2012 (2009)
We were warned
It’s here, the last day and review of 2020. I even managed to find the perfect movie to fit it. As you probably are aware, ‘tis been a pretty rough year for plenty of people - I’m not really one of them. My immune system literally laughs at the great COVID despite it being rather lethal to others, I’ve been working remotely and enjoying the extra time in my own home and saving on that gas money involved in travel - and the fact people are worried enough to not be all about being in your personal space is a godsend to someone who doesn’t like people getting close to them. Still, talk to a lot of extroverted people who had careers or enjoyment out of socializing and hitting the gyms and it might as well be the end of the world for most the year. Wait, did you say end of the world? Why yes, I think it is time for 2012.
Disaster movies aren’t new, but one came out in oh-nine that really went for broke. Such that it’s now available in 4k and looking pretty good even in the effects work. Of course, it’s a bit more impressive when you think about the level of tech and work that had to go into it, but we can talk more about that later maybe. Our plot is really simple - Earth is suffering a major disaster and our human cast needs to just try and survive. If you want a bit more than that - something along the lines of the sun having an outburst that causes a reaction in the earths core that in turn causes a whole lot of shifting of the crust that results in massive earthquakes and tsunamis that’ll wipe out darn near everything on the face of the planet.
On the human side of things, the tagline of the movie poster is a bit deceiving - because most the populace isn’t warned. Most find out pretty much the hour of the worst about to start. We do follow a few groups throughout though - a separated family coming together and trying to find a way to survive. A scientist putting out the warning. A family you don’t really care about because the kids and dad are a bit of a jerk and any last minute redemption arc won’t really save that. Each has it’s own little intricacies to it, but largely it’s pretty quickly overruled by the simplicity of “stay alive” that the disaster spreads. The disaster itself really doesn’t get any personification here like it feels like it does in some movies - it’s just the happenings and location drivers.
The actors do a darn good job here. Some you might recognize, some you probably won’t, but either way they do a good job. The weakest link might be the kids, although honestly for the most part even those do a fine job of acting. It’s a bit of an important thing, because outside of the action-packed tensions of the disaster scenes, all you are left with is the characters. Some, through probably a combination of acting and writing, even manage to get some nice emotional connections with barely any screen time. It can be a bit ham-fisted in the running of the “don’t live forever” and “life’s too short to waste” and “it takes humanity to be human” - but even when it is it’s still being done with a nice amount of acting chops to make you at least recognize something as being emotional or potent.
You could say it’s a little camp-y!
I’m not going to lie, the main reason most would probably come to this movie is for the action parts. The sweet thrills of narrow escapes and the eye-pleasing carnage of destruction spreading across the fake world. Nicest part? It looks good. You’d expect it to perhaps not look so great, given that it’s from over ten years ago, but it on almost all accounts is great - even in 4k. Things are crisp and clean, and the amount of stuff we would take for granted as just being done off-handed by the computer is absolutely all over the place. Crumbling buildings, the ground opening up, fireballs being hurled through sky by enraged volcanoes, massive tidal waves snaking over the tops of mountains - it’s got it all. Oh yes, and explosions.
Now, although the action moments won’t leave you sleeping, I will point out that it’s a long movie. Now, yes, for me anything over a buck thirty is a long movie - but we are talking two and a half hours here. Although the character moments are used to build those emotional ties and further progress the severity of events and locations being traveled to, it is still slower moments. The movie as a whole doesn’t really feel like it’s that long, but there is a moment or two where you do notice that “oh, this is still going.” It does have perhaps a little twist or two - but it’s less some super huge plot change and more just “oh, they went this way instead of that” kind of twist.
Audio works well here as well, it’s all balanced quite well so you won’t have any understanding issues. Sound effects work well for whats going on, giving you plenty of emphasis and immersion style sounds. Background audio is there, and I really don’t recall any music that happens to pop up through out - yet another situation of it helping out for scenes as it wants to, but not sticking around afterwards. It all comes together nicely, despite the length. Now, usually if I spit something out like “too long” I like to point out where things could maybe be shortened up a bit. Here, It’d probably be a lot of the character moments - the emotional connection you get from one “good bye” scene is fine, they don’t really need to have them for nearly as many characters as they do, and there’s a few moments where a scene seems like it’s perhaps just an extra step that didn’t really need to be there.
Rock the world.
If you want a mighty fine looking disaster movie of worldly proportions, this will probably work fine for you. It’s a bit long, but it looks good and has plenty of decent character moments. It could serve as a good reminder that things could be worse for some people, but also likes to put in that little glimmer of hope and “you can make it.” It could be a good filler to just have some snacks and hang out with a few people, phasing in and out of the movie as conversations go - you wouldn’t really miss too much plot at the very least.