2012: The Movie Review

"Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists and governments. '2012' is an epic adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggles of the survisors."

- http://www.whowillsurvive2012.com/ -

A colossal letdown. That's how I would sum up my experience of watching '2012' and disappointing and below-par were the first two words that came to my mind after watching the movie.

It was an anti-climax in other words, not the least after all the hype and euphoria that was surrounding it pre-screening. '2012' was on the lips of every individual that I spoke to in the run up to the premiere of the movie. The trailer did its job pretty well, with unwary cinema-goers like me buying the fact that it was going to be one hell of a blockbuster. How wrong was I!

And so I headed into the cinema upbeat and in a state of utter excitement. I was glad I could watch the movie so soon after it was released, and had a premature picture in my mind that this would rank as one of the best movies I had seen in my lifetime.

Getting to the nitty-gritty bits, I would generally say that the plot was highly predictable. As such, you could anticipate what was going to happen next and this to a great extent killed the suspense of the movie. Expect for in the beginning of the movie, where they showed Satnam and the mining facility in India, the plot was lacking in immersive trepidation.

Incredibly glorified in the trailer, the special effects were not up to the standard. There were a good amount of scenes with decent special effects, but too often than not, the parts where the buildings came crashing down to the ground looked downright lame.

The bright spark though was that the cast chosen were well-suited to the make-up of the movie. The role played by Chiwetel Ejiofor as Adrian Helmsley was a blazing success. He made the character of Adrian as his own. His role was sometimes serious, but otherwise, his easy going character bode well with the movie on the whole.

Moreover, the Russian billionaire, Yuri Karpov, was another good portrayal. His character had a distinctive flavor to it. In addition to that, the other members of the cast played their roles with excellence too.

What baffles me most is that how can an old hand like Roland Emmerich, who directed ‘Independence Day’ and ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, direct a movie which is inferior in terms of overall experience compared to his previous two blockbusters. Roland is a highly capable director and surely he will bounce back with more gusto after learning from his mistakes.

Besides that, there is also a resemblance of '2012' with ‘The Day After Tomorrow’. Some might feel that the general flow of the story was same in both the movies. This is because both of the movies hinge on natural catastrophes that befall the human race. Therefore, Roland should have ventured into another movie genre.

To sum it all up in a nutshell, this movie has fallen some way off its desired benchmark that is to be an epic movie. However, the movie still makes for a good viewing, better than the likes of Terminator Salvation, but definitely not in the class of the Transformers franchise.

Overall Rating: 7/10
Plot: 6/10
Special Effects: 6.5/10
Cast: 8.5/10