2012

The world is coming to an end! And the ancients knew about it! Just like every single other movie about the end of the world. With the sun’s neutrinos bombarding the Earth, some scientist’s predictions in the 1900’s will actually happen, the Earth Crust Displacement Theory. Supposedly, the earth’s core is heating up and the government builds these big arks that will let a select few people survive. This movie’s plot was okay. The idea of a world coming to an end because of some neutrinos, frankly, is not too exciting.

On the other hand, the character Charlie Frost is one of the biggest upsides to the movie. He loves pickles, has weird hair, and generally acts funny. He had an animation that showed a very cartoony and funny view of what was happening, including slapstick humor and amazingly funny personification of the sun. While it was playing, he would talk in the background, explaining what was happening, and this animation would be interrupted by Charlie giving Jackson, the main character, food. At the end, he had screaming humans running from natural disasters, and he was telling the crowd to remember that it was Charlie Frost, using a familiar phrase that he always used. At Yellowstone, when a volcano erupted, he faced the volcano and reported live from the mountaintop, telling the people to remember that it was him. Like usual, he used the same phrase.

Yuri’s character, the rich Russian billionaire businessman and former boxer, fits the role of what you would expect of a person who would be saved. His sons are snobby and entitled. However, all these flip around, even though he paid his one billion euros to get on the ship. Ark number 3 is malfunctioning, and it cannot carry the people it was supposed to carry. It is quite interesting to see rich entitled people become desperate.

Carl Anheuser, a rather pudgy person, is the antagonist of the story. He is the White House chief of staff. The President does not come, and the Speaker of the House is conveniently late or misses the plane to go to the arks. Power hungry, Anheuser fakes a phone call and says that he is in power now. He also keeps things secret, and spies on everyone remotely related to people who know about the arks. He kills people who try to expose it as well. The Director of the Louvre is killed when he tried to expose what was actually happening. He calls these people “enemies of humanity.” While this may make him seem like an evil guy, his practicality is understandable. Some aspects, like how the rooms for one person are 10 times bigger than necessary, is not understandable and actually does make him worse than he might be. Even though these actions might make him seem evil, keeping the arks a secret was not a bad action. If the populace would know, they, instead of thinking for humanity, would just think for themselves and even might try to destroy the arks in any way possible. Him stealing power, again, is also evil. When Satnam, an Indian astrophysicist, is not rescued, it is suspected that Anheuser is the reason behind that. Satnam was the scientist who discovered the disaster in the first place. Overall, he is still kind of evil.

The special effects were really good in this movie. Although the entire city collapsing was probably CGI, the scene where the car shot through the breaking road was very cool. Additionally, many things being destroyed had a very perfect way of displaying themselves. Also, if the African plate rose by about 7000 feet, as was said in the end of the movie, half the Atlantic Ocean would be above sea level, right? Overall, this movie gets a 6 out of ten, because the plot is boring.

Replies coming soon