2012 – Review

movie reviewAlright. Another world destruction porn from the director who graced our screens with movies like Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and 10.000bc. Mr. Roland Emmerich. Mr. apocalypse.

For me, to be honest, there was no other reason to see the movie than the VFX. I didn’t care for the story at all and went to see the movie without any expectations. It turned out that i made a wise decision in doing so. A lot of story parts and the whole structure strongly reminded me on Independence Day. Independence Day was one of the first movies i really waited for back then. I tried to catch every tv report of it and couldn’t wait to see it. I saw it the day it was released and it wasn’t able to hold up on the expectations i had. Sure it was a fun ride but overall… flat. I hoped for a more global movie. Not just focussed in the united states. So much for the past…

Now 2012 does a few things better than ID4 did. It shows a little bit more on a global scale. It’s not totally focussed on the united states. Scientifically… well you shouldn’t even use that word in context with the movie. The acting was flat too. What makes me come to the conclusion that this director will never be able to do a movie with heart and soul. Roland Emmerich is a technical director. There are so many high class actors in that movie that aren’t pushed enough. They could have given that movie so much more than they actually did. John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Danny Glover and Woody Harrelson. Man… what a cast! Every single one of them was so far away from what they are able to do! Well… Woody Harrelson, playing the weirdo, was doing what he basically always does. So his performance for that particular role was the best in the whole movie. I love him in such roles. But all the others… flat. The Day After Tomorrow had a liiittle bit heart in it. The relationship between father and son. What the father does to rescue his son. There was, for me, an easy way to connect with our heroes. And it was played better by the actors. No idea why. But in 2012 i never got connected to one of the characters. “Of course they’ll make it!” They always do. It’s more guessing who of the unneccessary characters dies. You somehow can tell right away. and you wait for it to happen. And when it happens you think “finally!”.

Alright, enough ranting. Now to the fun part. The VFX. They are good. You really can’t complain and you totally see where all the budget went. The part where they escape from L.A. is literally breathtaking. A rollercoaster ride. When everything falls apart and the earth cracks open… it’s fun to see. So rich of detail. Makes me want to have the renderfarms these guys had to do these fx. Unfortunately you get so bombarded with eyecandy that you soon start to think “oh yes, another explosion…” or “i know what’ll happen… the plane crashes… what else…”. It’s not boring but very predictable. Too predictable.

And that’s what ruins the movie for me. No surprises. You always know what will happen. And then it happens…

A suggestion… check out Emmerichs “Moon 44”. I dug this out a while ago and really enjoyed it. I grew up with that movie and its design and style. It’s outdated but storywise much better than 2012.

My rating for it is 6.8/10.

2012 on IMDb

Leave a Reply