Film 2012

Pesan Hotel Online Paling Murah - As I sit down to write this review, against my better judgement, I have to say that 2012 actually doesn’t suck! Having sat through Emmerich’s last two disasters The Day After Tomorrow and 10 000 BC, my faith in his one-dimensional storytelling was seriously waning. Sure, Independence Day was great, as was The Patriot but having not made a good film for the better part of a decade, I was skeptical.

Pesan Hotel Online - As glowing as my introduction may be, please don’t go into this movie thinking that your world is going to be rocked. To call this movie shallow is an understatement: think ‘kiddie pool’ deep. The script at times is random (the entire movie’s premise is so stupid – the sun is releasing neutrinos which are causing some sort of radioactive decay to the Earth’s core as predicted by the Mayans as their calendar ends in Film 2012), but the plot really is secondary to the action sequences.

Cinematically, the movie is also rather frustrating. Every action movie cliché in cinema is used in this film. The hand coming up from the rubble, the protagonist’s vehicle being veiled by a cloud of dust and debris only to come out of it at the last possible moment, the plane taking off as the ground under it collapses. They’re all here, and all used more than once.

But I digress, the movie is loud, violent and, at times, visual stunning. As perverted as it is, some of the destruction sequences are particularly mesmerising. Special mention needs to go to the destruction sequence of Washington DC. It’s probably the shortest sequence of the film, but it’s probably the coolest. Furthermore, every single shot that has been used in the print campaign of the movie is actually in the film. So many times we’ve been teased in disaster movies of land masses crumbling and buildings collapsing that never materialise, but this movie delivers on everything it promises.

The biggest criticism I had for 2012 was the casting. As an ensemble, the cast doesn’t really work well together. John Cusack as the accidental hero doesn’t really gel for me. Oliver Platt as the President’s Chief of Staff also seems completely out of place, and is probably the single most frustrating character on screen. Platt should stick to comedy, as the contrived script does nothing but enhance his shortcomings as a dramatic actor. The film’s shining stars come in Amanda Peet, Woody Harrelson and Danny Glover, all of whom steal the show whenever they grace the screen. Unfortunately, none of these actors share a single scene together throughout the course of the movie.

With the TV show 2013 already in development, with its focus on the aftermath of the events that take place in the film, Sony Pictures seem to have high hopes for the film, and so they should. As a mind numbingly stupid action flick, few have been released this year that compare to the scale of 2012.
If action films tickle your fancy, and you can switch your mind off for the bloated 156 minute running time, I strongly recommend 2012. Sure the script is trite, the acting is a little lame at times, but it’s an action blockbuster with a budget upwards of US$200 million, you didn’t really expect it to be this decade’s Schindler’s List, did you?