Mountain Fog2012: DESTRUCTION OF THE MASSES, FOR THE MASSES
November 6th 2009 09:34
Learning to surf is easy once you know how to snowboard.
What an experience it would be to peer inside the frazzled brain of Roland Emmerich: Aliens! Monsters! Natural disasters! Danny Glover as President! The man obviously has problems.
But the director with a consistent plan to sell disaster to Hollywood and then the world is back once again – only he’s upgraded the casting department and added more memory to his Scriptomatic 64. The result is 2012 – the mother of all silver screen cataclysms.
The world is collapsing beneath us, but this time it’s not global warming or economic crises. It’s something much bigger, as the tectonic plates are shifted by – and excuse me while I Google the word ‘science’ – some funky neutrinos being emanated from the Sun, heating the Earth’s core and causing massive geological disruptions, magma flows and Hummer-swallowing crevices.
Thankfully, the US government isn’t just standing by, doing nothing. There’s a contingency plan in place to save the richest, brightest and most important, operating on a timeframe provided to President Wilson (Danny ‘I’m getting too wooden for this shit’ Glover) by government geologist, Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
The manifest doesn’t include failed writer, middling limo driver and defunct divorcee Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), not that he’s one to follow the playbook. As disaster unfolds around him, Jackson drags his disaffected kids, ex-wife (Amanda Peet) and her new boyfriend (Thomas McCarthy) through the carnage, playing a long shot for freedom from God’s rough justice.
Cue CGI destruction, clichéd close escapes and the most remarkable set of coincidences since the creation of our own solar system. And if you’re thinking it’s quite a small cast for an Emmerich film, I’ve totally mislead you: this thing is overflowing with characters, and you’ll care for most of them like a pack of rats on a rolling barrel.
Not that 2012 is as overblown as either Independence Day or The Day After Tomorrow: there’s little in the way of embarrassing flag-waving or patriotic speeches. But you can’t quite be sure if Emmerich and co really intended for it to be that way.
John Cusack enjoys his free trial of Google Wave.
You also can’t be sure if the filmmakers intended for 2012 to be as funny as it undoubtedly is. As implausibility is thrown on top of happy coincidence and overabundant CGI, the film becomes so laughable it flips inside out, the ludicrous nature becoming a redeeming feature.
And proceedings definitely benefit from an unfairly excellent cast. Cusack is as charming as ever, even if he sleepwalks through his part for much of the film. Ejiofor too is a great presence, giving 2012 a touch more class than it would otherwise have. In the supporting roles, Peet and McCarthy are engaging, while Oliver Platt continually threatens to make every scene his own as an overly pragmatic Presidential adviser.
Indeed, Platt’s mere presence turns out to be vital: he lends proceedings a stamp of hammy authenticity, forcing audiences to not take 2012 too seriously, even as a roid-raging mother nature ruthlessly wipes out six billion people. And that’s really the beauty of the film: it may be loud, obnoxious, and frequently offensive, but it wears its stupid badge loud and proud. It’s not kidding anybody; just make sure your not either when you go to see it.
Check out the trailer below:
| 43 |
| Vote |
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Fun read!
I haven't enjoyed anything that Emmerich has touched, in fact ID4,day After Tomorrow and 10,000 years BC were so frustrating they fell into the hulk-smash-tv category....yet I still end up some how seeing his films and this one has John Cisack and Oliver Platt...I'm curious to see what Cusack does in the typeof film he must hate.
No I must break this vicious cycle if for no other reason that out of respect for Irwin Allen...I love a good disaster flick.
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight