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Jackson Curtis (Chicago’s own John Cusack) races against certain death in Roland Emmerich’s disaster movie “2012.” |
Collapsing skyscrapers!
Gargantuan tidal waves!
Crashing airplanes!
White-knuckle escapes!
Bad acting!
Dogs that never die!
Eardrum-busting dialogue!
Roland Emmerich’s epic doomsday thriller “2012” packs in everything anyone could ever want in a vintage 1970s disaster movie crammed with second-tier movie stars and outrageous special effects.
Don’t even bother with the first 48 minutes of “2012.” The good stuff doesn’t start until 49 minutes into the story, when Southern California turns into earthquake alley, a big chunk of Los Angeles slides into the ocean, and thousands of people fall out of their (literally) split-level homes into giant cracks opening up in the earth.
No mistake. “2012” marks Emmerich’s masterpiece.
After creating a trifecta of apocalyptic demolition derbies with “Godzilla,” “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow,” Emmerich tops himself with an end-of-the-world scenario based on an ancient Mayan calendar that stops on Dec. 21, 2012, presumably the date that earth ceases to exist.
“The Mayans saw this coming thousands of years ago!” muses Dr. Adrian Hemsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an American scientist in charge of keeping the story moving and explaining stuff along the way.
The Mayans apparently understood that huge, 21st-century sun flares would produce radiation that turns the galaxy into a large microwave oven, superheating the Earth’s inner core and causing the planet’s crust to destabilize. (Read more…)