it appears that disaster movies run a periodic cycle in Hollywood...
every few years, the movie industry to introduce new ways of devastation...
new prophecies of a new doom...
what is different lately, is that while in the past, earth can easily be saved by the sacrificial efforts of an individual or a team...
now Hollywood is taking a more realistic approach...
u see they realised that one person or a team can't save everyone...
so they have twitched things a little...
earth is pretty much screwed...
what that one person or a team can do is to save a sufficient portion of the human race so that we won't be extinct...
2012 is the latest disaster offering...
it centers on the latest hype...
the year 2012...
apparently, 2012 is the ultimate doom for all humans...
not without "strong" arguments...
u see...
centuries ago...
the advanced civilisation of Maya developed their own set of cultures and science...
among these things is the Mayan calender...
which despite having run until today, would end in December 2012...
at which, the calender would not start afresh like other calenders...
but would end...
so this is the ultimate end date...
of course, one calender is hard good justification...
alot of the doom-sayers' claims are also based on this astronomic phenomenon that would happen around the same time...
in 2012...
the planets of the Solar system will align themselves in a straight line...
scientists have said that this alignment would bring a strong magnetic effect among others...
which could possibly be devastating...
in the movie however...
it was the energy from the sun's eruption that causes the core of the earth to start to rise in temperature...
this raise in temperature in turns trigger drastic movements of earth's plates...
and the earth is screwed...
right from the start, i am not a big fan of disaster movies...
simply because their plots are usually so predictable...
this is the same...
but in terms of effects...
this movie probably has one of the more spectacular ones...
what did not work for this movie though...
is the storyline...
ok...
fair enough...
disaster movies do not really have a strong storyline anyway...
but here...
it appears that the movie maker was trying to squeeze in every cliche of the genre to the movie...
and action sequence were intentionally calligraphed just to display its wonderful effects...
it kind of make u feel u are watching a video game more than a movie...
which is good if u are just in to see something cool...
but not cool if u want to have a movie experience...
plus...
there is seriously something wrong with the dialogues...
very often u are feed with conversations where u feel everything do not make sense at all...
it probably was best summed up at the Tibetan scene...
where a follower tried to ask his master for some guidance...
and instead of blowing our minds with a good deep answer...
the master just smoked through using another cliche analogy...
this happens alot in the movie...
and definitely deters u from feeling any attachment to them...
i must be frank though...
i enjoyed the movie...
but it kind of sucked because ever so often i am reminded that the scenes and dialogues do not make any sense at all...
maybe my friend was right...
i should not have thought so much...
maybe that way...
i would have enjoy it more...
and give it more than just a 2 out of 5
good quote from the movie though:...
"its disgusting to know that all those crazy people holding the signboards have been right all along"...
when that really happens u know u are seriously screwed...
spoilers ahead~!...
now every now and then u are hit with a movie like 2012 with so many plot holes...
just like Pandorum...
i have listed some of them here for interest sake...
1) the hero in the movie became the hero by convincing everyone at the end to open their gates to try save all those lives they can... heroic moment no doubt... but hey... let's roll back to the early part of the movie... isn't this the same guy who screwed the world by miscalculating?... way to go dude~!...
2) still on the same dude... how can someone calculated an eventual doom of the world only to established a long X-year plan to try to save the human race?... i would have thought that you would try to hurry things through... and no... saying "i was wrong" is not good enough... don't u have safe estimates and back up strategies just in case?... are u seriously a doctor?...
3) as the head of arguably the most powerful nation on earth... after u discovered the world is coming to an end... u would take a whole of 6 months before u tell other world leaders... talk about efficiencies... the funny part is he begin his speech by saying there is some pressing issues only to straight away say the discovery was made 6 months ago..
4) in 2012, ur handphone is advanced enough to have encrypted message activated by scanning ur finger print on the touch screen... but for something as important as a 1 billion dollar ticket... they still issue u physical ticket that u must keep with u even as u try to desperately run away from cracking earth plates...
5) in the event of emergency where every second counts... it is always better to remain composed and look through things one by one to find the map u are looking for... grabbing everything in panic and then looking through them in a safe place is such a pussy option...
6) when u have been secretly activated to the boarding process... u sneak out of the boxing match leaving ur lover behind... only to have her with u in the hotel room where u try to call ur chauffeur to pick up ur sons... so much for trying to leave her behind...
7) this is perhaps something i can never comprehend... whatever the crisis, whatever the movie, some maniac will risk their lives simply to try to save their pets... come on... u need to walk through the whole zombie infested town just to get ur dog out?... by the way thats another movie...
8) in future, computer engineers are better trained than mechanical engineers... in the event of failure on one of the components... the computer can pin-point the exact location and cause of failure... well done computer engineer... but hey mechanical engineer... not only is ur hydraulic system not fail safe... it can get stuck by a simple drill without having the programming to reverse and engage to try rectifying it... ur also decided that it is the best course of action... to seal up the chambers leading to the failure so that no one can try to go fix it... what's more... u screwed everyone by having no over-writing system during failure... seriously... if u cannot turn on the turbines if the gate is not closed... then where the heck u need to seal off the place?... guys... did u even take System Safety 101 in school?...
9) maybe i was wrong... but i do not recall seeing the Indian nation being named on any of the vessels...
10) the president like to be all sacrificial by saying things like "one of you young scientist is better ten of us old politicians"... u are a noble man... except... wait... is ur ticket even transferable?... u not heading to the vessel does not mean someone can go in ur place... u just wasted a spot in life that many others died for... way to go...
11) talk about good product placement... they show u the cool feature that Bentley has... a security system where only the voice of the owner can start the engine... only to show u how potentially unsafe this is... my grandfather has a stroke and need to go to the hospital now... but no... what a bummer... i can't even start the engine of his car... damn u Bentley~!
12) what a way to kill a character off... stuck in the chamber between the chamber with the gate opening and the chamber leading to the inside of the vessel... u would have probably thought this is safe... but no... mysteriously this place continues to flood even as the other two chambers stopped flooding... where did all the water come from?...
13) stuck in a vehicle sliding down the crust of the earth towards molten lava... somehow u can miraculously get out of the car... u know something is amiss when they don't even bother to show u the escape sequence... its only symbolised by a hand reaching out to safe ground...
14) underwater... after u get hit in ur head and apparently lost conscious for awhile... ur lungs will gain sudden oxygen capacity far more than ur normal one...
15) underwater... despite the fact that the surface is some distance away... and u need to keep holding the torch for ur dad... it makes perfect sense to shout underwater...
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