Sunday, November 29, 2009

2012 (2009)

Director: Roland Emmerich. Cast: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Woody Harrelson, Danny Glover. 158 min. Rated PG-13. Action.

Based on hearsay, I was planning on giving this movie a bad review, even before seeing it. But why lie? I honestly enjoyed it. The story's logic has so many plausibility holes, it makes Swiss cheese look good, and even a 1000-word review wouldn't cover it. But the spectacular immensity of the special effects was far beyond anything I'd ever anticipated. I believe years later, 2012 will be an example of how human imagination has no boundary in cinema. As such, it would be unfair to comfortably label such an incredible effort as "bad". See it in a theater.

Mo says:

4 comments:

  1. Well , except the great idea of " Nooh Ship " , i got nothing especial from the movie but superb visual effects. I completely agree that the scenes of earthquake, plane crash, volcanic eruption, tsunami, etc were absolutely stunning but heroism was so outrageous and unbelievable. Overuse of computeric tricks &heroic behavior made movie so unrealistic and just for entertaining, In spite of having the concept of "Apocalypse" which seems always breathtaking enough and gives everybody goosebumps.

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  2. And did you notice the young boy's name was "Noah"?

    But even though the story was absolutely terrible (the earthquakes were happening "based on" the main actors' movements on the streets or in the airport!), the metaphorical way of destroying the White House was interesting: By an aircraft carrier - their own military.

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  3. In a theater? You mean a home theater!?
    I think Emmerich will get the title: "Master of Disaster", very soon if he makes another disastrous movie after "The Day After Tomorrow" and "2012" or maybe he has gotten it now!
    Although, sometimes, the special effects looked like somehow unreal- perhaps it was because of watching the movie on TV-, considering the visual effects it was amazingly impressing and interesting. I watched it twice and I knew that it is just a movie, but every time I get goosebumps.
    About the story? I have to say it has many bugs! Emmerich could spend more time for the story than this.
    As you said, the White House was destroyed by a carrier and did you notice its name!? It was "USS John F Kennedy"! It seemed Kennedy was revenging! Another satiric issue was how the dome of the church (as a spiritual shelter) rotated and killed the people who were praying in the yard in Italy!

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  4. I thought the aircraft carrier crashing into the White House was an interesting metaphor: Will the US military be the cause of its own destruction?

    But the Vatican example you noted makes it more interesting: People's attraction towards religion lead to their own destruction!

    BTW: Some Christians were upset that the Vatican is destroyed in the movie, but the Muslims' Ka'aba wasn't!

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