2012
Two and a half hours? Two and a half HOURS!? From that man with the consistently cheery disposition that brought you Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 10,000BC and Godzilla is back again waving his 'The End Is Nigh' banner for all he's worth.
And he's worth quite a bit these days. With an estimated quarter of a billion dollar (yes, billion) budget, this is Roland Emmerich doing what he does best. Blockbuster. Here in it's most obvious and very shiny form.
Being responsible for this kind of massive and bewildering project is not new to Emmerich as you can see from some of the more recent titles he has been largely responsible for, from a cinematic perspective, at least. And by crikey, does this chap know how to spend other peoples money. Still, at time of writing it is expected to make all of that back and much more besides, close to reaching the price of it's creation already.
Starting out right now in India, 2009, the early tales take us through the events leading up to the fateful eponymous year in question. The very same year that the Mayans had foretold would bring about the end of the world. The earth's crust would boil as an alignment of the planets and the sun in our solar system would slowly take shape. Three years later and the American government has been harbouring this scientific bombshell and quietly bumping off people that find out about it in the time that passes between now and then. It would never do for the public to find out about it. I mean, think of the chaos.
However the less said about the murders, the better, as they are largely unsavoury and if I'm honest, completely irrelevant to the tale that Emmerich really wants to tell. In the same way that billions of people die in the film, we are not concerned with this loss of life, but the survival of those fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, and as usual, overcoming apparently insurmountable odds through heroic acts of almost unbelievable derring-do to get there. I mean would this really be an Emmerich film if these staples of blockbuster entertainment didn't happen in every film he made?
One trick pony then? Well, yes, I think it's safe to say that Emmerich has carved a comfortable, if almost perversley expensive, niche for himself on the front line of 'WOW'. All of his films are of epic proportions and 2012 is no exception and may even be his most gaudy and overindulged project to date. When you get to a budget of this size you do have to check yourself to wonder if this really is value for money? Given the at times very sobering subject matter on offer here, you do wonder if Columbia have really done the right thing in handing over such a huge chunk of change purely for the sake of entertainment. Is this a statement of how far we have come or how far we have yet to go as a species? I'm still honestly making my mind up. Flagrant spendthrifting for the sake of profit at a cost of so many very worthy and greater things, or a message of the spirit of human endeavour both on and off screen, albeit offensively gilt-edged? Well, it's a risk and as a business, Columbia seem to have lucked out on this occasion, as bums on seats seem to be speaking for the majority at present.
These day it practically goes without saying that the film is entertaining. This is an Emmerich picture after all. They always without exception are nothing if not that. It has excitement and edge-of the-seat-thrills by the very large shovelful. Whether you will feel like you got value for money as you leave the theatre will not be an issue. You will. End of.
For those people looking for more than just bangs and whistles, however, firstly what are you doing? You must be in the wrong screen. Oh, wait a minute. Maybe you were right after all.
The most important part of any blockbuster, after you have taken the green screen away, is the lead. Here we have John Cusack playing the part of Jackson Curtis, a novelist of little note or notoriety who is, inevitably, about to become the most important person on the planet, whether he likes it or not, and in this case, I rather think he does. This role is so vital as it is pivotal to the story but yet so finely balanced between conquering hero of the universe and the honest little man at odds with a very-angry-and-not-the-least-bit-shy-about-telling-us-so planet. Too much machismo and the entire project becomes comedic, naive and foolish. Too little and believability lists the other way entirely. He needs to be just capable enough to fight, but not so tough as to laugh in the face of the very real (and expensive) dangers placed in front of him.
Thankfully, Cusack copes with this responsibility admirably, having an admirable grasp of what Curtis is about. Not the perfect father or ex-husband, but smart enough to know he should know better. Likeable, despite his obvious flaws.
Backed up by Amanda Peet as the ex-wife with a good heart and a fondness for lingering a little too long and too often in a past that she shoud have left behind her some time ago and a supporting cast including Danny Glover, Woody Harrelson (keeping busy these day, still happy to say) Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton and a memorable turn from Chiwetel Ejiofor as Adrian Helmsley, boffin extraordinaire. Altogether, the cast are always convincingly one short step away from oblivion.
What started out as incredulity that I would have to sit through two and a half hours of Emmerich showing off, with little or no substance expected to back up the dollars spent on making it look impressive, ended up being a surprisingly satisfying adventure with plenty of meat on it's CGI bones. A job well done. I shouldn't be surprised really. It cost enough.
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