2012 The Review SPOILERS

[shadowx 0]

Fresh back from the cinema watching quite possibly the longest film ive watched in a cinema (LOtR was on DVD ) This isnt a film you go to watch if you have appointments later.... Ive been out for 3 hours and the cinema is 5 minutes away, but i digress!So the film is based around the story of the earth ending, or changing dramatically on the winter Solstice in 2012, thats December 21st. This is based on the mayan calendar which doesnt actually suggest anything of this nature will happen. Dr Helmsley, a young geologist arrives in india to meet his friend, another geologist who is working on Neutrinos, these are real life particles that whizz out of the sun, straight through the earth and out the other side. In real life and in the film we can track them by using heavy water from nuclear reactors which flashes very dimly when a neutrino hits it. This is held in a tank deep underground usually in old mines. This is the case in the film, the neutrino count has been rising amazingly fast and we are told they are mutating into different types of particles which have a "physical" reaction. Helmsley and his friend go to the water tank and open the lid, the water inside is boiling and the friend explains the earths core is being heated up by the sun, which is undergoing huge activity.That is the scientific premise of the film, the sun is giving off huge amount of altered neutrinos which are reacting with the earths solid core and heating it up. This heating is causing massive instability in the crust...So in California we are seeing loads of cracks starting which are gradually getting worse. Our main character, Jackson Curtis, a divorced, usually absent father and semi-pro published writer takes his kids to Yellowstone park, now, in real life one of the worlds largest supervolcanoes exists there, if that thing went boom no matter where you are right now you would know about it. He arrives to find a large section fenced off by the government, a lake he used to visit has virtually gone completely and it now resembles a slightly steaming puddle, weird... a strange old man watched them with binoculars as the army sweep in and take them to an army base in yellowstone which has a gigantic drill drilling into the ground. The camera shows us scientists talking and they explain the ground is heating up by 5% an hour. Helmsley is there of course and our main character plus hid kids are introduced to him. To cut a long story short the Dr has been reading Jackson's book and they are taken to a public campsite. Jackson has been listening to a madman talking about the end of days on the radio. Once he puts his kids in the tent he sits on his laptop checking that the lake he saw earlier really did exist. He can hear the radio and sees a guy in a shack with radio equipment 1+1=3 so it must be the guy. And it is the mad guy from earlier. Good times. A conversation shows that this mad guy knows of a conspiracy theory in which Yellowstone goes boom, everyone dies and the government builds spaceships which save the rich. Sane guy, but then given what comes next he could be on to something...Back in sunny California in a supermarket Jackson's ex wife and her new partner are shopping and the floor opens up and turns into a half mile crack. Pretty. Jackson and his kids go home early for obvious reasons. Jackson is then called in to drive a rich Russian to an airport with hid kids, he doesnt like the bratty kids and as they leave they recount how they have tickets to a big ship and they will leave and he will die. so now Jackson believes the crazy man now so persuades a guy at the airport to hire a small two engine plane out and drives off to get his family. Various calamities ensue involving California sinking into the sea slowly and he gets his family on the plane. I wont go through the emotion ripping, tense details but they fly to yellowstone to find a map the crazy guy had, he is on top of the crater broadcasting with a portable radio thingy. Anyway, he wants to stay and watch the world end, yellowstone goes boom Jackson runs away, gets a map from the guys camper van and runs with lava bombs, ash clouds chase them and our crazy man gets crushed by a 100ft chunk of yellowstone, complete with trees and all. The effects here are magnificent, we see a sort of atomic explosion cloud, but better, about 5 miles high and just as wide and the closer lavabombs etc... are brilliantly scary. They get back to their small plane and take off, with a little drama of course, and Jackson opens the map, a map of China, nice move... This is one of those "comedy in tragedy" moments that this film will make you either love or hate. There's plenty of it, get used to it.They swap their plane for something bigger, along with dramatic shots of the destruction of earth via lava, cracks and the sea in general. Well to cut a long story short we see lots of behind the scenes action at the Whitehouse, they get a big Jet plane with the rich Russian Jackson drove earlier and are on their way to China. The scientists work out that the earths crust has shifted about 1500 miles so the guys en route to China run out of fuel and make an emergency landing in some mountains which turns out to be China, which has shifted 1500 miles their way, useful really if you're low on fuel. Completely unbelievable, but then the whole film is, at one point they are driving through a city where tower blocks are falling and they literally drive through a building at a 45 degree angle. But meh, its a fun film, not a factual one. Anyway, some helicopters fly over and welcome then to China, our guys are safe right? Nope. The film revolves around these "spaceships" or arks which the rich have tickets to, via mobile phones. The Chinese commander asks for tickets and the rich, bastard Russian hands over his and his kids and they get on the chopper outta there. our main characters now with the addition of the Russians ex girlfriend (she was cheating on him) walk on in the pristine mountains and come to a road where a battered truck, driven by a Tibet monk and his familly stops to pick them up. They are driving to the arks, where the monks brother is working and has promised to get his family in. Complications ensue with how they are going to get an extra 5 people snuck in. But they agree and off they go on their journey to sneak in. to cut a long story short they all get on the arks, and the rich decide to open the gates and let on the poor who have turned up, but our guys sneaking in have jammed the door with a hydrolic lead, so in comes a 1.5km high wave, over the mountains and the captain says that the ship, which is actually a conventional sea ship, not a space ship, is designed to be held for the first wave and then float off safely. but the door is jammed and they cant start the engines. The wave carries them off, the ship starts to flood (there are 3 by the way, not just one), but anyway, Jackson dives in the watery depths and saves the day, the ship sails off into the waters, after avoiding the flank of everest, which is partly under water of course. A little later the captain opens the shutters and people go out on deck to an amazing sunrise, 27 days after the end of the world (aptly now named 27 days, 1st month, 0001) and the film ends on a happy note with the scientists saying how the flood waters are receding fast, and most of africa was lifted some hundreds of feet and hence hardly was affected. humankind goes back to where it theoretically began and we know the world didnt really end, and the tectonic plates have settled in nicely. the world is safe again. Good times.My opinion? Well from the outset it had some hurdles to overcome, firstly the fact its fake. Duh... But attempts to follow scientific theories and fact. Secondly the cinema was packed and i was right down the front. not a good start. But it actually does pull it off, im impressed!!!It is a long film, but it needs to be, it has a nice back story starting in 2009 which shows you the science behind the movie *why* the earth is ending, and you need to understand it to put things like seeing a square mile of California at a 30 degree angle sinking into the sea. but it really does work!! The effects are variable though. The distance shots of destruction are amazing, completely ridiculous but well made and suspenseful, the closer shots however of various people with destruction chasing them are a little shakey, but forgiven. Sound is good overall but a little shrill at some points making you wish they had toned it down a little.The storyline is also very good, predictable, ridiculous, but good. It draws you in, attaches you to the characters, their emotions and their utterly hopeless situation, but you know from the outset that it will end fairly well. It is a somewhat emotional film, questioning what you would do faced with a 1.5km high wave, seeing cities swimming in molten lava. Seeing a crack 2 miles deep filled with magma open below your feet. Watching people get left behind but then asking yourself, would you go back for them? Honestly? Could you?It takes you into the film rather than telling a story it makes you live a story. So let's break it down....Best points:Yellowstone going cataclysmic, brilliant GFX, sound, and storyThe amazing views in the mountains, giving you hope and showing the beauty in some parts of the world while the rest fallcharacters, they are "real" not just sprites on a greenscreen.Bad points:um.... Predictability i suppose....some of the effects.Graphics: 8/10Sound: 9/10characters: 8/10Story: 9/10Overall...... 9/10I would rate this as one of the best films i have seen this year. Better than "the day after tomorrow". well worth seeing guys!!one for everyone

[anwiii 17]

where is simpleton at! hahai personally plan on watching this movie in the near future. i didn't read your post since you warned it contained spoliers. just read your review at the bottom.

[eauncarter 0]

Wow! I can't just wait to watch this movie. I haven't seen such good ratings for a movie for a long time. Surely will have to see it. Always been liking this genre of movies. Of doomsday, earth ending, apocalypse etc.

[The Simpleton 2]

where is simpleton at! haha

Oh I'm right here!! Thank you for the full-length review, shadowx. I'm glad you enjoyed the movie - at least you didn't have to sit through the movie thinking "What are they doing?!!!" all the time I think when a movie like this (highly awaited and anticipated) comes out, we always look out for the positive reviews, and are willing to see the movie, even if the number of negative reviews outnumbers the positive ones! I'm not saying shadowx is giving a wrong review of the movie - this review is brilliantly written and brings out the good points in the film perfectly. Why, one could watch this movie for just these parts, and ignore the bad ones.

 

Here's a small round-up of the reviews given by some websites for this movie:

 

IMDB.COM - 6.7/10

 

IGN.COM - 1/5

 

ROTTEN TOMATOES - 38%

 

METACRITIC - 51/100

If I've collected the negative ones, I'd better do the positive ones too - according to a website that collects twitter statistics, 77% of all tweets about 2012 were positive while 23% of them were negative.

 

Well it's a free world and as anwii himself said, it's based on personal opinion. So trust yourself and go watch the movie!

Edited November 15, 2009 by The Simpleton (see edit history)

[legend112 0]

I just cant wait to watch itI have always felt today's movies lack a thick plot and directors are now just using big names so they can make a hit. Guys like Pitt, clooney in my honest opinion are just overrated :)getting back to the topic, i really want to watch this however. I hope it will change my thinking that film industry is dead.Thanks shadowx for the good review...(question....are you in any way related to smf?)

[mahesh2k 0]

This is disaster-plot based movie. And after looking at the theater i think i should watch it. I like the acting of john cusack. So i'm going to watch the movie for his acting and special effects. I don't count on reviews of imdb these days. So i'll go with opinion of Xisto users. Let's see if i can watch this movie next week-end.

[Dak1ng 0]

I skipped the spoilers and read the review. I can't wait to see this movie!!! However, I'll probably end up seeing it on DVD, since I live in a house full of women (mom and my sister) who have zero interest in seeing it .

[shadowx 0]

Cheers guys, reviews are subjective opinions so i wont feel insulted if you all disagree :DReally it comes down to what kind of films you like, if you dont mind a slightly unbelievable storyline but you enjoy action, suspense and a little badly timed humor then you will like the film. But if you are the type that says "As if!" all the time then perhaps not!Personally i watch a film for fun, not because its realistic, to me films are a chance to look into a world where anything can happen, so i enjoyed the movie. You are all more than welcome to add on to my thread your own thoughts are start your own It'd be interesting to see *why* people didnt like it

[contactskn 2]

Dear friends even I doubted that it is based on 21 dec 2012. If I am not mistaken then it some years prior also that the world is going to be finished very soon or some thing like that is it really possible is there any scientific basis for the same or just on the basis of predictions by some astrologers it is so. I should say I am really confused. Is there any website showing the actual and scientific details for the same. If so please help me the details.?

[shadowx 0]

Fear not, the world is not going to end any time soon. There are no large asteroids or planets about to collide with the earth. The sun will last for 50+ BILLION years (and even the worst solar storm would only really cause massive power outages as the power lines get frazzled and perhaps we would need to wear suncream to stop ourselves getting burned by the extra power of the sun. The world would still be here though.And god wont smite us, if he tries you have my word that i will push his hand back into the sky and utter the words "NO FREE PAPERS!" :)the film is based on the fact that the sun produces weird particles that actually dont exist in real life, so we are safe.

[kawai 0]

i think some people give this movie bad reviews because of the actors, a friend told me one of the actors where like talking normal when the earth was about to go under, that the actors didn't react enough on the whole drama stuff, i mean who walks about taking it easy when the earth is about to end

[shadowx 0]

The actors reasctions certainly arent proportional to the world ending, but then how do we know how we would react faced with annihilation? Is there time to panic? If you panic you *will* die, but stay calm and be determined and you'll survive. Also the acting was meant to be somewhat funny, there are a fair few moments with bad jokes and humor at a time of complete disaster but in a way it helps to break a feeling of despair and instead give you the "it will be alright in the end" feeling which you need to get through 2 hours of absolute cataclysmic destruction.SPOILER:also the fact that the movie ends with Africa being completely safe is cheesy as Africa is widely held to be the cradle of mankind where the first humans evolved and spread, so effectively humankind goes back to where it came from. Obviously other places survived with more or less damage but Africa is heralded as "the new world" if you like, where humankind will start again in the year 0001. I still rate it well for its enjoyment factor, apart from that its wildly inaccurate.

[anwiii 17]

well i just got done watching it and i give it an overall 7.5/10 which is a pretty high rating considering i would only rate 2-3 movies a 10 and only 10 or so movies a 9.i LOVED the special effects a lot. the acting wasn't the best but it was still good. the movie is about 2 1/2 hours. i liked the plot enough not to fall asleep. actually, i was just always wondering what was going to happen next as there were many suspensfull scenes.after researching the reviews, i found people either loved it or hated it for different reasons. i for one loved the movie and it's a movie i wouldn't mind watching again.also, for a disaster movie, it had a few funny scenes in it. although some people would say comedy doesn't fit in a movie like this, i say it was only a few scenes and the comic relief fitted in nicely....especially the "start engine" scene.anyway, i like these types of movies so after reading the premis, i didn't really think i wouldn't enjoy it. the movie didn't disappoint me....although i started having my doubts after reading another thread about warning people never to watch it. i have an opposite view....but everyone has their own tastes

[The Simpleton 2]

I think the most common reason why people have given mixed reviews is that they didn't like the idea of only the protagonist and his family getting saved - they were just plain lucky but why should only they be chosen to be saved? (I mean chosen by the script!) Ok I think it's high time we stopped talking about this movie anyway - no matter what personal opinions are, the movie's a hit (in my town hollywood movies barely last a week but this one's taken in almost $11000 in it first week) and it'll be remembered only for its special effects!