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2012 Reviews

Everything you’re expecting from 2012 is exactly what you’re going to get…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.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 5, 2023

If you put your brain in neutral, you can enjoy an unprecedented scale of beautifully rendered destruction and learn that science isn't an exact science.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 24, 2023

A good disaster thriller must contain both thrills and massive destruction--2012 has both in great quantity.

Full Review | Jan 26, 2022

Harrelson has one of the better characters in the film and Peet does a good job.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 16, 2021

Roland Emmerich has pretty much cornered the market on big budget disaster films.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Nov 28, 2020

Volcanoes spew lava bombs, earthquakes tear up city blocks, skyscrapers topple, California sinks beneath the waves, and it's an amazing thrill ride .

Full Review | Nov 25, 2020

Escapist fun capitalizing on new millennium technology.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Sep 24, 2020

"2012" crammed all of the awesome bits from every disaster movie into a single, incredible cinematic achievement. Do yourself a favor, watch "2012" and feel the circuitry of your brain melt into a steaming ball of flaming wreckage.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jul 14, 2020

Wears out its welcome at a ridiculous two hours and 40 minutes, throwing out every cliché in the disaster movie handbook.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Jun 6, 2019

An overlong, overindulgent action film that wants to be fun and exciting, but is really rather dull and exhausting.

Full Review | Original Score: C | May 11, 2019

2012 is all about this irrational determination to live and perpetuate our crappy civilization. The film concentrates fiercely on who's going to get a spot on the ark in the end.

Full Review | Oct 30, 2018

...seriously, how often do we want to escape into worlds that are hell-bent on ravaging our sense of security with invading aliens and furious natural disasters?

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 29, 2013

You cannot say, in the terms of the life and career that Emmerich has built for himself, this is not the apex of his work. The world blows up. The world blows up a lot. The world blows up fantastically. There are worst quests in life.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jun 22, 2013

Emmerich favours hoisting his camera high and dry to give audiences the best panoramic view, but it removes all tension from proceedings - you're always at a safe distance.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 29, 2012

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2011

Two and a half hours of heaving and cleaving and crashing and crunching.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 30, 2011

Cusack, with his one-of-the-guys face and his nice way with child actors, does creditable work as an Average American Dad trying to put things right.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Sep 7, 2011

2012 is the rare case of a bad film that I'm nevertheless obliged to recommend you see.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | May 6, 2011

Most of all, I liked the airlifting of giraffes to ark safety via helicopter and the bizarrely unreasonable cheeriness of the beleaguered survivors who all but shout "hip-hip-hooray" after billions of other Earth citizens lose their lives.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Apr 4, 2011

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Common Sense Media Review

Massive global destruction -- not for worriers.

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…

Why Age 14+?

Not much blood and gore (one character gets his leg gouged in a giant gear), but

Fairly light use of strong language, although there's at least one "f--k," a few

A wealthy character brags about his fancy new Bentley. Pull-Ups diapers are disc

Two minor adult characters are shown drinking. One takes his first drink in 25 y

One character is a plastic surgeon who does breast implants. He meets one of his

Any Positive Content?

The characters aren't very deep, but some of them still demonstrate marked heroi

Despite the relentlessly depressing, gruesome subject matter and millions (billi

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (41)
• Kids say (175)

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 : Gay directors, 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 : July 27, 2024

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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What to watch next.

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I Am Legend

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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

A frustrated writer struggles to keep his family alive when a series of global catastrophes threatens to annihilate mankind. A frustrated writer struggles to keep his family alive when a series of global catastrophes threatens to annihilate mankind. A frustrated writer struggles to keep his family alive when a series of global catastrophes threatens to annihilate mankind.

• Roland Emmerich
• Harald Kloser
• John Cusack
• Thandiwe Newton
• Chiwetel Ejiofor
• 1.3K User reviews
• 201 Critic reviews
• 49 Metascore
• 5 wins & 21 nominations

Top cast 99+

• Jackson Curtis

• Laura Wilson
• (as Thandie Newton)

• Adrian Helmsley

• Kate Curtis

• Carl Anheuser

• Gordon Silberman

• Charlie Frost

• President Thomas Wilson

• Noah Curtis

• Lilly Curtis

• Yuri Karpov

• Professor West

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia The great disasters of the "galactic alignment" in 2012 were supposed to have occurred on December 21st, the day of the solstice. The filmmakers decided to move those events up a few months, to midsummer. This relieved them of having to decorate the sets for the winter holidays.
• Goofs A background character can be heard warning that the ship's compartments are flooding progressively. But all ships have been built with truly watertight compartments for nearly a century. Certainly a futuristic ship of this size couldn't sink due to 1 door being open. The fact that the watertight compartments had metal grates above leading to the zoo area negates any watertight design (and sense)

Adrian Helmsley : The moment we stop fighting for each other, that's the moment we lose our humanity.

• Crazy credits There are no opening credits at all, except the Columbia Pictures logo and the movie title "2012".
• Alternate versions There was an alternate ending that was featured on the DVD. After Captain Michaels announces that they are heading to the Cape of Good Hope, he tells Dr. Helmsley that he has a phone call waiting for him. Dr. Helmsley discovers that his dad Harry is still alive. Harry tells his son that he, Tony (whose arm is in a sling) and some of the passengers and crew survived the mega-tsunami that struck the Genesis. Captain Michaels states that they should have a visual on the ocean-liner shortly. After Kate thanks Laura for taking care of Lily, Laura tells Jackson that she liked his book. Lily then announces that she sees an island. The Arks arrive at the shipwrecked Genesis and the survivors on the beach.
• Connections Edited into Live Free or Die Hard (Project 12, 8/12) (2011)
• Soundtracks Afreen Afreen Written by Javed Akhtar and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Performed by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Courtesy of Saregama India Ltd. By Arrangement with The Royalty Network Inc.

User reviews 1.3K

• Mar 7, 2010
• How long is 2012? Powered by Alexa
• What is the significance of the year 2012?
• Is this movie a serious take or a campy film?
• If the end of the world takes place on December 21st, 2012, then where's the snow?
• November 13, 2009 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Official site
• Farewell Atlantis
• Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
• Columbia Pictures
• Centropolis Entertainment
• Farewell Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $200,000,000 (estimated)
• $166,112,167
• $65,237,614
• Nov 15, 2009
• $791,217,826

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 38 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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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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Screen Rant

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.

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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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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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2012 Review

13 Nov 2009

158 minutes

For decades, Cecil B. DeMille was Hollywood’s go-to megalomaniac when it came to big, simplistic, spectacular devastation, with side-orders of religion and/or patriotism. In the 1970s, Irwin Allen became Master of Disaster, and ships sank, buildings burned, volcanoes blew, cities fell and killer bees swarmed. Now, Roland Emmerich presides over the carnival of destruction, commanding huge budgets, wilfully ignoring scientific advisors to keep the plot boiling (for future reference, sudden continental drift probably will affect your cell-phone reception — but not in this film) and cracking a whip over slave-like hordes of computer-programmers piling up the pixels which render the unbelievable photo-realistic.

DeMille’s specialty was historical/religious epic and Allen perfected the ‘disaster movie’, but a necessary escalation means Emmerich has to resort to science fiction to slake audiences’ need for destruction on a super-colossal scale. Godzilla, in which a monster only attacks New York, is one of his smaller films. Having written off the beginnings of human history in 10,000 BC, Emmerich now turns to the immediate and terrifying future and tries to outdo the genocidal upheavals he wrought through alien invasion in Independence Day and global warming in The Day After Tomorrow.

The disaster cycle of the ‘70s had to escalate too — after an ocean liner and a skyscraper had been trashed in CinemaScope, the stakes had to be upped to an entire city in Earthquake and a continent or so in Meteor.

2012 has a less easy-to-sell (and, therefore, harder to worry about) concept than earlier moviemageddons — impending doom here isn’t just one big thing, but a matter of solar flares, planetary alignments, earthquakes and big waves, with Biblical overtones of the Flood.

What it boils down to is all the disasters from all the other disaster movies happening in one long film. Emmerich tosses off towering infernos by the dozen in single shots, throws Poseidon-like ocean liners (and aircraft carriers) into maelstroms like toys in a bathtub, has entire cities levelled by quakes or swept away by tidal waves (LA, Vegas and DC get it worst, this time), transforms a scenic national park into a volcano, and swamps the Himalayas with a tsunami which makes Peter Weir’s Last Wave seem like a ripple on a duck pond.

As expected, the script is a load of old cods, delivered in a hurry by the wildly overqualified likes of John Cusack (everyman Dad), Amanda Peet (underwritten ex-wife), Chiwetel Ejiofor (scientist with integrity), Danny Glover (humane Prez), Thandie Newton (cute First Daughter), Oliver Platt (weasely politico), Woody Harrelson (ranting doomsayer) and George Segal (twinkly old-timer). We get glutinous sentiment, weirdly appropriate low comedy, non-denominational religious mutterings (though the Sistine Chapel cracks and the Vatican collapses) and doses of dignified self-sacrifice, my-kids-must-live heroism and cutthroat politicking from characters competing to secure first-class passage on the Ark. Yes, there’s a cute yapping dog whose survival seems more important than the entire population of India.

Many times, cars and planes escape from disasters that seem to chase them off-screen as whole cities fall down or blow up. And the finale brings on an impressive Ark, and plays ridiculous suspense games as the fate of humanity depends on John Cusack holding his breath underwater and ungumming the grinding-works of huge doors.

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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 & romantic 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 noteworthy 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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(BB, C, FR, Pa, AB, PC, LLL, VV, S, N, A, M) Strong moral worldview with some Christian, redemptive moments including some allusions to Noah’s ark, a positive reference to the first line of Psalm 23, and a couple other nods to Christian faith, but with some silly, false predictions regarding the pagan Mayan calendar and two characters are Buddhist monks, plus two Christian icons are destroyed, including the Vatican and a statue of Jesus, but the filmmakers reportedly were too afraid to destroy any Muslim artifacts, which seems terribly politically correct; at least 21 obscenities and 14 profanities, includingb several strong ones; plenty of intense action violence with scenes of entire cities destroyed and near escapes; a mention of a woman sleeping with one man while dating another and some light kissing; upper male nudity; social drinking; no smoking; and, vast depiction of selfishness and greed with regards to the selection of who gets a seat on the arks leaving Earth, plus a crack appears between the hands of God and Adam in the Sistine Chapel ceiling, symbolically suggesting that God’s life-giving support of Man has been withdrawn somehow.

More Detail:

2012 is the depiction of the end of the world on December 21, 2012. 2012 is based on the sun lining up with the center of Earth’s Milky Way galaxy, which supposedly coincides with the end of the Mayan Calendar.

2012 begins with the discovery of neutrinos by an academic researcher Adrian Helmsely (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) causing physical reactions and creating microwaves to warm the Earth’s core. In 2012, countries unite once they validate the fact that the world will end soon. With the help of Adrian, Carl Anheuser (played by Oliver Platt), and the President of the United States Thomas Wilson (played by Danny Glover), world leaders come together to put a plan in place to save heads of state, scientists, artists, plants, animals, and prized artifacts of civilization.

2012 is a story about family. In 2012, Jackson Curtis (played by John Cusack) a writer, whose passion for writing has destroyed his family, stumbles on the government’s secret when he takes his children Noah and Lilly (played by Liam James and Morgan Lily) on a family vacation to Yellowstone National Park. Jackson meets Charlie Frost (played by Woody Harrelson), who tells Jackson of the government’s plan, a map to a safe zone, and the space ship they are building. Jackson, his children, and his ex-wife, Kate (played by Amanda Peet), embark on a trip to make it to the safe zone – China.

Jackson’s family, his boss, and the Russian President Yuri Karpov (played by Zlatko Buric) meet a roadblock in their own trip to the safe zone, but with the help of Jackson and his family they make it to China. After teaming up with Jackson and his family, Yuri, a ticket holder on the “ship,” takes his children and selfishly abandons Jackson and his family. Jackson and his family have to find another way to get on to the “ships” or Arcs since they are not ticket holders.

2012 tells the story about the type of selection process that might be in place to save humanity, and the covert operation that governments might undertake. 2012 is also a modern day equivalent to the story of Noah’s Ark. As such, it echoes the instruction given to Noah in Genesis 6, because the Chinese build multiple arks, and animals are flown in on helicopters, presumably two by two.

2012 depicts several instances of self-sacrifice. [Some Spoilers follow] President Wilson abandons his seat on the ark to warn the American people and give families an opportunity to say goodbye to each other. Adrian convinces the Heads of State to re-open the ark doors to save thousands of people left stranded outside the ark doors. In a surprising twist, Yuri sacrifices himself to ensure that his two sons, Alec and Oleg, make it aboard.

The cast of 2012 evokes real emotion, desperation, and a sense of urgency. 2012 is full of moral conflicts and dilemmas, and even minor villains, some of whom believe that nature will choose for itself who or what will survive. 2012 is full of special effects and lots of disaster. 2012 does an excellent job creating real chaos, but it sometimes seems too contrived and clichéd. It also contains too much foul language, so caution is warranted.

Overall, 2012 has an excellent story about the importance of family, the importance of selflessness, and the importance of doing away with trivial disputes and making amends before it is too late. It also contains some brief Christian, redemptive moments, including examples of bravery and self-sacrifice, compassion, a few references to faith, and a positive line quoting the first line of Psalm 23.

There is no truth, however, in people who use the Mayan calendar to predict the end of the world. The end of our world is actually described at the end of the Book of Revelation, which says that Jesus Christ will return to Earth to judge all the living and all the dead and to create a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1), where God “will wipe every tear from [our] eyes” and “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Rev. 21:4). This is something we can all believe.

2012 Ending, Explained

What if judgment day is nearer than humankind thought? What Roland Emmerich’s ‘2012’ attempts to do is to visually re-enact the Biblical apocalypse in all its visceral grandeur, and as cities and countries are overtaken by catastrophic natural forces, the epic scale of the grand narrative is revealed, albeit with a degree of American supremacy. Due to a solar disturbance of a massive scale, the Earth faces the imminent threat of a cataclysmic event, and a sort of social Darwinism is acted out.

The disaster film builds many characters, only to kill them in the wake of the doomsday events, but Chiwetel Ejiofor (Adrian the geologist), John Cusack (Jackson the sci-fi writer), and Thandie Newton (the President’s daughter), some of the highlights of the cast, remain to write the future of civilization. If the film has baffled you to the end, and we believe it should, we have your back. SPOILERS AHEAD.

2012 Plot Synopsis

The ancient prophecies of the Mayans have a date for the ending of the world. It happens to be in the year 2012. A cataclysmic event in the solar body is heating Earth’s core, and it happens only once in 640,000 years. There are earthquakes of small magnitude and other natural disturbances, and the media is worried. The film begins with a worried geologist from America, Adrian Helmsley, who gets to know from the Indian astrophysicist, Satnam Tsurutani, about the collapse.

Helmsley hurries back to Washington to show his findings to the Chief of Staff, Carl Anheuser, who understands the gravity of the situation and takes Adrian to the President. The President, Thomas Wilson, is a man of ideas and experience, and he sets a policy action in motion. The governments of the leading countries in the world have known about the catastrophe, and they have been preparing for the moment for several months.

Two years ago, in the G8 Summit in British Columbia, China, along with the G8 countries, agreed to build nine arks (and not spaceships) to face the apocalypse, and each craft would have the capacity of a hundred thousand people. In the Tibetan territory of China, a large manufacturing hub and port are being constructed, and a local boy named Tenzin joins the arc. Back in America, sci-fi author Jackson Curtis (Cusack) does not lead the most perfect life.

His book has sold only about 500 copies, his marriage has ended in a divorce, his wife has custody of his children, and he works as a chauffeur of a wealthy Russian named Yuri Karpov. Jackson’s ex-wife Kate lives with her boyfriend, Gordon Silberman, and the two children, Noah and Lilly. Jackson takes the children on a camping trip to the Yellowstone National Park, where he discovers a lake that has been turned into a volcanic bog.

He is taken to Adrian, the geologist who happens to be a fan of his book, ‘Farewell Atlantis.’ After taking his leave, he comes across Charlie Frost, a conspiracy theorist and a radio show host with relevant information on the apocalypse. Jackson is terrified to see the truth in Charlie’s claim, and he takes the children back to Kate. Yuri gets the notification of boarding the ark, and at his order, Jackson goes to escort his children, Oleg and Alec, to safety.

But Los Angeles is crumbling down, and they must hurry their way towards the aircraft that will take them to the ark. It’s a good day for the apocalypse, and while the world breaks down under them, the aircraft heads to the mythical Cho Ming valley, where the ark is prepared to commence its journey. Will the world be annihilated, then? Will the lands be taken over by the seas? It certainly feels so.

2012 Ending: Does the Human Civilization End in 2012?

If you have lived till now, you know that 2012 was quite an ordinary year compared to 2020. I am, however, talking about the film, which sets the date of the apocalypse as December 21, 2012, following Nostradamus’ and the Mayan calendar’s claims. In the narrative of the film, Charlie is the first one to claim that the world will end on a specific date, and the rest of the film works to reinstate the claim.

There have been speculations about the ending of the world in 1998, the millennium, and 2012. ‘2012,’ the film, attempts to build its narrative on the premise of the world’s ending declared by conspiracy theorists, whose rumors instilled great paranoia in some people at the end of the first decade of the century. Coupled with actual global warming incidents and human exploitation of nature (like the shrinking of the Aral Sea), these rumors stroke an ominous chord for many.

People created doomsday bunkers and gathered food supplies for the supposedly imminent apocalypse. However, when we talk about the cinematic universe of the film, it manages to avert the possibility of a complete collapse of human civilization in the final moments of exposition. From the beginning, the film sees through an essentially anthropomorphic and particularly Christian lens in its modern-day retelling of the story of Noah’s Ark. In that regard, it remains hopeful till the end.

The hope is embodied in the figure of the optimistic writer Jackson Curtis and the righteous scientist Adrian Helmsley, and in the end, it seems that humanity has survived the cathartic catastrophe. However, there are class divides apparent amongst the global populace, and not everyone has the same fate. Satnam, the astrophysicist who first blew the whistle, is not saved. As the mega-tsunami floods the entire subcontinental plateau, we see Satnam embracing death. The latent message is one professed by social Darwinism, that the survival of the fittest presupposes certain political, social, and economic positions.

What Happened to the Earth?

Throughout the film, the audience has seen massive volcanic eruptions, seismic shifts, and skyrocketing waves taking down iconic cities. In a climactic scene, the ark hits Mount Everest, but the people within it are saved by God’s grace. Asia and America, as we know them, submerge in water, and Mount Everest is no longer the highest peak in the world. However, in a final moment of discovery, Africa is the only continent that has survived the apocalypse, and the Drakensberg Mountains near the Cape of Good Hope is the new highest point of the world.

However, there is a goof here. The scientist tells the team that the mountain is situated in Kwazulu, Nepal, while the screen shows a location in southern Africa. We all know that Nepal is in Asia. Leaving this minor glitch aside, it seems that humanity lives to see another day. The ark takes up speed as it moves towards the Cape of Good Hope. While the world is not inhabitable per se, much of the world’s population has died, and it remains unsure whether the ark people will be welcomed in Africa. However, the film manages to reinstate faith in humanity in the final moments.

Is Jackson Alive?

Towards the end of the narrative, the ark is headed towards the Himalayas, while there is a major malfunction in the craft. The hydraulic gate is jammed, which allows water to flow into the vehicle. Jackson and the crew have submerged in water, but in a terrible feat of achievement (it’s not his first one), Jackson manages to pull the obstruction and close the gates. At the same time, the ark hits Mount Everest, and while the impact is supposed to destroy the ship, it’s a miracle, and they are saved. While Gordon convincingly dies in the trap, the catastrophe brings Jackson and Kate closer.

Read More: Where Was 2012 Filmed?

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2012 Parent Guide

Did the ancient Mayan civilization know when modern civilization would end? As the ominous predictions interpreted from their calendar begin to unfold, people all over the globe -- including Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) -- find themselves caught in the cataclysmic events.

Release date November 13, 2009

Run Time: 156 minutes

Official Movie Site

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kerry bennett.

The date 12-21-2012 may be looming large and ominous in the minds of some people. According to the ancient Mayan calendar, it signals the end of the world, as we know it. Whether that’s true or simply the result of tired stone workers going home for dinner is yet to be seen. In the meantime, Director Roland Emmerich, the man behind other apocalyptic films like The Day After Tomorrow , Godzilla and Independence Day , has created a disaster movie reminiscent of catastrophe scripts like The Poseidon Adventure and Dante’s Peak .

In this story, John Cusack plays Jackson Curtis, a divorced dad who is taking his kids (Liam James, Morgan Lily) camping for the weekend in Yellowstone National Park. When they arrive in the wilderness, he is surprised to find the landscape has changed significantly since he was there with their mother Kate (Amanda Peet) years earlier. After the trio crosses into a restricted area and is roughly apprehended by gun-toting soldiers in military combat fatigues, Jackson suspects something is up.

For those with enough money or political clout, a survival opportunity exists. But for the masses, of which Jackson and his family are a part, there is little hope. Still, that doesn’t stop this deadbeat dad from tackling every option he can find to save his former wife, her new husband (Thomas McCarthy) and the kids. Driving a limousine, he careens down buckling city streets, squeaks under falling Interstate bridges and blasts through glass-plated office buildings in an effort to get out of the crumbling core of Los Angeles. The difficulty of the feat ramps up as the small group grows to include Jackson’s wealthy employer (Zlatko Buric) and his family.

To be truthful, anyone with even a fifth grader’s knowledge of science will know this script isn’t based on fact. Planes take off even as the runway cracks and falls away below them. Characters perform herculean tasks that would require more strength than the average freelance writer could possibly possess. And despite the total destruction of the continent, cell phones, with unbelievably good reception, remain usable until almost the final moment.

However, putting science aside, 2012 is a classic popcorn flick where guessing who will make it and who won’t is part of the fun. The visual effects, which depict the obliteration of iconic structures and statues as well as the California coastline sliding into the ocean, are amazing, even if the epic production occasionally becomes too caught up in the enormity of the destruction on screen. Fortunately, despite the devastation and the nastier side of human nature that are frequently seen, the storyline rebounds with redemptive acts of heroism and humanity, even from politicians. While 2012 might not lessen anyone’s fears about the future, it at least offers audiences a lively distraction from their present day problems.

About author

Kerry Bennett

2012 rating & content info.

Why is 2012 rated PG-13? 2012 is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for intense disaster sequences and some language.

In the true nature of a disaster film, this movie is packed with scenes of destruction and devastation as entire cities and their citizens are swallowed up in huge cavernous cracks in the Earth’s surface. Other characters are crushed by falling cars, buildings or rocks, swept away in huge tsunamic waves, drowned at sea or blown up in naturally caused explosions. After riots break out, characters are crushed or pushed off the edge of a high precipice. The corpses of people who committed mass suicide are seen. A man is shot at and blown up. During seismic activity, highways heave, buildings crumble, cars fall out of a parking garage, road structures collapse and volcanic eruptions happen. Some bloody, injured and dead people are seen. Raw sewage is sprayed across a car. One character is crushed to death and another has his legs torn off in a huge gear system (the bloody stumps of his legs are shown). Some weapons are used by the military. Adults drink at social events or while facing impending death. Brief comments are made about adult sexual activities. A woman discusses her breast enhancements. Partial male buttock nudity is briefly seen. The script contains frequent profanities and terms of Deity, as well as an extreme sexual expletive and a crude hand gesture. A prolonged sequence of flashing lights may also be disturbing to some viewers.

Page last updated July 17, 2017

2012 Parents' Guide

In a similar scenario, would the best of humanity always be saved if only the wealthy or powerful were preserved? What types of people and skills would be needed to rebuild a civilization after such an apocalyptic event? Would a lottery be a fair way to determine a chance for survival?

Rather than just being seen in the background, product placements are becoming increasingly prominent in films. How are they used in this script?

If you knew you only had a limited time to live, what things would you do? Who would you contact?

The most recent home video release of 2012 movie is March 2, 2010. Here are some details…

2012 releases to DVD and Blu-ray on March 2, 2010. 2012 on DVD: - Audio commentary with Writer/Director Roland Emmerich and Co-Writer Harald Kloser - Featurette: Roland Emmerich: Master of the Modern Epic - Alternate Ending - Deleted Scenes - Music Video: Time For Miracles by Adam Lambert 2012 on Blu-ray (Single Disc): - movieIQ (BD Exclusive) - Picture-in-Picture: Roland’s Vision (includes pre-visualization, storyboards and behind-the-scenes footage, along with interviews with filmmakers, cast and crew). - Audio commentary with Writer/Director Roland Emmerich and Co-Writer Harald Kloser - Alternate Ending 2012 on Blu-ray in a 2-Disc Edition: Disc 1: - movieIQ (BD Exclusive) - Picture-in-Picture: Roland’s Vision (includes pre-visualization, storyboards and behind-the-scenes footage, along with interviews with filmmakers, cast and crew). - Audio commentary with Writer/Director Roland Emmerich and Co-Writer Harald Kloser - Alternate Ending Disc 2: - Interactive Mayan Calendar (find your horoscope and personality profile) - Featurettes: Mysteries of the Mayan Calendar, Designing the End of the World, Roland Emmerich: Master of the Modern Epic Science Behind the Destruction and The End of the World: The Actor’s Perspective. - Deleted Scenes - Countdown to the Future - Music Videos: Time For Miracles by Adam Lambert - Making the Music Video Time For Miracles with Adam Lambert - Digital Copy for PC, Mac & iPod

Related home video titles:

Several actors from 2012 take on roles in other films where families are also under stress.Thandie Newton, who plays the First Daughter in this script, stars as the overworked wife of a man struggling to find work in The Pursuit of Happyness . John Cusack performs as a father who must tell his daughters their mother has been killed in combat in Grace Is Gone .

In “Thérèse”, Claude Miller’s final film and his first collaboration with actress Audrey Tautou , an intelligent heiress allows herself to be smothered by her boorish husband and domineering in-laws. She rebels modestly, chain-smoking, and selectively refusing to appear happy for the sake of appeasing her husband Bernard (Gilles Lelouche), a man that she only married for convenience’s sake. 

“Thérèse” treats marriage as a means of simultaneously dropping out and embracing her marginal role in society. Her father owns a valuable plot of pine forests. So do Bernard’s. The two frankly agree to marry to make their already-rich families richer. Therese then writes to her best friend Anne ( Anais Demoustier ), Bernard’s sister, that she wants to marry Bernard because she wants to be saved from the burden of her thoughts. She wants to disappear, but soon finds living with Bernard to be intolerable.

But while Thérèse tells Bernard that, unlike him, she could never easily discern her own motives, Miller usually makes it too easy to understand his heroine. Her problems can mostly be traced to the Desqueyrouxs, a family whose arch insensitivity to Thérèse’s feelings make them easy targets for our scorn. The fact that this was, at some point, the life that Desqueyroux chose, and that she accepted married life as a form of self-imposed exile, is not as important to Miller and fellow screenwriter Natalie Carter. They do their fascinating subject a disservice by making her a domestic martyr.

Miller is at least right to foreground Thérèse and Bernard’s understanding that they aren’t marrying for love’s sake. In fact, it’s soon revealed that the kind of security she’s after is not the kind one traditionally associates with marriage. She is not willful enough to emulate Anne, who wants to marry a man she cares about. Anne’s tryst with Jean Azevedo ( Stanley Weber ), a Bourdeaux native that Bernard nevertheless says looks “Jewish,” proves what Thérèse already suspects: it does not pay to stick your neck out in a community where everybody knows, and affects, each other’s private affairs. 

Unfortunately, the self-loathing implications of Thérèse’s decision to talk Jean out of marrying Anne are moot, since Jean was never as interested in Anne as she was by him.

Miller similarly de-emphasizes interesting psychological details like that, and instead prefers to make it seem as though Thérèse’s struggles with Bernard are the source of her problems. This is unfortunate since Thérèse and Bernard’s relationship is loud enough as-is. Though Miller does a good job of replicating the deceptive placidity of Desqueyroux’s homelife, it’s easy to understand why, as Bernard later asks, Thérèse despises him.

There are a couple of scenes that establish implied differences in Thérèse and Bernard’s points-of-view, like when she looks contemptuously at him as he participates in a local mass (Thérèse is an atheist). But there are many more scenes where Bernard and his family do everything short of spitting on Thérèse to prove their contempt for her, like when Bernard and his servants repeatedly refer to Thérèse as Bernard’s dog. So when Thérèse finally starts doing something to get back at Bernard, the shocking nature of her crime is off-set by the fact that he unequivocally deserves it.

“Thérèse” never goes beyond that level of psychological complexity because after a point, Miller and Carter aren’t interested in exploring the murky depths of Thérèse ‘s feelings. Once they’ve established the stifling social hierarchy that she can never bring herself to either accept or reject, Thérèse’s inactivity speaks for her. But that doesn’t lend her story an air of mystery as much as it allows her character to languish while the Desqueyrouxs marginalize her presence in their household as much as they can without causing a public scandal.

It only looks like Tautou does a lot with a little in her performance because much of her character’s inner life is implied through pensive scenes of her frowning and deferring her gaze. Tautou’s worried stare is supposed to be fraught with meaning, and she’s a good enough actress to pull that off. But within the context of a melodrama where the impenetrability of actions belie a lack of clear motives, a look doesn’t establish an inner universe of meaning, just the space where such a universe should go.

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

• Gilles Lellouche as Bernard Desqueyroux
• Stanley Weber as Jean Azevedo
• Jérôme Thibault as Deguilhem
• Catherine Arditi as Madame de la Trave
• Francis Perrin as Monsieur Larroque
• Audrey Tautou as Thérèse Desqueyroux
• Anaïs Demoustier as Anne
• Isabelle Sadoyan as Tante Clara
• Yves Jacques as L'avocat de Thérèse Desqueyroux
• Claude Miller
• François Mauriac

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