Movie Review for 2012
Synopsis: As the world faces a catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions, cities collapse and continents crumble. 2012 brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 158 Minutes
Director: Roland Emmerich
Dvd Extra’s: Deleted Scenes, Alternate Ending, Roland Emmerich The Master of the Modern Epic, Commentary, Time for Miracles Music Video by Adam Lambert.
Nudity Factor: None.
Of Note: The doomsday theory arose from a non-Maya Western idea, not a Mayan one. Mayas insisted that the world would not end in 2012. The Mayas had a talent for astronomy, and enthusiasts found a series of astronomical alignments they said coincided in 2012. Once every six hundred forty thousand 640,000 years, the sun lines up with the center of the Milky Way galaxy on the winter solstice, the sun’s lowest point in the horizon. The last time that happened was on December 21, 2012, the same day the Maya calendar expired.
Recommendations:
Review by: Jason Schulte
Rating:
If you are reading this, then you survived the potential for the world to end in 2012. When this movie came out in 2009 there was some concern that the with a rare astronomy wonder happening the same day as the Mayan calendar ending, that meant this event was going to cause the end of the world as we know it. This movie takes place inside that context. Though in this movie it has more to do with solar flares causing a chain reaction in the core of earth that will cause the crust of the earth to come displaced. Of course, some scientists discover this and must keep it secret. They are trying to determine when the world will end and how they can ensure that humanity will survive the events. The bulk of the movie follows a family trying to survive the world ending. The lengths they will go to trying to survive, and the deals they will cut to make it happen. That might all sound good, but this film does have some problems. Most of those problems happen with the timing of the disasters. The director uses disasters looming to create suspense but then always leaves just enough time for whatever has to happen, to actually happen. For example, the road is collapsing, the car everyone is in has the road collapse under them, yet they can get going just fast enough to escape the collapsing road. The problem comes in when the road is collapsing faster than the car is moving right up until it is under the car, then all of a sudden the car is moving faster than the road is collapsing. This happens in just about every major scene in the movie. It would seem that this was something the director wanted to do and though it might help create some suspense, it also gets over the top at time.
Overall, this is certainly bringing elements of just about every disaster movie ever made. It has volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. It gets in its own way when it works too hard to make those disasters come way too closes to the edge. So much so that it compromises the timeline. The disasters are right on top of the “heroes” of the movie, but then the disaster backs off just enough, so other things can happen and the “heroes squeak through. This really brings down what could have been a great movie.