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‘2012’: film review.

If you rolled every disaster movie into one spectacular package, you would wind up with something close to "2012," Roland Emmerich's latest apocalyptic fantasy.

By Stephen Farber

Stephen Farber

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If you rolled every disaster movie into one spectacular package, you would wind up with something close to “ 2012 ,” Roland Emmerich’s latest apocalyptic fantasy.

This time Emmerich and co-writer Harald Kloser use the Mayan calendar and other end-of-days prophecies for their doomsday scenario, which imagines the world coming to an end in 2012. Eye-popping special effects ensure that this movie will be a smash hit, and while it’s entertaining for most of its excessive running time, the cheesy script fails to live up to the grandeur of the physical production.

Stitching together highlights from “Earthquake,” “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Volcano,” and even “Titanic,” the movie follows the fate of a dozen characters as they fall victim to a series of calamities brought on by some kind of solar meltdown. The issue is not so much what caused the cataclysm but how humanity will respond to the crisis. A venal presidential adviser (Oliver Platt) has the task of handpicking the people who will be allowed to board the atomic-age equivalent of Noah’s ark. So the film aims to ask profound questions about how we choose the people worth saving. But profundity is not the director’s strong suit.

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Luckily, Emmerich’s movies — which include the disaster flicks “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow” — never take themselves too seriously, so it’s easy to enjoy the often laughable dialogue without balking. Credibility takes a flyer near the start, when an amateur pilot (Tom McCarthy) is able to steer a small plane through all kinds of fireballs and find his way to a tiny landing strip in Yellowstone National Park. You know the major characters aboard the airplane (John Cusack and Amanda Peet) aren’t going to meet a fiery death this early in the movie, so you tolerate the ludicrous plot device.

Every disaster movie derives its suspense from trying to guess which of the characters will survive and which will expire. One of the disappointments of “2012” is how predictable the crash-and-burn list turns out to be. As in many of these epics, the characters who have committed some kind of extramarital transgression are the ones marked for death. Cecil B. DeMille would have been pleased.

Technically, Emmerich and his crew bring off a series of wonders. The movie hits its peak early on, when Cusack drives a limo through the streets of Los Angeles as freeways and skyscrapers crumble all around him from the shock of a 10.5 earthquake. The preposterous flying sequence is equally thrilling. The climax occurs aboard the giant ark, when an equipment malfunction almost threatens the entire mission. Unfortunately, this crucial sequence is not filmed or edited with the requisite clarity. Say what you will about “Titanic,” but James Cameron did a brilliant job of photographing the spectacular shipwreck so that the logistics were always crystal clear. In “2012,” by contrast, Emmerich leaves us befuddled as to exactly what is happening to whom.

On the other hand, Emmerich deserves credit for offbeat casting. Cusack supplies his trademark hangdog charm, and McCarthy (recently better known as the director of “The Station Agent” and “The Visitor”) has perhaps his best role ever as Peet’s cocky but likable boyfriend. Danny Glover lends dignity to the role of the tormented president. (The role originally was written for a woman, until Hillary Clinton’s star began to fade during the 2008 primaries.) Chiwetel Ejiofor, as the chief scientist advising the world leaders, brings a moving sense of anguish to a stock role. Platt has fun playing the villain of the piece, and Woody Harrelson also chews the scenery as a bug-eyed radio prophet trying to warn his listeners about Armageddon. Peet’s role as Cusack’s ex-wife is drab, and Thandie Newton as the president’s daughter has to struggle with some ponderous dialogue. But then disaster movies never have been kind to their female characters.

Cinematography, production design and visual effects are awards-worthy. Music also propels the movie, with “American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert providing a rousing anthem over the end credits.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Massive global destruction -- not for worriers.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Despite the relentlessly depressing, gruesome subj

The characters aren't very deep, but some of them

Not much blood and gore (one character gets his le

One character is a plastic surgeon who does breast

Fairly light use of strong language, although ther

A wealthy character brags about his fancy new Bent

Two minor adult characters are shown drinking. One

Parents need to know that director Roland Emmerich's 2012 is an intense, violent disaster movie, with billions of anonymous characters getting killed during massive scenes of destruction (earthquakes, tsunamis, and more). Although the tone is mainly exciting, the relentless devastation could terrify or depress…

Positive Messages

Despite the relentlessly depressing, gruesome subject matter and millions (billions?) of deaths, the film's main point is that family is ultimately the most important thing in life. Several characters risk their lives or well-being for family members, and one character tries (tragically) to contact his family too late. Certain selfish characters are redeemed by saving family members, and the movie makes a point of mentioning that the most selfish character of all has no family. Aside from that, a few characters look beyond family to try to rescue total strangers as well.

Positive Role Models

The characters aren't very deep, but some of them still demonstrate marked heroism and selflessness. Hero Jackson Curtis previously ignored his family in favor of his career, but he returns to them during the disaster, learning how to connect with, love, and forgive them. Later, he risks his life to save thousands of people. Other characters clash over methods by which to choose who's rescued, with some seeing only the bottom line, but others arguing that everyone has a right to live. The president shows heroism and self sacrifice.

Violence & Scariness

Not much blood and gore (one character gets his leg gouged in a giant gear), but the massive destruction results in countless anonymous deaths. The movie does focus dramatically on certain known faces as they meet their terrible fates, but it rarely stops to linger on them. Two children watch as their father falls to his death and another character is ground up in some machinery. Smaller moments of hostility at a boxing match, and a character punches another character in the face. A mass suicide is mentioned on a news report.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

One character is a plastic surgeon who does breast implants. He meets one of his patients, and they mention her surgery several times. Gordon and Kate briefly discuss "making a baby" of their own. Kate and Jackson kiss once, and there's a near-kiss between Adrien and the president's daughter.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Fairly light use of strong language, although there's at least one "f--k," a few uses of "s--t," and other words like "damn," "ass," "hell," "goddamn," and "oh my God." One character flips another one off.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

A wealthy character brags about his fancy new Bentley. Pull-Ups diapers are discussed and shown.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Two minor adult characters are shown drinking. One takes his first drink in 25 years when he discovers that the world is going to end.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that director Roland Emmerich 's 2012 is an intense, violent disaster movie, with billions of anonymous characters getting killed during massive scenes of destruction (earthquakes, tsunamis, and more). Although the tone is mainly exciting, the relentless devastation could terrify or depress many viewers (both kids and grown-ups), especially those who've been through natural disasters themselves. In other words, this is no movie for kids anxious about the state of the world. Fans of the genre will find some of the effects truly impressive, but there's not much in the way of character or plot depth. Expect a little bit of kissing, drinking, and swearing (including "s--t"). All that and it's almost three hours long. ... To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Based on 41 parent reviews

Very cool intense movie

What's the story.

When the sun suddenly begins bombarding Earth with a higher neutrino count, heating up the planet's core, it all-too-quickly leads to massive natural disasters -- from earthquakes to tsunamis -- and even shifting of the north and south poles. A secret project is underway in Tibet to build "arks" to rescue a certain number of people, but most of the seats have been reserved for the world's richest and most important people. While scientist Adrian Helmsley ( Chiwetel Ejiofor ) collects data and fights against greed and corruption, small-time Los Angeles author Jackson Curtis ( John Cusack ) tries to rescue his ex-wife ( Amanda Peet ) and their two kids, get them to Tibet, and secure them seats on one of the arks. But can he do this impossible task in time?

Is It Any Good?

At best, it's a nearly three-hour film packed with several tons of clichés whose best features are explosions and general destruction. At worst, it's a gruesome, depressing subject as viewed from the seat of a passing roller coaster.

Disaster movies are usually very popular and have long managed to thrill plenty of people with their huge scale and awesome special effects. Since 2012 (which is tied to a much-debated Mayan prophecy that supposedly names that year as the one in which the world will end) is one of the biggest and most spectacular to date, it will no doubt follow suit -- and, in terms of visual effects and clear, exciting filmmaking, it is well done. And the impressive, appealing cast does its level best to read through the third-rate dialogue without too much eye-rolling. But anyone looking for character depth, powerful emotional content, intelligence, poetic images, or personal expression of any kind is advised to look elsewhere.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the movie's destruction and violence . Much of it is of a sci-fi/fantasy nature, but if you stop to think about it, the enormity and frequency of it can be overwhelming. Is this kind of violence more or less upsetting than gory horror movies?

One of the movie's major themes is the importance of family. Does that come through amid the chaos and destruction? Did the movie make you feel closer to your own family?

Why do you think the wealthiest and most important people were chosen for seats on the arks? Should other people have gotten a chance? What would have been a better way to go about the process?

Do you think a disaster like this could occur? If so, is it better to try and prepare or better not to worry about something we can't control?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 13, 2009
• On DVD or streaming : March 2, 2010
• Cast : Amanda Peet , Chiwetel Ejiofor , John Cusack
• Director : Roland Emmerich
• Inclusion Information : Black actors
• Studio : Columbia Tristar
• Genre : Science Fiction
• Run time : 158 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : intense disaster sequences and some language.
• Last updated : March 10, 2024

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'2012': Disaster Strikes (And Strikes, And Strikes)

Bob Mondello

Jackson Strive: The movie might be shorter if he were just a little slower, but John Cusack's bookish Jackson Curtis always manages to stay a step ahead of the advancing abyss. Columbia Tristar Marketing Group hide caption

• Director: Roland Emmerich
• Genre: Action Drama
• Running Time: 158 minutes

Rated: PG-13 With: John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Amanda Peet

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Say this for Roland Emmerich's latest movie: It is a disaster.

Granted, for maybe an hour of its running time, 2012 is a reasonably kinetic catastrophe. Anyone who's seen the director's previous pictures (Godzilla, Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) has to have known that he and his army of digitizers would arrange for the world to end not with a whimper but with a particularly showy bang.

But when the Earth isn't swallowing up whole cities or belching lava at low-flying planes, the poor actors keep opening their mouths, and that proves problematic. When they're screaming it's fine, but all too often they make the mistake of trying to explain what's going on.

California, you see, is falling apart, not from budget problems but from a shift in the Earth's crust. The shift has been caused — the actors tend to talk very fast when science comes up, so I may have misheard this — by solar flares heating up the Earth's core. Or by a weird alignment of the planets, as predicted by the Maya. Or maybe both.

Whatever: The powers that be have somehow managed to hide the coming calamity from everyone on Earth except for one Los Angeles limo driver (John Cusack). And lucky for him, the apocalypse doesn't affect cell phone coverage, so he can call his ex-wife (Amanda Peet) and get her to pile the kids into the limo just seconds before their house crumbles. Also piling in, to his initial consternation, is his wife's new boyfriend (Thomas McCarthy); happily, he has taken a few weeks of flying lessons and will come in handy later.

From there, the family starts a mad scramble, seemingly to stay in the path of whatever new catastrophe nature throws their way. On the ground, they're chased by some surprisingly linear earthquakes; in the air, they dodge not just volcanic ash but flying subway trains.

And then — after much digitized North American carnage and a bit of comic distraction from an amusingly addled Woody Harrelson — comes the worldwide deluge, with waves crashing over the Himalayas.

Many silly notions get advanced in 2012, not least among them the idea that Woody Harrelson (right) is the one nongovernmental guy who has seen the trouble coming. Columbia Pictures hide caption

Many silly notions get advanced in 2012, not least among them the idea that Woody Harrelson (right) is the one nongovernmental guy who has seen the trouble coming.

Say what you will about the excess, but you have to admit that Emmerich hasn't lost his flair for destroying major landmarks: Who but this disaster-porn artiste would think to go bowling with St. Peter's dome? Still, his insistence on both quoting and topping every disaster movie from The Poseidon Adventure to Home Alone does make the End Times seem pretty much endless.

There's perhaps 40 minutes of cheesy but genuinely spectacular special effects — the stuff you came for — and two additional hours of painfully idiotic plot. Trust me, your mind will wander as a lapdog is reunited with its mistress and the president's daughter (Thandie Newton) finds true love with a rather full-of-himself geologist (Chiwetel Ejiofor).

It's nice to see that none of these folks is overly troubled by the death of the planet's 6 billion other inhabitants. But then you won't be, either, which is sort of the magic of this movie: By the time it's over, you'll feel like it is 2012 already, and you'll have such a headache that it'd be kind of nice if the whole world went away.

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2012 review.

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Screen Rant reviews 2012

That picture right there? That's why you go see 2012 . Heck, lately that's why you go see any Roland Emmerich film - destruction on a massive scale. The man has taken what Irwin Allen used to do and multiplied it by 100.

2012 actually starts in 2009 - well first it starts out in space, showing us a few different shots of our solar system and the planets lining up all in a row, with the sun at the end of that line. When we get to good old Earth, we're in India where geologist Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor, the assassin from Serenity ) is meeting a fellow scientist at the Institute of Astrophysics. They go 11,000 feet down into a copper mine where it seems they figure they may as well do some scientific research as long as they're down there.

Anyway, they have tracked a series of the biggest solar flares in history taking place over the last week, and it seems that they're putting out some different type of neutrino that instead of just passing through the earth is interacting with the core, causing it to heat up to temperatures far exceeding normal. At this point I'm thinking "OK, OK, that's not bad, I can buy that."

Helmsley travels to Washington D.C. where he convinces high ranking Washington muckity-muck Carl Anheuser (a very rotund Oliver Platt) the importance of what he's found. We jump forward to 2010 where the president (Danny Glover - seriously) is addressing European heads of state about the impending end of the world. Another jump to 2011 where it becomes apparant that some sort of stealth operations are taking place to insure the safety of works of art, wealthy and powerful people and presumably other odds and ends.

In the meantime we meet Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), a divorced dad and not very successful author who drives a limo for a living. While his young daughter still has eyes only for daddy, his slightly older son is a much bigger fan of mom's live-in boyfriend (kids live with mom and her boyfriend - nice move, mom). Taking the kids camping to Yellowstone, he runs into a cordoned off military area where significant changes are happening geologically. It's here we meet Woody Harrelson as a quasi-nutjob/free-spirit who seems to know what's going on and fills Jackson in, including the plans for the world's elite to escape the destruction in spaceships. Of course Cusack doesn't believe him and heads on his merry way.

It doesn't take long however for a series of increasingly strong and frequent earthquakes (along with some other things) to convince Jackson that the crazy guy isn't crazy after all, and he grabs the ex-wife, kids and new boyfriend just in the nick of time in the scene we've all watched in trailers and TV commercials.

From here on, all hell breaks out everywhere, and watching it all happen is the whole reason for going to see this movie.

Jackson is determined to save his family, and his journey to find one of these "arks" grows more implausible with every passing scene. Thankfully director Emmerich spreads the destruction out throughout the entire film - so if you're concerned that you'll have already seen the best stuff in the trailer, fear not... that was just a taste. I found it interesting that they showed a number of landmarks being destroyed including the Vatican and the famous statue of Christ on a Brazil mountaintop - but although they showed the Kabaa in one scene he did not portray its destruction. I've heard that he didn't show it destroyed due to fear of retribution.

Anyway, the destruction throughout the film was quite well done - I especially liked the scene at Yellowstone... VERY impressive. And of course the expanded version of the destruction of California was well done (and strangely satisfying... I kid, I kid). The arks were quite cool as well, although the MacGuffin that caused the "suspense" at the end was quite ridiculous.

There's a a fair amount of ridiculousness in 2012 , but really, what does one expect going into a film like this? In the end I enjoyed the visual effects and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who I think has a real screen presence about him. Woody Harrelson? Brief appearance but memorable. John Cusack seemed to me like a fish out of water here - like he just really didn't belong. Thandie Newton was little more than eye candy (although she was supposed to be more). Oh, and Danny Glover as the President of the United States? LOL funny - I think the poor guy left any acting ability he may have had down in Venezuela.

Towards the end of the film it really fell apart as Emmerich tried to inject some emotion into the film. A big contributing factor was the cheesy music in the emotional scene - the whole thing felt like it was out of a made for TV movie. It might have actually worked better had he not tried to "make" us FEEL the emotion via the cliche'd music and maybe trusted the actors to make it happen. If only he could figure out a way to make a film that didn't require actual people (you know, other than the ones who need to die for the destruction to mean something).

So if you're looking for much in the way of plot or character development, move along, nothing to see here. But if you're looking for some wicked-cool visuals and destruction on a scale that even Emmerich has never put on screen before, then 2012 may be the movie for you.

Roland Emmerich's 2012 is a disaster movie inspired by the idea that the end of the Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world. Starring John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, and Woody Harrelson, the 2009 movie plays up the possible effects of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and polar shifts.

• Movie Reviews
• 2.5 star movies

Review by Brian Eggert November 13, 2008

Everything you’re expecting from 2012 is exactly what you’re going to get. Roland Emmerich’s magnum opus is the pinnacle of his career. The director’s pithy efforts like Independence Day , Godzilla , and The Day After Tomorrow feel like small indie gems in comparison to this overblown, wonderfully destructive piece of demolitionist eye candy. Utterly impossible by any stretch of the imagination, the movie is a cheesy, one-dimensional, epic-sized spectacle that does exactly what it promises to—destroy the Earth. Audiences unwilling to dismiss reality for some very expensive entertainment by way of mass death and landmark obliteration will not appreciate its full effect.

As predicted by the Mayans hundreds of years ago, the year 2012 marks what they believe to be the end of the world. They even gave us an exact date: December 21, 2012. Emmerich’s movie opens near this point, as strange natural occurrences stir scientists to inquire about what’s happening. It seems neutrino bursts from the Sun are causing the planet’s core to boil, making the crust unstable and causing a whole lot of ruckus in the process. For the basis of his movie, Emmerich credits Charles Hapgood’s 1958 Earth Crust Displacement theory, but how the Mayans knew this would happen is never explained. Once the rumblings cause massive earthquakes to tremor, deep chasms to rupture open, super-volcanoes to blow, and tsunamis to roll, speculation into the Mayans’ curiously advanced methods of global ruin detection hardly matters.

Of course, there’s always some crackpot who no one believes, but who turns out to be right about his wild doomsday theories. And when the fit hits the shan, everyone regrets not listening to him sooner. Said nutjob is played by Woody Harrelson, who’s having fun playing his hippie radio show host-cum-prophet. His more respectable counterpart is chief science advisor Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who warns the ever-grave U.S. President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover) just in time. In a joint effort with various billionaires and governments, the world comes together to build arks in the Himalayas, but only a select few of the planet’s population and wildlife will fit on the arks. Regardless, the president’s chief of staff, Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt), secures spots for the world’s elite on these ships, because there’s always a slimy character like this in disaster movies.

Most of the action revolves around Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), a failed writer turned limo driver for Russian bazillionaire Yuri Karpov (Zlatko Buric). Curtis’ ex-wife (Amanda Peet) and their two kids (Liam James and Morgan Lily) now live with the nice “other man” Gordon (Tom McCarthy), much to Curtis’ dismay. But you can believe that Gordon, along with 99% of the world’s population, gets wiped out, leaving Curtis and his estranged wife to rekindle their love. And why not? After learning about the arks from Harrelson’s wacko character while on vacation in Yellowstone, Curtis proves himself a superhero faced with the task of saving his family. He out-drives an earthquake and outruns the blast path of a super-volcano—impressive for a writer. Most of the bit characters in the movie are set up only to help Curtis along on his quest to reach China, and most die while carrying out their Good Samaritan deeds.

So what’s all destroyed in the movie? California falls into the ocean. All of America is covered by toxic ash. Las Vegas falls into a hellish crevasse, sparking a moment of irony, while Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome topple over, killing many God-fearing Christians in the process. Emmerich spares no one, but he takes particular joy in depicting Christian icons crumbling. The John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier gets carted by a giant wave and crashes into the White House, marking the second time Emmerich has destroyed the president’s home. Tibet is waterlogged by a tsunami. And when it’s all over, the planet is covered in water.

Emmerich and his co-writer Harald Kloser arrange a series of near-escapes and ridiculous resolutions. The clichés are piled on top of one another in an almost comic fashion. There are only so many times a character can say “My God!” or “You have to take a look at this, sir” before the audience starts laughing. But there’s also the impression that the movie is fully aware of its own corniness, and we’re in on the joke. Aside from John Cusack outrunning planetary calamities, the movie’s many other characters outrun their own waves and explosions and what-have-yous in airplanes and cars and on foot. It’s all preposterous but meant in the escapist disaster movie spirit. Several shots feature a bystander gawking in awe of some terrible force approaching them, a familiar shot for Emmerich (borrowed from Spielberg). Plenty of nice characters undeservedly die, while irredeemable jerks are fully redeemed. And in the end, there’s an inappropriate feeling of hopefulness among the survivors, only because dwelling on the fact that virtually everyone on Earth is dead would be a major bummer.

The computerized special effects throughout are big and bold and staggering, and they should be since Emmerich’s budget was a reported $250 million. He uses that money to carry out his ultimate goal of obliterating the Earth, which has been a long time coming as those of us who have followed his work know. The action scenes unfold with clarity, so we always know what’s what, unlike the majority of over-edited blockbusters. Some of it looks shoddy and stupid, but the acting for this sort of drivel is above average, so the few CGI missteps are easily forgiven. Cusack and Ejiofor are both too good for the material, but they’re welcome protagonists. Harrelson, after his unexpected turn in Zombieland earlier this year, gives another memorable-if-throwaway performance. And Platt does a nice job making the audience despise him.

Defending Emmerich’s latest movie comes with some difficulty for this critic, since the director’s work is generally empty commercial fare, and the majority of his movies are unwatchably bad upon revisitation. So let’s be clear: This isn’t a “good movie,” but it’s an entertaining one. 2012 is trash, to be sure, but it’s well-assembled trash that’s bigger and better than anything Emmerich has made before. Shockingly, despite its 2-hour-and-40-minute runtime, this pageant of devastation keeps our interest for the duration. Never mind logic, because it’s defied in almost every scene. It’s even sort of fun to point out the clichés throughout. Thinking about it too much is missing the point of this mindless exhibition. Just sit back, eat your popcorn, and watch Emmerich destroy the world. Why else would you see a movie like this?

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• DVD & Streaming
• Action/Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

• November 13, 2009
• John Cusack as Jackson Curtis; Amanda Peet as Kate Curtis; Chiwetel Ejiofor as Adrian Helmsley; Thandie Newton as Laura Wilson; Oliver Platt as Carl Anheuser; Thomas McCarthy as Gordon Silberman; Woody Harrelson as Charlie Frost; Danny Glover as President Thomas Wilson

Home Release Date

• March 2, 2010
• Roland Emmerich

Distributor

• Columbia TriStar

Movie Review

“It’s not the end of the world.”

We tell ourselves such things when we burn our toast or spill our juice or get D’s on our semester projects. It’s a comforting thought: No matter how badly we mess up today, we have a chance to wake up and make it better tomorrow.

And even if it really is the end of the world, well … there’s still a bright side. That D suddenly doesn’t look so bad, for instance. And, really, why worry about the status of your toast when you’re toast yourself?

Jackson Curtis, a part-time novelist and full-time chauffeur, isn’t thinking about toast of any sort as 2012 gets underway. He’s thinking about a trip to Yellowstone National Park and how much fun he and his children will have there—especially if he remembers the bug spray. He’s thinking about how his ex-wife will kill him for showing up late to pick up said kids. He’s thinking about what terrible timing his SUV has, stubbornly deciding not to start when it surely knows full well that he’s already running late. He’s thinking about how silly it’ll look, going camping in Yellowstone in his boss’s limousine.

Ah, well, at least it’s not the end of the world, right?

But, of course, it is—or, at least, close enough. For at that very moment in Washington, D.C., a handful of clued-in politicians are wringing their hands over the cataclysm to end all cataclysms. The earth’s core is wigging out, and in a matter of days (or hours or minutes), it’ll turn Yellowstone’s Old Faithful into Old Vengeful, then touch off massive earthquakes and mega-tsunamis while unhooking the very crust of the earth itself.

In other words, it’s just another day at The History Channel.

But it’s not the sort of thing that can be easily fixed with, say, a stimulus package. So the world’s in-the-know leaders decide to keep their collective mouths shut. They have for years now—all the while building massive “arks” to carry humanity’s remnants (the smartest, the strongest and the richest) to start a new life … somewhere.

Jackson, not being particularly smart or strong or rich, has no idea that his vacation will be cut short. Not until, that is, he tries to visit a lake that has boiled away and meets a crazy, end-times radio show host with a penchant for pickles and a map to those arks.

I wonder if they’ll bring any toasters.

Positive Elements

“The critics said I was naive and an unabashed optimist,” Jackson tells a fan of his books. “But what do they know, right?”

Director Roland Emmerich might’ve spoken these words about himself. It might seem odd to call a film that revolves around the end of the world “optimistic.” But 2012 does offer a strange sense of emotional buoyancy—and that’s a good thing, considering most of the earth gets shoved under water.

The crux of this optimism revolves around the characters’ willingness to sacrifice themselves to save others. We see this again and again: a father pushing his son to safety, losing the chance to save himself; a pilot helping passengers escape a crashing plane while he stays behind; a man flirting with almost certain death to save an arkload of humanity. The president of the United States himself—who, by virtue of his job, has a spot on one of the arks—elects to stay behind in solidarity with the rest of the country.

“Today, we are one family, stepping out into the darkness together,” he tells everyone.

That idea of family is another massive theme: how family can make disaster not just bearable, but strangely worthwhile. While we see and hear scads of familial tales, Jackson’s becomes our focal point. Divorced from his wife, he seems at first to be a benignly inattentive dad. His son, Noah, finds his mom’s new boyfriend—a guy named Gordon—to be more approachable. But as the family battles one crisis after another, the five of them—mother, father, children, boyfriend—grow closer, sacrificing and caring for each other. When Jackson’s kids ask him to promise that they’ll live through it all, Jackson simply says, “I promise you we’re going to all stay together, no matter what happens.” Later, Gordon confesses to Jackson that he has what Gordon always wanted: a real family.

“You’re a lucky man, Jackson,” Gordon tells him as the globe grinds to a grim end. “Don’t ever forget it.”

When the arks shut their doors on a teeming mass of humanity begging for refuge, a scientist makes a heartfelt plea to let at least some of them in. It’d be terrible, he says, to launch our future with “an act of cruelty.” His speech works.

Spiritual Elements

The idea that the world ends in 2012 is based on a calendar formed by the ancient Mayans (though it should be noted that the Mayans also had predictions covering at least another 2,700 years, meaning they must not have thought it was the end ). The talk show host tells us that other civilizations echoed the prophecy and claims that the Bible predicts something of the sort, too. (“Kinda,” he says.) As his final broadcast is coming to an end, the host tells his listeners he hopes they have all made their “peace with God.”

Jackson and his young daughter, Lilly, sing the gospel song “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” on the way to Yellowstone. We see religious services on television and hear a pastor say he and his followers believe in “the gospel of the Lord Jesus. We have nothing to fear.” The president spends time in a chapel and, in his final address, recites Psalm 23.

When it looks as if he’s about to die, we hear the president whisper to his deceased wife, “Dorothy, I’m coming home.” Another politician refuses to tell his aged, forgetful mother about the end of the world, explaining later that she deserves to “meet her Maker on her own terms.”

Catholics gather in St. Peter’s Square to listen to the Pope: The service is cut short by a massive earthquake that destroys the Vatican, whereupon we see a massive crack in the roof of the Sistine Chapel which opens a fissure between Michelangelo’s Adam and God.

Of course we see a man on a street corner holding a sign saying, “Repent! The end is near!” And Buddhist monks play ancillary roles.

Sexual Content

Gordon, a surgeon who specializes in breast implants, apparently lives with Kate (Jackson’s ex-wife). When he tries to cuddle her in the supermarket, he tells her that women pay thousands of dollars to have him handle their breasts. He says, “You get it for free.” Jackson tries to take his children to a spot in Yellowstone that he and Kate used to love, whereupon his son says, “I don’t want to know where you and Mom had sex.”

One woman wears skimpy, cleavage-revealing outfits. Several couples kiss.

Violent Content

If I described every scene of violence in 2012 , this story would use up more bandwidth than YouTube. So let’s start with the obvious: The film ultimately kills off about 6 billion people.

2012 showcases what the ultimate apocalypse might look like if it were a Six Flags thrill ride. We see water swamp the Himalayas, Los Angeles fall into the Pacific, quakes tear cities asunder and, yep, Yellowstone blows sky high. Planes crash in massive fireballs, trains plummet off their tracks, cars slam into pillars of earth and aircraft carriers take out the White House. People drown. They fall. They’re consumed by fireballs. They’re thwacked by massive, flaming dirt clods. They’re crushed by machinery.

Along with the rest of those 6 billion hapless souls, many of the main characters die. We don’t see the gory instant of doom for any of them (the camera moves on just before the tidal wave crashes down, or hovers above the machinery as someone’s body slips into the gears), but we’re meant to feel their loss.

Before the end comes, we hear that governments have been killing people who wanted to tell the world about its impending doom. The curator of France’s museums is subsequently killed when his car explodes in the same tunnel in which Princess Diana perished. We see news footage covering the aftermath of a mass suicide.

Crude or Profane Language

One f-word. Four s-words. Nearly 20 misuses of God’s name (paired with “d‑‑n” at least five times). Jesus’ name is abused twice. “A‑‑,” “h‑‑‑” and “b‑‑tard” are also blurted out. An obscene gesture is made.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Characters drink wine, champagne, whiskey and beer.

Other Negative Elements

Noah talks back to his dad and disobeys him (albeit to help him). A politician tries to convince folks to not reopen an ark door. Lots of people lie, or, at the very least, withhold the truth.

Someday, people will look back at Roland Emmerich���s films and ask one very important question:

What was his deal, anyway?

Emmerich has, in his most popular films, destroyed the world in many colorful ways: through aliens (Independence Day) , through climate change (The Day After Tomorrow) through Japanese monsters (Godzilla) and, now, because an ancient Mayan calendar told him to. In terms of sheer body count, Emmerich makes Jason Vorhees look like a pacifistic boy scout.

He says that 2012 will be his last disaster flick: “I know I can’t destroy the world again,” he told The New York Times . “That would be kind of a joke.”

I don’t believe him.

Emmerich wrecks the world like 10-year-old boys wreck Matchbox cars: with a childlike sense of innocence. So just because I callously compared him to the Friday the 13th serial killer, don’t think that he’s doing it all just for the sake of viciousness. Just because he treats the death of 6 billion people as a ghoulish circus doesn’t make him heartless. Because through the mayhem, Emmerich seems to always try to explore humanity’s best inclinations.

In that respect, 2012 is Emmerich’s most positive film. I don’t mean wholesome ; it has too much bad language to be that. And I’ve already talked about the circus-style attentiveness to carnage. But while character development is kept to a bare minimum—just a skeleton on which to hang spectacular CGI effects—the themes here still pack a punch: We can be better than we are. We need to care for others. We are family.

Most of Emmerich’s characters gallop through the worst days of their lives with dry eyes, set mouths and humorous quips at the ready. Little 7-year-old Lilly, however, sees the true horror. And she cries for the unnamed billions.

Despite the fact that disaster movies like this are consistently used to “entertain” us, hers is the more relatable response. As 2012 star John Cusack told USA Today , “If it were reality, we’d all be weeping all day.”

There’s an old Greek myth about a little girl named Pandora and a mysterious box she finds. In the story, she opens the box and lets loose all manner of plagues and horrors upon the world. But once the box’s terrible residents fly off to deal out destruction, one last beautiful fairy flutters out—a thing called Hope.

In 2012 , Emmerich opens Pandora’s box and lets loose catastrophe. But in the midst of all the CGI destruction we see the flitting wings of a thing called Hope.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Movie Review: 2012 (2009)

• General Disdain
• Movie Reviews
• 7 responses
• --> November 29, 2009

If you’re wondering (and you know you are) what a movie strictly built around the use of special effects looks like, look no further than 2012 . It’s got a backstory that was clearly etched on a wet napkin during a drinking binge at the local Applebee’s after director Roland Emmerich discussed the idea of making some super-awesome computer effects depicting the destruction of civilization with his drinking buddies. (Run-on sentence much?)

Still reading?

Okay then, let’s get right to the crux of the story — the world is going to implode in upon itself in the year 2012. In a very incredible fashion too. That is, of course, if you believe those zany theorists who say the lining up of the planets and the lack of a Mayan calendar after December 2012 spells our doom. Assuming you do, the devastation is bad-ass.

Whatever that supercomputer that beat Kasperov in chess was made up of, it is one thousand-fold weaker than what was used to develop the action sequences in 2012 . The CGI in this film is simply head scratchingly bewildering.

• Hawaii is reduced to fiery embers due to lava spitting mega-volcanoes.
• Los Angeles is reduced to rubble in thanks to magnificent earthquakes ripping massive rifts throughout the city.
• The Eastern seaboard of the United States and a big chunk of Asia are swallowed up under the waves of enormous tsunamis.

The attention to detail of all this chaos is quite impressive. I took notice that the animators went through the trouble of showing expressions on peoples faces on a falling bridge fragment that was away from the camera’s focus.

Too bad the story couldn’t keep in stride with the computer graphics.

2012 is littered with characters with no redeeming qualities and a story that, at it’s heart, is a preposterously boring “love at all costs” tale. Anchoring it is John Cusack as Jackson Curtis one of those doom and gloom theorists that lost his family because of his beliefs. He gets the last laugh though when he comes to learn of an “ark project” slated to save the ultra powerful and rich. He races in a nick of time to save his ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet) her new beau Gordon Silberman (Thomas McCarthy) and kids Noah (Liam James) and Lily (Morgan Lily).

And that’s basically it. Kate and Jackson predictably reconcile while the brood journeys from L.A. to some remote location in China that the world powers have decided was ground zero for the survival of all living land creatures on Earth. If I went further into the glaring holes of the story, told in part through characters Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a science advisor to the White House and Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), a bizarre conspiracy theorist, you’d lose further faith in the film.

As it stands 2012 is a movie with probably one of the strongest showings of computer graphics ever attempted. You’re probably better off checking for these scenes on YouTube, however, than attempting to sit through the pain associated with actually sitting through 158 minutes of tedium.

I'm an old, miserable fart set in his ways. Some of the things that bring a smile to my face are (in no particular order): Teenage back acne, the rain on my face, long walks on the beach and redneck women named Francis. Oh yeah, I like to watch and criticize movies.

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'Movie Review: 2012 (2009)' have 7 comments

November 30, 2009 @ 9:33 am Braken

2012 is so farfetched and stupid it can’t be anything other than a joke.

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November 30, 2009 @ 11:28 am Jack Courtney

For some, this could be a very boring movie while others may find it very interesting since it will relate the end of the world. In addition, the movie will show how to value your own family.

December 1, 2009 @ 8:19 am Rose Taylor

Hello I have recently seen 2012 movie and I like it very much and it was interesting for me to watch it..Its full of special effects.You have given good review about a movie.

December 4, 2009 @ 8:37 am Forbrugs

2012 has a splendid computer graphic effects that has never seen ever before. The story line was not different from the previous end of the world movies like, The Day after Tomorrow and so on. Even though the movie portray the Noah Arc in terms of Modern and high technology available today.

December 11, 2009 @ 2:19 am darrein

Hi, Do we really believe in some sort of “change” is going to take place in 2012 based on an ancient culture? In my opinion religion was formed to explain things that were unexplainable to ancient people. Why’d it rain? The rain god made it so. Why is the person acting crazy? He has a demon.

What is my ponit?

That if there is some “shift” in thinking it will go unnoticed by the masses. Most of us won’t realize it’s happening until we can look back and see the paradigm shift in retrospect. I believe nothing magical or alien will happen on that day. The same way nothing happened in the year 2000 when all computers were going to fail and the second coming of Christ was supposed to happen. Movie looks interesting though.

January 14, 2010 @ 2:56 am Julie Simpson

I’ve got to agree with the bad rating given but disagree with the 2012 being the “strongest showings of computer graphics ever attempted”.

The CGI made me feel like I was watching a computer game; in particular the earthquake scenes with the limo and the one where Cusack tries to get onto the plane at the airstrip after finding the map. One word: TERRIBLE. Towards the end of the movie, CGI was actually pretty decent IMO…had a very Star Trek feel to it.

The kill factor of the whole movie is that it didn’t touch the audience on an emotional level unlike Armageddon for example where even I shed a few tears. You could watch this if you have nothing else particularly better to do for 3 hours …or better yet you could re-watch the far better Armageddon, and save yourself an hour.

January 16, 2010 @ 1:09 am parfums

I did not like the movie anyways. I had seen the trailer on you tube and they looked wonderful. I had been waiting for this movie like many others since the last year(2008 Nov when I had first saw the trailer via Digg). But it is sad that Emmerich could not maintain that part… He ended up messing the whole thing – there were too many frontiers to be shown and he could do justice to none! Sad but the movie failed to live up to my expectations.

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Dr. Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect on the earth of radiation from unprecedented solar storms, learns that the earth's core is heating up. He warns U.S. President Thomas Wilson that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that without proper preparations for saving a fraction of the world's population, the entire race is doomed. Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis stumbles on the same information. While the world's leaders race to build "arks" to escape the impending cataclysm, Curtis struggles to find a way to save his family. Meanwhile, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of unprecedented strength wreak havoc around the world.

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Sir Alfred Hitchcock remains one of the most famous directors in movie history, not only because of his droll public image, but also because of the enduring appeal of so many of his films. As someone who has tried with mixed success to show Hollywood classics to non-buff audiences, I've noticed how his very name inspires fond grins from many viewers, and how even some of his less famous works undeniably hold their attention.

He knew something universal about moviegoers, and it may come down to his most familiar theme: The Innocent Man Wrongly Accused. It's surprising, then, that his most successful and infamous film, " Psycho " (1960), had no leading characters who were innocent, certainly not Norman Bates and not even the purported heroine, played by Janet Leigh . "Hitchcock" is the second feature in a few months, after the made-for-HBO "The Girl," based on the life of the great man. "The Girl" was based on his unrequited lust for his leading lady Tippi Hedren , of "The Birds" and "Marnie." Hedren adamantly refused his advances, her daughter Melanie Griffith once told me, and he cruelly sent the young girl a doll of her mother, displayed as a corpse in a coffin. No similar outrages are dramatized in "Hitchcock," which adopts the conventional truism that behind every great man there lurks a great woman.

There may be truth in that, but the screenplay for "Hitchcock" centers to a distracting degree on his marriage to the screenwriter and editor Alma Reville. As "Hitchcock" tells it, Alma ( Helen Mirren ) acted as his chief adviser, censor, muse and friend, and steered him through the uncertain waters leading up to "Psycho."

It was a troubled time for Hitchcock ( Anthony Hopkins ), who after the great popular success of "North by Northwest" (1959), could focus only on those critics who charged he was growing old and losing his edge. Determined to prove them wrong, he grew obsessed with a book by Robert Bloch , based on the life of a Wisconsin body snatcher named Ed Gein.

I find it amusing that 52 years after the film's release, I might still be accused of a spoiler by describing Gein's (fictional) crime in the movie, which involved killing and stuffing his mother. Taxidermy figures in the early scenes, and Norman carries on conversations with his dead mom in which he does both voices. In real life, a search of his house revealed a shocking number and variety of human body parts.

Hitchcock decided Ed Gein would make a perfect macabre villain for one of his films. Hitchcock's agent Lew Wasserman ( Michael Stuhlbarg ) disagreed vehemently. So did Paramount chief Barney Balaban ( Richard Portnow ), despite the fortune he'd made from Hitchcock films. Alma found the story disgusting. Hitchcock pressed on, personally financing the production by taking out a loan on their home. When at last Alma loyally came around, she was invaluable to him — even though his financial gamble put her beloved home and its pool at risk.

"Hitchcock" tells the story not so much as the making of the film, but as the behind-the-scenes relationship of Alma and Hitch. This is a disappointment, since I imagine most movie fans will expect more info about the film's production history. I also found a subplot distracting, in which Alma begins a series of private meetings devoted to working on a screenplay by her friend Whitfield Cook ( Danny Huston ). Hitchcock, whose marriage had become sexless, nevertheless began to fret his beloved spouse might be having an affair.

This focus on Alma's personal life is somewhat speculative and seems to have been employed by director Sacha Gervasi and screenwriter John J. McLaughlin to skew the film in the direction of a "woman's picture," of all things. They can't entirely be blamed, because I learn from the trade papers that this film was refused permission to show or copy any footage from "Psycho," or even use the famous Bates family home that still stands on the back lot at Universal. There's irony here, because in 1998, director Gus Van Sant won permission to make an actual shot-by-shot remake of "Psycho."

Given the focus of this film, much depends on the character of Alma Reville, and Helen Mirren is warm and effective in the role; her intelligence crackles. Anthony Hopkins, superb actor although he is, would not seem to be an obvious choice to play Hitchcock, but I accepted him. His makeup job is transformative. 

As Anthony Perkins , who played Norman Bates, James D'Arcy is uncanny. He captures the nature of the man. Scarlett Johansson , as Janet Leigh, doesn't look a lot like the original but projects her spunk, intelligence and sense of humor.

Hitchcock comes across in the movie as an enigma. Who was the real Hitchcock? I interviewed him once and haven't a clue. The closest we'll probably come is in the book-length conversation he had with director Francois Truffaut , but they were talking shop, not blonds.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Hitchcock (2012)

Rated R for some violent images, sexual content and thematic material

Helen Mirren as Alma

Jessica Biel as Vera Miles

Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock

Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh

James D'Arcy as Anthony Perkins

Toni Collette as Peggy

Directed by

• Sacha Gervasi
• John J. McLaughlin

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• Cast & crew

A drama based on the life of Ronald Reagan, from his childhood to his time in the oval office. A drama based on the life of Ronald Reagan, from his childhood to his time in the oval office. A drama based on the life of Ronald Reagan, from his childhood to his time in the oval office.

• Sean McNamara
• Howard Klausner
• Jonas McCord
• Mena Suvari
• Dennis Quaid
• C. Thomas Howell

• Ronald Reagan

• Nelle Reagan

• Viktor Petrovich

• Jack Reagan

• Nancy Reagan

• Leonid Brezhnev

• Margaret Thatcher

• George Schultz

• Jack Warner

• James Baker

• John Barletta

• Young Reagan

• Eduard Shevardnadze

• Tip' O'Neill

• Margaret 'Mugs' Cleaver

• William P. Clark
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia During production there was a COVID outbreak among the crew.
• Connections Featured in Greg Kelly Reports: Jon Voight (2021)
• When was Reagan released? Powered by Alexa
• August 30, 2024 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• Guthrie, Oklahoma, USA (Berlin Wall scene)
• MJM Entertainment
• Rawhide Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $25,000,000 (estimated)

Technical specs

• Dolby Digital

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