absolutely way too long for this type of film. An easy 50 minutes could have and should have been cut out of this thing from the top and from there, maybe they could have figured out a better way to mold the story together, which was broken and battered from start to finish. Even the special effects, the true “star” of the film, weren’t that spectacular as it got a little old after the first few sequence’s, and when that fails in a story like this, I just can’t see how the film doesn’t.

It’s hard to know exactly what the producers wanted to get out of a film like 2012, but knowing the budget was over $260 million, it’s hard to comprehend why this film shouldn’t have been better. Fact is it will make its money and probably earn a good profit, but will it be enough when it’s all said and done? I just wonder if the clock is starting to run out on these types of stories and if so, will we start to see some more inventive stories with tapered down special effects instead? Questions to ponder, I guess, as you pass right by this film to watch something else.

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