2012
I just saw the new Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow) movie “2012” and I just couldn’t resist blogging about it.
So what do I have to say about it? Well, if you are into special effects, this is your movie. In fact it is the mother load of all special effects. Ninety nine point nine percent of the movie is about special effects. Should you expect something else from a movie that is about the end of the world? I guess not. Now, there have been many movies – also by Roland Emmerich – that deal with some catastrophe that results in the annihilation of the world as we know it. But this one, too me was a total let-down. An insult to human intelligence.
Instead of a disaster movie, this is a disaster of a movie.
None of the other movies (for example The Day after Tomorrow) are in any way scientifically accurate. Which is ok; if you wanted to watch a documentary you would turn on National Geographic or Discovery Channel. But I would say that about ninety percent of the other movies at least try to tell some convincing story. And the director at least tries to draw you into the movie by helping you with the “suspense of disbelief“. That ingredient is essential to me: I have to be able to forget about unrealistic plots, any plot holes and the outrageous action going on. If a director succeeds in that, I am willing to forget and forgive a lot. Usually it works, but sometimes it doesn’t. And obviously when it doesn’t, it ruins my movie experience.
Before I go on with 2012 and why it didn’t work for me, let me give you one (other) example of how directors can ruin a movie for me with just one plot hole.
In 2008 Hollywood came up with a remake of the 1951 classic Sci-Fi movie “The Day the earth stood still“. Keanu Reeves plays the role of an alien (Klatuu) that comes to Earth as a messenger of the impending doom (aka: the end of the world). I am not going to discuss the whole plot here, but what ruined the movie totally for me, was the moment Reeves (the first ever alien captured on this world) is being interrogated. Here we have an alien, possibly dangerous, that is being interrogated one on one with nobody at all observing the whole deal. Yes, no camera’s, no mirrored glass with a bunch of scientists behind it: nothing. Just one guy in a black suit with a lie detector and a bunch of guys standing outside watching the corridors of the building.
Uhm, ok people. This is possibly the most important interrogation in the history of human mankind and no one is monitoring what is going on? No one is watching? No one is interested in what the alien is going to say? They will just read the report on it like he’s just another criminal? Off course Klatuu uses some alien power to get up and just leave the interrogation room and just walks out of the building.
Right. That was it. All carefully build up suspense of disbelief right out of the window. And I never was able to get back into the movie.
But back to 2012.
What ruins the movie for me is that most of us know a bit more about science now than, let’s say 15 years ago. Most of us have watched a documentary or two on Discovery or National Geographic about natural disasters and what happens when they strike. Now, since 2012 is set in our world and not some weird parallel universe (like Watchmen), one would expect that the same physics apply to this world right?
Well, problem number one is the portrayal of how our lead characters escape from LA when disaster strikes. I have a YouTube clip on that below. People, I don’t mind that we bend the laws of physics a bit to suit the plot, but come on. How conveniently that the earth only opens up behind the characters and allows them to outrun what looks like the entire San Andreas fault line? As the main character in the movie says (in a spooky voice): “what are the odds?”
Then, after escaping LA, they move on to Yellowstone Park. If you have watched any documentaries on Yellowstone, you know it is essentially the largest semi-dormant Volcano on Earth. It is also knows as the “Yellowstone Caldera“, and also referred to as “the Yellowstone Supervolcano“. And sure enough: when our heroes get to Yellowstone, it erupts. But yet again our heroes escape. They manage first to drive ahead of and then fly out of the pyroclastic cloud. Which means the laws of physics just ceased to exist because a pyroclastic cloud moves at speeds in excess of or, as great as. 700 km/hr (450 mi/h). The gas that is part of the cloud can reach temperatures of about 1,000 °C (1,830 °F). Also, the combined energy of the Yellowstone Caldera exploding into a supervolcano would be more than all the atom bombs in this world combined.
Folks, as I said, I don’t mind a movie being unrealistic, but the scale on which 2012 tries to pull this off, is on a non-measurable, non-existing scale. And these are just two examples. But the movie is riddled with them.
So yeah, it was fun to see all the special effects, but the story just was a big let down.
Take a look at this 5 minute exclusive clip from the movie and tell me I’m not right about this movie.
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Oh yeah, I saw this movie too and somehow I wasn’t drawn into the movie at all! yes the special effects were great and I loved the idea of arks but it just wasn’t much more then special effect
Especially the scenes with the planes irritated me to no end! I was almost ready to scream: “Pull that stupid plane up already!!!” No instead they try and maneuver around and under falling buildings
And true outrunning that pyroclastic cloud was so lame! The moment yellowstone blows and you actually stood where they stood then 2 seconds later (probably shorter, I’m not even sure you have the time to realize what happened) you’re vaporized.