One of the major problems with movies these days is hype. We become inundated with glimpses of movies coming out, bombarded with clips and sneak peeks, witness to countless interviews with stars and eventually we feel as if we know the entire movie coming out weeks before it hits the screen. Hype. It can make a small movie desirable or it can make a blockbuster fail. And sometimes, as in the case of 2012, it can do both.
2012 sets itself up using the notion many conspiracy types have that the Mayan calendar calls for the end of the world in that year. So the film makers took that idea and ran with it, giving us a glimpse at the possible destruction of the planet. Director Roland Emmerich is notorious for full blown special effects movies that deliver the goods and he does so once again with this film.
Of course a story needs a central figure to base the tale around and here we have John Cusak as Jackson Curtis, a science fiction novelist whose book did well at first only to see sales drop and no follow up behind it. This explains his current position as a limo driver. Divorced with an ex who has remarried, it’s his weekend with the kids and off camping they go.
Earlier, scientists were noting a change in the earth’s crust. Radiation from outer space was altering the make up of the Earth with dire consequences on the way. Dr. Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) had seen the data and informed the President who put him in charge of the entire situation. His team set out to find a plan to deal with the situation or at best, to see to it that the human race at least survived.
When Cusak and the kids are in a park camping, he comes across a seeming nut job played by Woody Harrelson who is broadcasting warnings about the end of the world from his Winnebago. He shows a map to Cusak who more or less writes him off, but with a nagging feeling he could be right.
Push comes to shove, at least with the surface of the Earth and quakes begin on a low level. But knowing what it coming, Cusak calls his wife and tells her to gather the kids and get ready to move because the big one is coming. She argues and of course all hell breaks loose before she can hang up the phone.
The first major special effect sequence begins as Cusak grabs his family, including his wife’s new hubby, and they head for the airport. Good thing they took him along because he is studying for his pilot’s license. As the street collapsed beneath the back wheels of the limo, they barely make it to the airport and take off as the ground opens beneath them, swallowing portions of the city while the rest slides off into the ocean.
With no where in California to go, they head east and for Las Vegas where they hope to at least find fuel if nothing else. At this airport, Cusak runs into his ex-employer, a Russian businessman who was told of the impending quakes and who has paid to be in a location where humanity will be saved. Not because he offers anything worthwhile, but because he can afford it.
Again with the last minute takes off and an attempt to find the secret location, even though the poles of the Earth have now rotated out of skew and a compass isn’t worth diddly. Get the picture? Last minute saves and super tremendous coincidences that are at times so far fetched as to stretch the limits of “sustained disbelief”, the idea that this is only a movie and things could happen this way in a film. And those I’ve mentioned are the most believable ones!
But folks don’t watch movies like this with the hopes and dreams of learning how to survive the worst. No, they go to it for escape, to watch heroes come through and (hopefully) bad guys pay the price. And more than anything with a film of this sort, they go to watch amazing special effects. On that count at least, this film delivers like no one can believe. A small screen may not press it in your face as much as the big theater could, but it is still effective.
Along the way there are other side stories and actors involved, but the main focus revolves around this core group. Each actor does a good job of playing a convincing role, be it stunned disbelief at what is going on around them or doing what it takes to make sure that your family stays together and survives catastrophe.
This won’t be a movie that will go down in the annals of film as one of the best, but it is entertaining. And more than anything it makes you wonder what you would do in this given situation. Hopefully that will be to make sure you treat others as if this was your last day on Earth as opposed to building an earthquake shelter. In any event, if you’re looking for a bit of entertainment, this film gives you what you’re looking for.
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