.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Eons ago, the Mayan calendar stopped after the year 2012. Does the world end? Will it be spectacular to watch?

If Roland Emmerich has anything to say about it, 'Yes, there will be spectacular carnage in the end days'. To the tune of a rumoured $250+ million production budget, no less. Think about that for a second. You could make 17,300 Paranormal Activity's with the budget it takes to destroy the world on screen. Hmmm.

There is a story in 2012. Sort of. Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is a writer turned limo driver who has recently separated from his wife, played by the always good to look at Amanda Peet (Cusack and Peet have not worked together three times, 2012, Martian Child and Identity). They have two kids together and there is nothing better than a disaster for a father to show that he can take care of the offspring and win back the girl - right?

There is also a sub-plot about the political wrangling of building a new age Noah's Ark and amassing as many people, scientist and animals as they can in hopes of rebuilding the world in say, 2013.

But who really cares about the plot. Emmerich doesn't. He helped pen 2012 with Harold Kloser and together they work script magic so that the President of the United States can say such corn as "Today, we are one family". Sheeesh.

Woody Harrelson (who plays a radio host who forecasts the warnings and then, well, he meets his fate), Danny Glover, Oliver Platt and Chiwetel Ejiofor all assist in giving us persons to look at between destruction, but no one really stands out or isn't interchangeable.

2012 is rated PG-13 and expects to rake in money from the kiddies. And what kiddies want it eye popping effects. To this, Emmerich and his team do not disappoint. There is constant destruction throughout the film. Some scenes better than others, some much longer than they need to be. Earthquakes provide most of the damage but the best scene takes place in Los Angeles when Yellowstone Park gets a lava bath.

Seeing 2012 on the big screen is a must. With a good sound system, the theatre will rock as the action does not slow or stop much once it gets going. Fire, water, earthquakes, volcano's, you name it, all is represented and are participating threats to our existence. IF it is raining after your viewing of 2012, it is probably just Cecil B. DeMille salivating from the Heavens. This would have been his type of movie.

2012 is not a bad film, nor a good one. It is mindless action and ridiculous annihilation of the human race. Cusack's character is like a cat with nine lives and there are a few scenes (such as the one in the trailer where the car jumps out of the airplane) that are so over the top and ridiculous that you would not be alone if you chuckled a little at the absurdity of the situation.

That still, I am recommending 2012. I like to see things go boom and no one does it better than Roland. Cities fall, California falls into the ocean and the White House is taken our by the Naval Ship in a giant wave. Even if you don't enjoy it, six months from now you will be clamouring for the blu-ray DVD so that you can watch it again, louder and skipping through the boring crap to get to scenes that look fantastic on screen.

There are rumours of a 2013 television show that picks up from the survivors of 2012 (If you find this a spoiler, then hit yourself with a frying pan) . The continued saga of the human race doesn't interest me. Like The Road with Viggo Mortensen, I don't care what comes after. I want to see how it happens.