21-12-2012 is supposed to be the end of civilization as per the Mayan calendar and all over the world doomsday theorists are predicting the end of the world on this day. And to capitalise on this, Columbia picuires have made the film 2012 with the theme being Apocalypse - the destruction of the world. Who better to direct such a disaster movie than Ronald Emmerich. After all he was the man who let loose Godzilla in New York creating mayhem and he was the man who made Martians attack the world in Independence day. If you have seen his previous movies, you will not be disappointed as he unleashes devastation and disaster on the world!
Not only is this my first movie review, this is also the first movie I saw in a theatre after 7 years. I had gone to the movie with the expectation of high quality special effects with a gripping plot and I wasn’t too disappointed with the end result. Here’s my analysis of the movie:
Plot:
The movie starts with a scientist visiting India, where studies reveal that solar eruptions have released neutrinos which have so affected the eath’s crust that it has become unstable. The President of the USA and other heads make a plan to evacuate people to safety by building an ark, in the style of the biblical Noah’s Ark!
Our hero is Jackson Curtis (John Cosack), a writer who takes his children (from his estranged wife) to a camping trip in Yellowstone park. There he learns about the 2012 doomsday story and also learns about the plan to build a ship to save people. So he decides to save his wife and children (with his wife’s boyfriend also joining the party). That’s when the director decides to launch his full artillery of special effects and believe me - it is awesome!!
The earthquake scenes where not just buildings tumble, but the whole city sinks with collapsing flyovers and falling cars. This is the most awesome special effects scene I have ever seen. Forget everything else, the movie is worth seeing for this scene alone! Later of course, there are many more disasters to follow - volcano eruptions, tsunamis, the destruction of the Capitol building and the Vatican - all made memorable thanks to the SFX.
Of course, the rest of the film is all about how the hero saves his family (does he succeed? I won’t spill the plot, see it for yourself). Other characters include the scientist, the US President and his daughter, a Russian business man who books tickets to the Ark by paying a billion, and a Chinese family who later plays an important role.
While the plot is good, it loses some of its effectiveness, thanks to a bit of dragging by the director. The movie could have had some crisper editing to make it more lean and effective.
There are lot of Bollywood style scenes where flying debris and lava hits everyone except the hero’s car/plane. Imagine, if it was in a Hindi film, the scenes would have been slammed as unnatural!
Acting
The acting is good. John Cusack does justice to the hero’s role. Also good acting from the scientist (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and the US President (Danny Glover), whose performance is really touching. All the other artistes perform well. The only lapse is the so-called Indian scienstist, who speaks awful Hindi, making the audience gigle in amusement.
Camework
The camerawork is really good, the disaster shots are brilliant. The camera work and the special effects deserve most of the credit for the film’s success.
Other elements
Some interesting comic scenes in the form of the Russian businessman and his girlfriend lighten up the mood. The direction is good, though not taut. There are a number of emotional moments in the movie, which touch your heartstring. The movie is definitely scary, because at some point you would wonder what is all this really happens? Would humanity survive? Of course, we know that the 2012 predictions are false, but the movie definitely makes you think. And I had a hard time driving back home on the flyover after seeing the flyover collapses in the movie.
Overall opinion
A great movie, a box office success, worth seeing with family for the special effects only. A little more work on the storyline and editing, would have made this movie a masterpiece. But as it is, it is a good movie, so don’t waste time, go and watch it, you will enjoy it definitely.