When you are going to see a movie which has already impressed you with its outstanding trailer, then it’s obvious to expect something great and out of the ordinary. That was the state I was in while entering the theater to watch 2012. Excitingly waiting for the movie to start, I had many questions in mind about how the director will tackle the various ongoing problems of the world while showcasing the Ultimate End of our civilization? And majorly what will be his take on the famous religions of the world when the characters will be talking about their Final Moments?
And to my surprise the movie took off from our part of the world in 1999, where an Indian Geologist religiously named Dr. Satnam, discovers that the Earth is heating up to an extent that is causing a shift in its tectonic plates. He passes on the news of this deadly discovery to his American friend Dr. Adria, who straight away takes it to the White House as an emergency situation. Coming back to the future in 2012, the movie plunges into the amazing graphical world where the earth is sinking due to the high density earthquakes and all the historical monuments are falling left and right like lifeless toys.
Visually it’s a fabulous portrayal of the End of the World from the director “Roland Emmerich” who is known for his mesmerizing work in his earlier movies such as “Independence Day”, “The Day After Tomorrow” and “Godzilla”. The moment you witness the first shattering sequence of the earth making a huge wide gap and everything falling into it, you get transported into a gripping enigmatic world altogether. The spectacular special effects unfolding every 15 minutes in the movie, just keep you glued to the screen with your jaws wide open. The disastrous happenings worldwide, the enormous water tides coming over, the burning volcanic eruptions and ugly tsunamis spreading over the world map just bring on the viewer to the edge of his seat.
Hence, if you are in for some great Computer Graphics and want to see a few terrific nail biting scenes where the heroes are just climbing up before the earth sinks in, then this is the perfect choice to spend your valuable time.
But if you are expecting a great movie, rich on emotional and futuristic content as suggested by the impressive body of work by its director, then you may remain quite unsatisfied at the end. In simple words, 2012, undoubtedly scores high on technical and graphical terms but content wise it falls short of the earlier disaster movies from the director. It lacks the emotional depth in its characterization due to which the viewer is not able to relate with any of the characters fighting with the unwanted situation. In order to cover more number of people on the screen, the script fails to develop any one character in particular, which as a result leaves a very cold kind of impact on the viewer. The movie also tends to become a bit slow at times but bounces back with every new destruction sequence on the screen.
The entire cast delivers fine performances as required by the subject, but they are also handicapped by the poor characterization in the script. John Cusack is pleasant to see but has nothing great written for him in particular. Amanda Peet is just there to give her constant looks of amazement. Danny Glover as the president, Thandie Newton as his daughter, Oliver Platt as the president's chief of staff and Jimi Mistry as Dr. Satnam simply play their parts as directed. Only Chiwetel Ejiofor looks like more concerned about the humanity factor in the movie and makes an impact.
2012 also tends to be repetitive in few sequences which strongly give you a feeling of “seen before”. The movie even reminded me one of the early 80’s disaster movies called “Earthquake”. In fact this time, Emmerich also seems to be inspired by his own masterpieces from the past. He surely surpasses them all in terms of mass destruction of the globe, but talking about the rich emotional quotient of those Hit movies, 2012 comparatively scores quite low. Emmerich, intentionally skips many important questions related to various countries and religions practiced by different people residing all over the globe.
The main drawback of the movie is that even though it revolves around the concept of end of the world and its civilization, still it is unable to frighten you with the scary thought. The movie keeps on impressing you with its exceptional execution constantly but at the same time, fails to take you in on emotional grounds. In a nutshell, it’s a film very rich in the Cinematography and Computer Graphics department, but is also quite unimpressive in its content.
Interestingly the movie ends with a clear message to the World and its entire population. It simply says that “Now is the time that we all have to unite together at the earliest or else the nature will unite us deliberately in its own destructive way.”
Rating : 3 / 5
