2012 – The end is nigh
The Mesoamerican civilization of the Mayans, those crazy chaps from Apocalypto, used a non-repeating calendar to measure and record time. This basically means that they viewed the world exclusively in separate, differing cycles. Brushing past the details of the complicated and ingenious system these guys used, the most relevant piece of information is that the Mayans ‘may’ have thought that 2012 would bring about a new cycle.
A global Chinese whisper ensued, rendering 2012 as a potential doomsday date, something akin to January 1st, 2000. The media, and people in general, love a good panic, as was demonstrated so succinctly by the Y2K bug that didn’t happen…
There we were, horribly inebriated on New Year’s Eve and counting down (or up, depending on alcoholic consumption); patiently waiting for the nearest cash machine to suddenly liberate itself from the brick and mortar confines of a bank wall, and demonstrate its newfound status as head species by beating us and ironically stabbing us in the face with our own credit cards.
Alas, this twisted and surreal scenario never took place, and those who spread the panic hung their heads in shame.
This is just one of many doomsday possibilities that generally do the rounds; many believe that a planet outside our solar system, named Nibiru, will smash into Earth, whilst others are waiting for an asteroid to hurtle towards us and wipe out mankind.
Other panic-inducing scenarios that suit film include global warming (The Day After Tomorrow), an alien attack (Independence Day, Stargate), a massive beast (Godzilla) or giant spiders (Eight-Legged Freaks). What do those five films have in common? Roland Emmerich, the man behind 2012 - the movie.
2012 is a very simple story that is intentionally similar to the biblical tale of Noah’s Ark.
In 2009, a geologist discovers that particles from a massive solar flare are causing the Earth’s core to heat up, which will result in a set of cataclysmic events around the globe. In preparation for this, the American President begins organising the construction of massive ‘arks’; these ships will be built in secret, and should ensure the continuation of mankind. The set of catastrophes that will befall the Earth’s inhabitants are kept secret for as long as possible.
John Cusack plays limo driver/sci-fi writer Jackson Curtis, who is divorced from his wife Kate. Their kids live with Kate and her boyfriend Gordon, and whilst Jackson is taking the kids camping in Yellowstone National Park, they begin to witness some of the effects of the imminent global disaster.
The film sees Curtis, and various other minimalistic characters, attempt to negotiate a way around such dangers as earthquakes, megatsunamis and earth crust displacement. The latter is particularly interesting because it is caused by a complete shift in the physical poles; a terrifying prospect, and one which would have an irrevocable effect on the shapes and positions of Earth’s continents.
There really is little else to the story; the main focus is destruction, and Emmerich makes no attempt to pretend otherwise. The $200 million production delivers a powerful and intense selection of visually arresting scenes, but we have seen onscreen city-wide flooding plenty of times (most recently in Emmerich’s own The Day After Tomorrow). There is bound to be a certain amount of lost impact as a result of this, which is surely an important consideration when one is making a film so solely dependent on powerful aesthetics. Nonetheless, cataclysmic earthquakes and general landscape reshuffling are all delivered with aplomb.
Our issue with the effects is that they do not transfer well to the DVD medium; there is something a little bit “Matrix Reloaded” about the visual set-pieces. The effects are brilliantly rendered, and gorgeous to behold; they just don’t look particularly convincing.
A semi-ensemble cast, including John Cusack, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover and the incredibly versatile Woody Harrelson, handle their respective roles with vigour and authenticity, but they are all arguably too good for such thin scriptwriting.
The worst part of 2012 is the ending; without wishing to venture into ‘spoiler’ zone, it is an anti-climax that reaches the same damp, unsatisfying type of conclusion as The Day After Tomorrow. The running time is surely a little indulgent; at over 150 minutes, we feel that maybe the editor got lost and some kind of very lazy monkey was drafted in as a replacement.
The film loses points for so shamelessly playing on the Mayan predictions for 2012. There is no evidence that the civilization were alluding to an apocalypse of some kind; even the suggestion that 2012 had some kind of significance to the Mayan people is a result of speculation. However, the film is science-fiction, not science-fact, and serves as an acceptable bout of escapism, and a good excuse to damage some stuff.
Perhaps the Mayans were simply predicting the onslaught of 3D, as Cameron, Burton and a few Titans bring about a new age in visual entertainment. If that is the case, then they were only a couple of years out. Not a bad guess.
There is a massive market for disaster films, and they will keep on coming because millions of people like to see a visual representation of absolute chaos. 2012 is not dissimilar to a takeaway – we want it, but it doesn’t taste that great.
Image: The Film Stage
March 24th, 2011 at 1:01 pm
What a load of old rubbish. I almost used a ruder word there. This film is rammed full of fail. For one there’s the absolute boat load (hah, yes…) of scientific fail, and then the sheer amount of contrived fail-scenes that make this one huge joke of a film. There’s a couple of mental bits of CGI for sure, but it’s just such a disappointment at every turn with the story line and the character development, and in the end the most pathetic excuse for a forced happy ending ever! I want my 2 hours of life back. Fail!