|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2009 Flaming Dog Media, LLC. All rights reserved. |
|
|
The End of the World As We Know It? |
|
|
With a filmography that includes INDEPENDENCE
DAY, GODZILLA, and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, Roland Emmerich knows how
to destroy stuff real good. I'd say 2012 is his crowning
achievement in that arena. Not only is the Earth destroyed, it
gets rearranged! Volcanic activity! Flooding!
Earthquakes! Continental shift!
Starting in 2009, solar flares grow to an
unrecorded size, and the neutrino output causes changes to the
planet's core, bringing surface water to a boiling point. As
the clock ticks, art is replaced with forgeries, political &
financial deals are made, and the construction project to save
humanity begin.
John Cusack leads an almost all star cast as the
divorced father of two. While on a weekend trip with his son
& daughter to Yellowstone, they stumble upon a closed off
section of the national park, where a lake has dried up. After
being escorted back to the campground by the US Army, Cusack is
stopped by a conspiracy theorist radio deejay, who points out what
is happening, and what will happen to the planet.
"Spaceships," the deejay says. He
believes the US government is making spaceships to save segments of
the population.
When he overhears the over-privileged twins say
something that goes along with the deejay's raving, Cusack's Jackson
Curtis believes his children are in danger, and uses the limo to
race through Los Angeles as it crumbles apart around them.
From there, its back to Yellowstone, because the deejay claimed to
have a map to the spaceships, which leads Jackson and his family to
the far side of the world.
John Cusack. Amanda Peet. Danny
Glover. Tom McCarthy. Chiwetel Ejiofor. Thandie
Newton. Oliver Platt. Woody Harrelson. George
Segal. Stephen McHattie. John Billingsley. Its a
pretty impressive cast of folks ya will recognize, as any good
disaster movie should.
Disaster hits Los Angeles, Hawaii, Washington,
D.C., the Vatican and Las Vegas in big, impressive ways.
As far as disaster flicks go, I really enjoyed
this one. There was some fun, some drama, some romance, and a
few big coincidences. But there aren't any cute pop songs or
musical montages.
My buddy Kevin said that it was "exactly as
sh---- as I expected it to be." Which, coming from him,
is positively glowing.
The news is already out that Emmerich is
developing a television series, 2013, based on this movie.
And, the way it ends, I'd tune in. Obviously, there would be
some recasting of the major survivors, or new characters would have
to be introduced. But, you know, a few folks in the movie have
done television before.
Sorry the review is so short, but really, once
the destruction starts, its all about the characters trying to
outrun it all and survive while maintaining their own humanity.
Tom Sharp
|
|
