2012

Disaster movies are a hell of a thing. When they are good they are the definition of a day at the movies; pure entertainment. There is inherent drama and suspense when a character faces a threat so much bigger than himself or anyone can control. Disaster movies are a casualty of the CGI world we live in, that is they don’t carry the weight they used to. There was something so exciting about movie magic. When you went to the movies, especially a disaster movie, there was a level of amazement with the spectacle. No matter what you were seeing you knew that some part of it was actually filmed and actually had to have existed in some way, which added a real element of peril to the film. When you’d see something incredible it made you think, “How’d they do that?” But now movie magic is dead and nobody wonders anymore, because the answer is simple: computers.

“2012” is the latest disaster movie from Roland Emmerich. The Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world in the year 2012, and the movie delivers on that very prediction. Emmerich has done disaster before, and this might be the last disaster movie that anyone ever has to make. Every possible natural disaster occurs in this film; earthquake, volcano, tsunami, you name it and it’s in there. And while I do pine for the days of movie magic, the first half of this movie is just so mesmerizing. It’s a window into Emmerich’s boundless imagination; it’s incredible that someone could conceive of such carnage and to see it fleshed out in front of you is spellbinding. But the film is ultimately way too long for its own good. The film follows a family as they attempt to survive the end of the world. But the last half of the movie is so boring and unnecessary. I will try not to give too much away, but there is one character that grapples with what would actually be a moral dilemma if the world were to end, who to save. I admired the pragmatic character who had the strength, courage and ability to make the hard but necessary decisions. But by the end of the film he is turned into a villain in favor of a more idealistic perspective which in real life would spell the doom of mankind.

I choose to believe that if the world were faced with some disaster it would play out more like the movie “Blindness,” and less like this one does. It’s bleak, I know, but it’s realistic. This film is too hopeful with its message, and I’m not sure if this film even needed a message. That’s not the only problem with this film though. I recommend that if you see this film you leave about half way through. You will get to see the amazing spectacle, something that you would surely never get to witness otherwise, and you won’t have to suffer through all the tripe at the end. If this movie had been an hour shorter it might have worked, but it just falls apart structurally and loses everything that interesting about it. I’m sure after the real year 2012 there will be another disaster prophecy and Emmerich will be compelled to make another disaster movie, so he’ll get another shot to make it right that time. That is if we all survive to see it.