2012

MSAMQ Blog Movie Review: 2012

I stumbled upon the idea of world's end when i was seven and found the theory of world's end to be on 12.12.2012 just a few years back. As much as everyone claim that everything is in God's work, one, obviously, cant help to imagine how this God's work will be like. So yep, i have some odds and ends here and there put together and thus, i have my own imaginative version of world's end and it was sick. But not being able to exactly explain to anyone what i visualize, i was pretty glad that 2012 (the movie) came out. But, does the director's depiction of world's end is as horrific and insane as i have imagine, or is it just a natural-disaster flick?

Storyline:

As if the idea of world's end at 2012 not enough to scare us senseless, the movie began with the first sightings of possible end of the world evidences in 2009. Apparently, an indian scientist, monitoring the earth crust in a copper mine found out that the earth core is getting more and more imbalanced due to a high heat wave from the sun. Fast forward 3 years later, the story takes position from behind Jackson Curtis, author of bad-seller Farewell Atlantis and full-time father who neglects his family coz of his manuscript. With his family tearing apart (and not to mention, the world as well), Jackson will have one last chance to prove that he is a worthy father who does care about his family - by trying to escape the end of the world.

The Review:

The storyline may be a turn-off to few and trust me, it is a turn off. This may be a spoiler but if you're a true blue catastrophe savvy guy, you might figure out that the sypnosis above already suggested that it is not the end of the world. It is just another natural disaster; earthquake on a global scale. Yes, you can say it is the end of the world but nothing much out-of the ordinary considering the fact that the Mayans saw it coming first, the Bible and Quran already prophesize an armageddon, and yet the movie done nothing in 'answering' to any mythological or biblical stuff. I can say that the depiction of world's end in 2012 do fit in some prophecy in the holy scriptures but there is too many loop holes and gaps that it turned out to be entirely a scientifical, natural disaster movie. Also, you may feel that the movie's storyline is made via tracing the exact storyline from Day After Tomorrow on a sheet of transparent paper, retyping it in Microsoft Word with a few tweaks here and there, and projected with an OHP via Microsoft Powerpoint with very fancy animation and graphical images. It is that much of an exact copy.

But you may wonder why i mention that long winded analogy beforehand. Well, the storyline, while of an exact copy, is presented in a way that we all love - with very, very fancy animation and graphical images. Yes, the graphic is insane and the size of the destruction is phenomenal. For a guy behind Independence Day, Deep Impact and Day After Tomorrow, this, of course, is nothing of a surprise. But with an added twist, the movie can be considered a mix of all the previous three movies. There's fire and explosion like in Independence Day, massive tsunamis ala Deep Impact, and gigantic cracks and quakes of in Day After Tomorrow. Needless to say, graphical depiction of a natural disaster putting humanity at the brink of extinction (again) in 2012 is the best one yet!

The Verdict:

For the most part; the movie is exactly as is shown in its trailers. The storyline is predictable (and not too mention, almost 3 hours duration) and it does get draggy at some part, especially the 'intermission' between escape scenes where the characters start talking to one another. The director obviously attempt to build up the characters here but with the distraction of the catastrophic eye-candy beforehand and the future ones to expect, i found out that this is the time, i observed, that the audience in the cinema took out their phones and start replying text messages. In a way, the intermission give you a good time-out from mayhem but by imposing boring dialogues between characters, it's not really a good strategy. But when the end begins (pun joke intended), things get really really hot - and i mean, molten-lava-spewing-from-the-earth's-core hot. There's plenty of narrow escape scenes in which is both heart stopping but makes the storyline even more predictable. Narrow escapes makes Jackson seems almost immortal and those that stick with him lives. But a moment someone strays away like a lamb, they die. It's good heart pumping plot but those who can see the pattern will find this who-lives-and-who-dies game very predictable. The only unpredictable element in the movie is the funny moments. The movie does feature aplenty and the fact that it popped out at the most intense-most moments, the funny moments and catchy jokes are simply brilliant.

I give this movie a 6.7/10 - Good: The graphics and unfitting humour, Bad: The predictability, And The Ugly: The draggy part of storyline. While there's nothing beyond awesome in the movie,the movie is indeed entertaining and i still recommend you to watch this movie in the cinema with big screens and super loud surrounds, that you can actually feel the vibration in the room. Downloading and watching this movie in a laptop will not do justice for this gorgeous movie but on the upside, you can fast forward the boring, predictable storyline. So yep, feel free to leave a comment on the movie under the comment section and tell us what you think!

-Adnin

Escaping the end of the humanity immortally, one narrow misses at a time