Hawkeye Reviews: 2012
“2012″ is the fourth time that director/writer Roland Emmerich has felt the need to make a film about massive destruction. In the past thirteen years, this is pretty much all that he has been known for with films like “Independence Day,” “Godzilla,” and “The Day After Tomorrow.” I think it’s safe to say that he hasn’t a single spark of originality left at this point.
The film begins as Dr. Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) visits a fellow scientist in India and is informed that the core of the Earth is being heated due to increased output from the sun. Adrian rushes back to Washington DC where he meets with another scientist, Dr. Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt), who brings him straight to the president, Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover). A massive plan is then put in motion, the details of which we don’t learn until near the end of the film.
The film also revolves an author, Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), who, while spending time with his kids from his previous marriage, finds out from a radio DJ, Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), that the end of the world is near. Of course, Jackson doesn’t believe him at first, but soon, massive earthquakes begin occurring all over the world with devastating results. Jackson must find a way to protect his family from the devastation before it is too late.
In typical Emmerich fashion, the movie is filled with special effects which are quite impressive, but, like most of his other films, he tries to have them drive the story, which just doesn’t work. By concentrating mostly on the special effects, it takes away a lot from the human element of the story. Without letting the characters drive the story, there’s not much reason to care about them, so what we’re basically left with are the characters going from one special effects extravaganza to another.
Along with all of these special effects come many of the typical action clichés that one finds in a film like this. There are several close calls when planes are taking off and landing (which actually happens far too often throughout the film as they go from plane to plane). There is also an obligatory moment where we think one character has died in a terrible crash when the ground splits open, but then we see them climbing out, having escaped at the last minute.
This actually gave the film a strange kind of humor about it. Much of it was actually unintentionally funny because much of it was so corny and clichéd. It seemed that as the tone got more serious, it also got funnier because it looked as though even the actors knew they were in a film genre that has been done to death, especially by Emmerich.
Speaking of the actors, the film had a very interesting and amusing supporting cast. This included Woody Harrelson as the loony DJ, Oliver Platt as a scientist who came off as sort of a villain, and John Billingsley (who most trekkies would know as Dr. Phlox on “Star Trek: Enterprise”) as another scientist. They actually helped make the film more enjoyable that it might otherwise have been.
What we end up getting with “2012″ is a combination of several other films, mostly from the action genre. There are elements of “The Poseidon Adventure,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and even “Titanic,” which is played up a lot near the end of the film (these are painfully and amusingly obvious). This just goes to show that there is not much, if any, originality in the film as the writers seemed to have just taken parts of other movies and spliced them together.
All that being said, there are some entertaining parts to it. The special effects are a marvel to watch in certain parts. If they hadn’t tried to overdo it, the film might have been recommendable, but again, the filmmakers try to drive the story with them instead of the characters.
The 150-minute running time ended up not being that big of a problem surprisingly as it moves rather briskly along. I didn’t find myself wanted to launch up out of my seat at any point, which is a good sign. However, the last action scene could have easily stood to be cut from the film. It runs about 20-30 minutes and ends up adding nothing to the film except more length when the film could have easily concluded around that point.
If you’ve been into the films I mentioned earlier (“The Day After Tomorrow,” “Godzilla,” etc.) then you’ll probably find yourself enjoying this one too as it’s more of the same. Personally, I think “Independence Day” has been the best work to come from Emmerich because it was the first in this series, making it feel fresher, and it actually had some interesting and memorable characters. That’s not saying it’s great or anything, just that it’s the best of a now-tired genre. Perhaps after this Emmerich will let this genre rest for awhile while he tries something else for once, something that doesn’t involve an entire city being decimated.
2.5/4 stars.
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