*** Official 2012 Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[todd s]

The world must be coming to an end... Critics have been giving this movie high marks....

From the moviefone website....

Variety | Todd McCarthyAdd Critic to FavoritesChicago Sun-Times | Roger EbertAdd Critic to Favorites
The mother of all disaster movies (and the father, and the extended family) spends half an hour on ominous set-up scenes (scientists warn, strange events occur, prophets rant and of course a family is introduced) and then unleashes two hours of cataclysmic special events hammering the Earth relentlessly.Read the full review

The visual effects are pretty sensational, delivering the cutting-edge CGI goods auds want and expect. It will be hard to watch "Earthquake'' ever again after this one.Read the full review

Entertainment Weekly | Lisa SchwarzbaumAdd Critic to Favorites
God forgive me, but I enjoyed the nerve-racking silliness of this newest, loudest exercise in destruction.Read the full review

The Hollywood Reporter | Stephen FarberAdd Critic to Favorites
Eye-popping special effects ensure that this movie will be a smash hit, and while it's entertaining for most of its excessive running time, the cheesy script fails to live up to the grandeur of the physical production.Read the full review

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I'm looking forward to having my bones rattled tomorrow night!

 

[Steve Christou]

Haha! Roger Ebert really liked it, no surprises there. The one film critic I most often agree with.

This is fun. "2012" delivers what it promises, and since no sentient being will buy a ticket expecting anything else, it will be, for its audiences, one of the most satisfactory films of the year. It even has real actors in it. Like all the best disaster movies, it's funniest at its most hysterical. You think you've seen end-of-the-world movies? This one ends the world, stomps on it, grinds it up and spits it out.

 

[TravisR]

It's encouraging that Roger Ebert gave it a good review.

 

[Steve_Tk]

Not sure that's a good review though. He basically says "for it's audience" it's good, meaning the people that would pay to go see it will enjoy. I'm sure it will do well, but these movies always drive me bonkers because the characters are such morons! Arg, I'll skip it, I just want a smart destruction movie.

 

[RobertR]

Originally Posted by Steve_Tk /forum/thread/274029/2012-roland-emmerich-disaster-end-of-the-world/90#post_3627720

Yeah, he calls it "Hollywood cheese", which isn't exactly calling it a good movie.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by RobertR

Yeah, he calls it "Hollywood cheese", which isn't exactly calling it a good movie.

Everyone's expectations are different but that's the best that I had hoped for with this movie.

 

[Will_B]

P.S. Sadly, the projection at the theater I was at sucked. There was some side-to-side shaking going on that softened what should have been razor-sharp special effects. If you can see this digitally somewhere, go for that instead of film.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "2012". Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.

All HTF member film reviews of "2012" should be posted to the [COLOR= #44708c]Official Review Thread[/COLOR].

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.


Crawdaddy

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Originally Posted by Will_B

P.S. Sadly, the projection at the theater I was at sucked. There was some side-to-side shaking going on that softened what should have been razor-sharp special effects. If you can see this digitally somewhere, go for that instead of film.

That's what I would have thought going into it. But my dad's big into the 2012 end-of-the-world theories but not so much into waiting in line, so we went to the older multiplex in the area which has some larger screens but only a couple that are digitally equipped. For the change, the film projection was reasonably sharp and it was worth trading off digital for a much larger, natively 2.39:1 screen. What an experience.

In terms of sheer spectacle, Emmerich has really outdone himself here. On that front, I doubt he'll ever be topped. From a story perspective, I actually thought this was a lot more ambitious than ID4. Are there parts that are ridiculous? Of course; we're talking about a family that basically outruns the end of days. Emmerich gives the picture just enough of a wink and a nod to acknowledge the ridiculousness and otherwise plays it quite straight. I appreciated the global perspective, with a very "Heroes" season one feel (but with major motion picture polish). Most of the actors are terrific here, considering what they have to work with. John Cusack plays his usual type of character, the kind we've gotten from "Say Anything" through "High Fidelity", which proves very interesting in a completely different sort of film. Danny Glover plays the unnamed president who provides a visual stand-in for Obama but is written to strike a very different note: sort of a non-partisan Jed Bartlet . Glover infuses the role with incredible warmth and dignity, combining the honest wholesomeness of a Jimmy Carter persona with the eloquent authority of a Ronald Reagan. In the second half of the film he makes a decision that serves as probably the least plausible moment in the film but the one we'd like to believe our president would make. That out of the G8 leaders only he and the Italian prime minister make the decision rings far more true. Chiwetel Ejiofor, as mentioned by Will, is fantastic. He was fantastic in 'Serenity', too. A true actor that takes all of his roles seriously. Thandie Newton, criminally underrated (except for her awful impersonation in Stone's awful Dubya biopic), plays off him wonderfully in a role of few scenes. In the wrong hands, the first daughter could have come across as whining and naive. Not in Newton's. Amanda Peet usually drives me crazy, and was the thing I was dreading most about this picture. I needn't have worried; she's a vanilla mom here and leaves more of her irritating quirks at home for this role. Oliver Platt's ambiguous high-ranking White House official sounds like a beer but looks like Bill Richardson. He fulfills James Rebhorn's Albert Nimzicki asshole function here, but has a few scenes sprinkled throughout that give his character greater complexity and humanity than Rebhorn's character in that 1994 blockbuster. Woody Harrelson's amazing in everything, so it's not surprise that he makes the stock conspiracy theorist character here amazing, too. The Russian characters are a lot of fun, and generally fleshed out far more than you'd expect for non-American characters. My favorite, though, was the Russian pilot played by Johann Urb. who knew the intimidating Russian heavies could be more entertaining as good guys than bad guys? Cusack's character's son is played by Liam James, seen weekly as young Shawn in the 1980's flashbacks that open every episode of "Psych". He's really effective there and he's quite good here. You see him work through his conflicting impulses toward his father, instead of being all jerk or all loving. Anyone who has seen "Henry Poole Is Here" should not be shocked that Morgan Lily is terrific as Cusack's character's seven-year-old, bed wetting daughter. She has to be vulnerable and terrified here, and she does both very, very well. There's a surprising amount of good character stuff here, which is mostly built from cliches but tweaked just enough to be effective. Most of the science builds off or plays with real science, at least enough that the technical explanations seemed coherent and mostly plausible.

 

[Steve Christou]

Not bad for a 3-day gross.

LOS ANGELES – Movie fans are lining up for the end of the world, with the disaster tale "2012" hauling in $65 million domestically to debut at No. 1.
"2012" has added $160 million overseas for a worldwide total of $225 million.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091115/ap_en_mo/us_box_office

 

[George_W_K]

I'm going to see this digitally tonight at the 10:00 showing. I didn't like his last couple of films so I wasn't expecting much so it's nice to hear some positive comments about this one. The SFX in the previews look top notch which is why I wanted to experience this on a large screen instead of waiting for the rental.

 

[LynxFX]

I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was long but didn't feel overly long. There are really only 3 major set pieces, but with enough "destruction minis" thrown in to keep it interesting. There is a thread on here about what does it take to make you go "oooohh" from special effects these days...well the entire Yellowstone sequence fits that bill for me. Incredible stuff. The LA destruction was great, but it was Yellowstone that gave me goosebumps (and before Woody Harrelson )

There is a preview on the Godzilla Blu-ray and the quality is spectacular. I can't wait to see this on Blu. I bet there are a ton of easter eggs hidden in the LA destruction as well.

 

[Brett_M]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt
Most of the science builds off or plays with real science, at least enough that the technical explanations seemed coherent and mostly plausible.

I always look forward to movies like this to see how they explain what is happening and why. To me, the science was in no way plausible. They mixed the conjunction and solar radiation cause -- first mistake. Neither is plausible. Conjunctions happen all the time and there is no evidence that they can cause harm. It's merely mentioned in the film. Solar particles are another story. Even in the peak years of solar eruptions, the particles released cannot heat up the core of the Earth. If the neutrinos were that powerful, they would have devastated the living biosphere of the planet long before microwaving the core, which is about 6000 degrees anyway. It's over 6000 kilometers from the surface surrounded by a layer of molten Iron and Nickel 2000 miles thick. The mantle is thicker than that and made of dense rock. No particle I know of can penetrate that deeply -- so the writers conceived of a new type of particle to explain it away. It's ludicrous. It's lame for another reason, too. Our planet is surrounded by a magnetic field that blocks high-energy solar particles. If it didn't, our planet would be as barren and lifeless as Mars. Our atmosphere would be stripped away and we would have no protection from the deadly radiation coming from the sun.

Even given it's shortcomings in terms of science, I enjoyed the hell out of the visual spectacle of the destruction.

 

[todd s]

I think they would need more than 2yrs to build the dockyard and arks.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Originally Posted by Brett_M

I always look forward to movies like this to see how they explain what is happening and why. To me, the science was in no way plausible,.

I don't think you understood how extremely low my standards are for plausibility from these movies are. If it even makes sense on its own terms, I'm happy. If it references real science, all the better. I don't expect it to get the real science it references right, since I feel like that's too much to ask from a Roland Emmerich picture.

 

[John Doran]

Originally Posted by Brett_M
Solar paticles are another story. Even in the opeak years ofl solar eruptions, the particles released cannot heat up the core of the Earth. If the neutrinos were that powerful, they would have devastated the living biosphere of the planet long before microwaving the core, which is about 6000 degrees anyway. It's over 6000 kilometers from the surface surrounded by a layer of molten Iron and Nickel 2000 miles thick. The mantle is thicker than that and made of dense rock. No particle I know of can penetrate that deeply -- so the writers conceived of a new type of particle to explain it away. It's ludicrous. It's lame for another reason, too. Our planet is surrounded by a magnetic field that blocks high-energy solar particles. If it didin't, our planet would be as barren and lifeless as Mars. Our atmosphere would be stripped away and we would have no protection from the deadly radiation coming from the sun.

neutrinos actually pass through the earth - they are almost totally non-reactive, (nearly) massless particles that could travel through a light-year's worth of lead without interacting with it. the absurd part in the movie was when it was suggested that the solar neutrinos suddenly "changed" and began interacting with stuff - you might as well make a movie about how lead just suddenly changes into gold, or oxygen into cyanide.

but whatever - i just ignored it and enjoyed the spectacle of the destruction.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt

Danny Glover plays the unnamed president who provides a visual stand-in for Obama =

Unnamed? He had a name: Wilson. Definitely not an unnamed character.

And other than ethnicity, I don't see Glover as a "visual stand-in" for Obama - the two look nothing alike, and Glover is 14 years older than Obama.

As an aside, I don't think Danny Glover would ever be elected president because of that damned lisp of his! He'd get on people's nerves during speeches and debates.

As for the movie... it was okay. Absurd, and too much of the dialogue consists of people saying "my God!" but it had some good action pieces. Not as exciting for me as "ID4" but enjoyable enough.

BTW, am I wrong, or was there a big continuity goof at the end? When everyone emerges from the ark, the obnoxious Russian boys give the dog to the little girl. Didn't she already HAVE the dog? IIRC, she cared for the pooch when the Russian babe bit the dust, so it makes no sense the boys ended up with the pup...

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Originally Posted by Colin Jacobson

Unnamed? He had a name: Wilson. Definitely not an unnamed character.

Wow. I went the entire movie without catching that. Every reference I remember was "Mr. President", "Sir" or "Daddy". My bad.

 

[Will_B]

Originally Posted by Colin Jacobson


ugh.

BTW, am I wrong, or was there a big continuity goof at the end? When everyone emerges from the ark, the obnoxious Russian boys give the dog to the little girl. Didn't she already HAVE the dog? IIRC, she cared for the pooch when the Russian babe bit the dust, so it makes no sense the boys ended up with the pup...

I was hoping the Russian woman survived, but the dog in the care of the weird twins sealed the fact that she did not. She had good genes. Or at least pretty genes. She should have survived.