2012

If you only see one movie before the end of the world...

I don't think Roland Emmerich likes the White House. It got blown up by aliens in Independence Day, it got a bit chilly in The Day After Tomorrow, and now with 2012, the big house has another fate. I bet you he was that kid in primary school that used to kick down all the other kids' skyscrapers made of building blocks.
This disaster flick sure gives you a lot of bang for your buck. The effects are pretty darn impressive, though at times there could have been a wee bit more work done on some bits. He has a knack for making the west coast of the US fall into the ocean but when a car is hurtling away from the destruction, it was a bit fuzzy around the edges. It might be me picking at the little things but if you're going to spend that kind of money on something, make it ALL good.
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the movie. Even with its stereotypical Hollywood cliches lathered on the plot like too much chocolate icing on a cake (which usually makes me sick)(movie-wise anyway), all the big bangs and stuff falling down everywhere was just enough of a distraction for me to worry about what was going on in the script.
John Cusack is my generation's favourite anti-hero. I love everything he does (thou shalt not talk about 'Must Love Dogs'). He's the perfect slacker dad/hero for this movie.
Chiwetel Ejiofor is great as the token 'pushed-aside-scientist-that-ends-up-saving-the-world' that Emmerich oh so loves in his flicks. Oliver Platt as the token selfish cynic. Danny 'I'm too old for this shit' Glover got promoted to President, and what a nice job he does at it.
One must ask the question, why do we love to watch these super destruction films? Why do we love seeing our planet destroyed? Why do we slow down in our cars to see an accident on the side of the road? Because we think it's not going to happen to us but we still want to know what it's going to be like. That humanistic morbid fascination with inevitable endings that every one of us tries to avoid. Hopefully we'll have Woody Harrelson and his conspiratic rantings to show us the way like Cusack did.
What I learnt from this movie... It's not what you know, it's who you know and if you haven't met a uber-rich, Russian, ex-boxer by now, you'd better hurry up (and best start getting pilot lessons too). And I think there was something in there about the ultimate good in humanity, blah, blah, blah...
I don't know what is going to happen on Christmas Day of 2012, if the magnetic poles do switch like that, Santa's gonna hafta recalculate his GPS.
8 out of 10.


P.S also worth noting - it has the trailer for Avatar at the beginning of the flick! If you don't see that movie at the cinema in 3D you may as well watch it on your toaster.