TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Movie review: Special effects can't rescue '2012'

Columbia Pictures

John Cusack is a limo driver in the know trying to rescue his daughter Morgan Lily as disaster overtakes Los Angeles in '2012.'

ADVERTISEMENT

By JAKE COYLE

The Associated Press

Published: November 12, 2009

Cataclysmic disaster and apocalyptic doom, as foretold by Hollywood, have a way of bringing together broken families, revealing the unseen heroism of deadbeat dads and neatly disposing of their rivals.

This, too, is the micro-level drama of "2012," the latest nihilistic disaster flick to revel in the destruction of the planet. John Cusack plays the castoff father (Jackson Curtis), a failed novelist getting by as a limo driver. We greet him as he rolls out of bed, spilling his copy of "Moby Dick" as he rushes out the door, disheveled and late for a camping trip with his kids.

His ex-wife, Kate (Amanda Peet), has shacked up with a plastic surgeon named Gordon Silberman (Tom McCarthy) who drives a Porsche, an obvious clue that we're not meant to like him.

When the apocalypse comes, Gordon, for a time, proves quite useful as an amateur pilot. But it's no spoiler to say Gordon is not long for this world -- after all, he stands in the way of Jackson's redemption.

The Curtis family may be our ground-level protagonists in "2012," but the ground is shifting. Because of explosions on the sun, neutrinos (that old action movie villain) are heating up the earth's core and will soon destabilize the planet's crust, birthing volcanoes and shifting tectonics.

Hip to this development is government scientist Adrian Helmsley, played by the exceptional Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose gravity -- best seen in 2002's "Dirty Pretty Things" -- elevates "2012." He alerts the president's chief of staff, Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt), who quickly brings Helmsley to the president (Danny Glover, apparently filling in for Morgan Freeman).

The government secretly establishes what Anheuser calls "the most important timetable in the history of mankind" -- a schedule for the most important and most wealthy to be evacuated in confidential arks.

Curtis catches wind of the conspiracy theories of a loony radio DJ (Woody Harrelson, perfectly cast to type). Thus, he and his family are just moments ahead of the collapse of Los Angeles. A number of close scrapes follow, as Curtis narrowly steers them through volcanic explosions, earthquakes and, at one point, a subway that somehow soars above their airplane.

California falls into the ocean and much of the world follows suit.

The director of "2012," Roland Emmerich, has destroyed the world before. His films include "The Day After Tomorrow," "Independence Day" and "Godzilla." He seems to enjoy nothing more than seeing the most famous monuments toppled. The White House, vaporized in "Independence Day," here meets its end by a tidal wave bearing an aircraft carrier.

The origin of the current rash of doomsday movies isn't hard to decipher: Science has determined Earth won't exist in its present state forever and global warming may well expedite things. "2012" has no overt reference to environmental issues, but there's a smack of familiarity when the scientists in the movie realize the destruction is coming faster than they predicted.

But "2012" is less interested in plausible truth than it is in blockbuster box-office. Publicity for the film has stoked interest in Dec. 21, 2012 as doomsday, a prediction often attributed to the Mayans, who foresaw the date as the end of a cycle, not of the planet.

This is just another doomsday film, with new digital effects and stock scenes patched together from "Jaws," "The Poseidon Adventure" and "Armageddon."

And a long one at that. For too much of the 2 1/2-hour "2012," the end is not near.

MOVIE REVIEW

'2012' *½

MOVIE BOARD RATING: PG-13; intense disaster sequences and some language

STARS: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton, Woody Harrelson, Danny Glover

DIRECTOR: Roland Emmerich

PLOT: "2012" is an epic adventure about global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.

RUNNING TIME: 158 minutes

ON THE WEB: www.whowillsurvive2012.com

Movies are rated on a scale of zero to four stars.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT