MOVIE REVIEW ... 2012

MOVIE REVIEW ... 2012

Just like Irwin Allen, who became the 'Master of Disaster' with hits like The Towering Inferno, director Roland Emmerich loves destruction. Almost all of his movies have featured massive set-pieces full of catastrophe everyone can enjoy. 2012 is no different except with a bigger budget in which to blow things to smithereens. Anyone wanting high art should look elsewhere as 2012 ensures every commercial dollar goes its way. According to the Mayan calendar, Earth is due to be destroyed in 2012. Oblivious to this fact are most of its inhabitants including divorced chauffeur Jackson (John Cusack). As he goes about his business he discovers, via an address by the U.S President (Danny Glover), the world is facing an unavoidable apocalypse. Attempting to escape the seemingly inevitable, Jackson tries to save his family as the earth's core drags its victims towards a blackening doom. Subtlety has never been Emmerich's strong suit and 2012 is about as delicate as a sledgehammer. There's something rather ghoulish about paying to see the world hand out revenge against humanity's decadence although the ridiculous plotting and stunning CGI banish such thoughts. 2012 is best enjoyed with a tub of popcorn and crinkly wrapped chips as the deafening noise it generates ensures audiences won't be distracted. Making it work brilliantly are the pacing and the acting, which are done with such conviction that the vastly overlong running time reasonably flies. You can't help but be drawn into the mayhem and what's interesting is 2012's clever amalgamation of almost every disaster cliché. Falling buildings, waterlogged ships and natural cataclysms all blend into a searing maelstrom without a hint of mean-spiritedness. Unlike others, 2012 succeeds in generating suspense and avoids the dull sorrowfulness bogging down events. There's a knowingness in that the film-makers know they're making a silly film by injecting some impish humour within its drama. You either go along for the ride or walk out, although it's sheer spectacle should draw the harshest viewer in. Anyone seeing 2012 would know what they're letting themselves in for and it delivers every cent of the paid admission. The end of the world has never looked so good with this mega-buck bonanza providing entertaining nonsense amongst the earth's crumbling rubble. Movie Review Rating 7 / 10 Movie Review by Patrick Moore 2012 released in Australia on Thursday 12th November 2009. If you have any comments to make about this Movie Review, then please use the comment box, titling your comments with Movie Review 2012 Patrick Moore's Movie Review is an alternative look at current movie releases in Australia. Official HomePage click HERE