Movie Review: 2012

[lampie1970]

OK my peeps, Do you like movies loud? explosions? buildings crumpling? the earth opening up like a somebody cracked a coconut on a rock? if you said yes to any of these questions then this is the movie for you! and you need to see it in the theater....

When i saw the previews I was aggravated....not ANOTHER armageddon/Day after tomorrow movie!!??? geez louise!! Well, you know what? those two movies and this one all have the same director! He is like perfecting the earth's destruction or something....anyway, I didnt want to see it really except I really like Cusak...curses to them for drawing me NOT with subject matter but with casting choicetos!

So, this one basically follows Cusak's character as he figures out that these prophecies that state because the Mayan calendar ends in December of 2012 that they were on to something, and that the world is going to end. Well, not really, just earthquakes and polar ice caps melting. And if humans could find some way to survive a world wide deluge...hmmmm.....

All in all, I enjoyed this movie. It was good even though it is a little predictable at moments and implausible at moments and cheesy at moments (one in particular is that the sistine chapel breaks apart right between God and Adams fingers).

3.5 out of 5.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190080/

[Kylenz]

Yeah, a 3.5 is pretty much what I would give it too. Definitely entertaining, a definite attempt towards character development in spite of the roller-coaster absurdities thrills and spills galore. My favourite character was Woody Harrelson's 'nutjob' stereotype. There is actually a ring of truth about his character, perhaps not so much about the doomsday warnings and earth changes, but more often than not it's the people open towards conspiracies with their ear to the ground and getting a truer picture of what is really going on in the world. For example, I prefer to get my news from alternative news websites (rather than the likes of Reuters), because I know that the mainstream media are only going to give us the story that 'they' want us to hear.

The special effects in 2012 were impressive. Strangely though, for a film where supposedly billions of people perish, there was a distinct lack of gore or horror. You can't help but feel numb and indifferent/detatched as you watch all those buildings crumble and fold around you, and I'm sure the special effects team didn't want us to feel that way. I wanted to feel true apocalyptic horror, and it felt more like watching one of those advertisements for a theme park thrill ride. So maybe the special effects weren't so impressive after all. Looked too 'generated' with no real sense of danger.

Apparently there is a far better apocalypse movie out there called 'The Road', about surviving after an undefined event. Waiting for it to come to New Zealand cinemas. I would expect a deeper storyline, more emotional, and Viggo Mortensen is in it. He was fantastic in the Lord of the Rings films.