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2012 is a 2009 American epic science fiction disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich, written by Emmerich and Harald Kloser, and stars John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oliver Platt, Thandiwe Newton, Danny Glover and Woody Harrelson.
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Okay Movies Wiki
2012 is a 2009 American epic science fiction disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich, written by Emmerich and Harald Kloser, and stars John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oliver Platt, Thandiwe Newton, Danny Glover and Woody Harrelson.

Based on the 2012 phenomenon, its plot follows geologist Adrian Helmsley (Ejiofor) and novelist Jackson Curtis (Cusack) as they struggle to survive an eschatological sequence of eventsincluding earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, megatsunamis, and a global flood.

Filming, planned for Los Angeles, began in Vancouver in early August 2008 and wrapped up in mid-October 2008. After a lengthy advertising campaign, which included the creation of a website from its main characters' point of view and a viral marketing website on which filmgoers could register for a lottery number to save them from the ensuing disaster.

2012 was released in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing on November 13, 2009, to commercial success, grossing over $791 million worldwide against a production budget of $200 million, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 2009.

The film received mixed reviews from critics.

It was nominated for Best Action, Adventure, or Thriller Film and Best Special Effectsat the 36th Saturn Awards, and for Best Visual Effects at the 15th Critics' Choice Awards.

Plot

In 2009, American geologist Adrian Helmsley visits astrophysicistSatnam Tsurutani in East India and learns that a new type of neutrino from a solar flare is heating the Earth's core. Returning to Washington, D.C., Adrian alerts White House Chief of StaffCarl Anheuser and President Thomas Wilson.

In 2010, over forty-six nations begin building nine arks in the Himalayas, in Tibet, and storing artifacts in secure locations. Nima, a Buddhist monk, is evacuated with his grandparents, and his brother Tenzin joins the ark project. Additional funding is secretly raised by selling tickets to the rich for €1 billion per person.

In 2012, struggling science-fiction writer Jackson Curtis is a chauffeur in Los Angeles for Russian billionaire Yuri Karpov. Jackson's former wife Kate and their children, Noah and Lilly, live with Kate's boyfriend, plastic surgeon and amateur pilot Gordon Silberman. Jackson takes Noah and Lilly camping in Yellowstone National Park. When they find Yellowstone Lake dried up and fenced off by the United States Army, they are caught and brought to Adrian. They later meet conspiracy theorist and radio personality Charlie Frost, who tells Jackson of Charles Hapgood's earth crust displacement theory and the Mesoamerican Long Count calendarpredict the end of world in 2012 and worldwide catastrophe, and that the world's governments silence anyone attempting to warn the public.

Despite his initial skepticism, Jackson heeds Charlie's warning after seeing indications that validate it. At the Santa Monica Airport, after dropping off Yuri's sons Alec and Oleg, who also warn of impending doom as they board a plane, he rents a Cessna 340A and sets out to rescue his family. As the Pacific Coast suffers a horrific 10.9 earthquake along the San Andreas Fault, Jackson and his family reach the airport and get the Cessna airborne. The group flies to Yellowstone and retrieve Charlie's map of the arks' location. The Yellowstone Caldera erupts, with Charlie staying behind to finish his broadcast; he is killed by debris. Realizing they need a larger plane to fly to Asia, the group lands at McCarran International Airport south of Downtown Las Vegas to search for one.

Adrian, Carl, and First Daughter Laura fly to the arks, while President Wilson remains in the White House to address the nation. Jackson finds the Karpovs, Yuri's girlfriend Tamara, and their pilot Sasha. Sasha and Gordon fly the families out in an Antonov An-500, as the volcanic ashes from the Caldera envelop the Las Vegas Valley. The planet's crust shifts resulting in billions dead in disasters worldwide, including President Wilson. With the presidential line of succession gone, following the death of the Vice President and the disappearance of the Speaker of the House, Carl appoints himself acting commander-in-chief.

Upon reaching the Himalayas, the Antonov's engines malfunction. As the plane touches down on a glacier, the party uses a Bentley Flying Spur stored in the hold to escape, except Sasha, who continues to pilot and is killed when the jet goes over a cliff. The survivors are spotted by Chinese Air Force helicopters, which take only the three ark-ticket-bearing Karpovs, leaving Tamara and Jackson's family behind. The abandoned group later encounters Nima, who, with his own family, takes them to the arks, where they stow away on Ark 4 with Tenzin's help.

With a megatsunami approaching, Carl orders the loading gates closed, though most people have not boarded. Adrian persuades the captain and the other surviving world leaders to allow passengers aboard the arks, but Yuri falls to his death as he pushes his sons onto Ark 4. The gate closes after survivors are on board, injuring Tenzin and crushing Gordon. Tenzin's impact driver used to access the ship gets lodged in the gate mechanism, preventing it from closing completely and disabling the ship's engines. As the tsunami strikes, the ark starts flooding as it is set adrift, heading for Mount Everest. Adrian rushes to clear the gears, but watertight doors close, trapping the stowaways and drowning Tamara. Noah and Jackson dislodge the tool. The crew regains control of the ark, while Jackson and Noah make it back safely.

Twenty-seven days later, the waters are receding. The arks approach the Cape of Good Hope, where the Drakensberg Mountains are the highest mountain range on Earth. Adrian and Laura begin a relationship, while Jackson and Kate reconcile.

Bad Qualities:

The movie is rather pointless, as it is based on the 2012 phenomenon also based on the Mayan calendar, which ended up becoming inaccurate after December 21 of that same year.

It is pretty much yet another generic and forgettable disaster movie that heavily relies on the over-the-top action sequences and visual effects, even more so than either the story, plot, or any character growth or development.

It tries so hard to be fun and exciting but fails in doing so, ending up becoming rather dull and exhausting.

The setting is supposed to be based on the real world, yet there is barely any logic in this movie, with the family being able to survive underwater in the ark for over three minutes, despite how the average human being is only able to survive underwater for only three minutes without dying due to a lack of oxygen.

On top of that, it also suffers from several extremely exaggerated and outlandishly unrealistic geographical and geological errors, all of which are nonsensical, with the climax showing a rather large tsunami flooding the Himalayas, and after the waters recede, the Drakensberg mountains are now the tallest mountain range in the world, even though the Earth could run out of water if that were to occur, and the tsunami could easily flood the Drakensberg mountains as well.

It is supposed to be set during December 21, 2012, almost around the time of Christmas, but for some strange reason, there are no Christmas decorations set up, there is a lack of snow in Yellowstone National Park, among other things.

After the Ark 4 engines start, clouds of soot emit from the exhaust stacks, implying that the engines are diesel-powered; requiring a ship designed to survive an apocalyptic flood, with no set duration to how long it may be at sea, to rely on such a limited consumable as diesel fuel would be an incredibly poor design choice.

The movie only involves the family was trying to find a way to escape the end of the world in December 2012, but after the climax, the rest of the movie boils down to into more than two hours of filler, in which barely anything is going on throughout the movie, at all.

There are several internal inconsistencies and contradictions throughout the movie:

An officer claims that all global ground communication has ceased, yet Dr. Satnam Tsurutani is somehow able to call Dr. Helmsley to warn him about the tsunami.

Jackson removes the strap holding the Bentley's front tire in place, but he never removes the strap from the back tire; it is still in place when Gordon gets in the car; it is never explained how they were able to leave if this were the case.

Much is made of the engines being non-functional while a door is open, with there being no explanation as to why the vessel would have been designed or built that way; in fact, it would require engine power to repeatedly close and open the doors, as well as power all the electronic and hydraulic systems shown; it is eventually shown to be underway with every door open, despite what had previously been established.

While escaping Los Angeles, Gordon is reluctant to pilot the plane (a twin-engine Cessna 340), describing how he has only had "a couple of lessons," yet almost immediately afterward he is shown executing advanced maneuvers and nearly flawless landings, even navigating to Las Vegas. Multi-engine aircraft are much more complex than single-engine, which is why beginner pilots almost invariably start their training on single-engine aircraft. Even if Gordon had received some sort of training in a multi-engine aircraft, a "couple of lessons" would not begin to account for the skills displayed in the film.

When the film first shows Yuri, Tamara, Sasha, and the boys in Vegas, their plane is on a hoist and Sasha shakes his head at Yuri, indicating his private plane is not going to be able to fly (implying something has happened to it). Then, when they are in the terminal, Sasha hurries in and says he has found an Antonov that was just about to take off but the tower would not let them. So... the Antonov isn't Yuri's plane, but the cars in the hold apparently are — the Bentley is programmed to start at his voice command.

It is never explained as to how the family was rescued from or even escaped from the emergency flood control barriers; this comes across as rather jarring.

Similar to Shrek the Third or Ice Age: Collision Course, the movie has too many protagonists as secondary characters, that instead of developing them correctly throughout the plot, it is the plot that must adapt to them, in addition, that it is very difficult to sympathize with the characters since most are completely flat in personality, and none of them show advancements throughout the movie.

Even the characters are inspired more than anything by the stereotype of the typical trope of the destruction movies:

Jackson Curtis: he is the typical protagonist who, by chance of fate, knows that the world is ending and seeks to save his family.

Adrian Hemsley: It is limited to the scientist with morals who discovers that the world is ending and he can do nothing since he has no power or authority.

Laura Wilson: She is the typical moralistic woman who helps the scientist and falls in love with him in the end.

Gordon Silberman: It is the traditional boyfriend of the ex or rival of the protagonist who in the end dies or becomes his best friend. Not to mention, he is treated like a punching bag throughout the film.

Thomas Wilson: He is the typical altruistic or moralistic president who decides to die instead of being saved.

Carl Anheuser: He is the elitist head of the scientist who has no morals that his only motivation is to save himself and his rich partners and in the end, he survives.

Kate Curtis: She is the traditional ex or girlfriend of the protagonist who decides to accompany him and in the end, they stay together.

Charlie Frost: He is the typical crazy conspiratorial who knows the world is ending and dies from disaster.

Noah Curtis: The typical rebellious or misunderstood son who hates his father but finally reconciles with him.

Tamara Jikan: It is the woman with depression or unhappy life who dies in the end.

Lilly Curtis: She is the traditional little daughter who loves her family and is not fully aware of everything that happens around her.

Apart from what was highlighted in point one, this movie has several degradable or annoying characters that the only thing they do is serve as a hindrance in the plot, apart from that none causes an impact or importance within the movie.

Yuri Karpov: Perhaps the most despicable of the whole movie, he appears as a millionaire who seeks to survive the catastrophe with his family, but instead of expressing seriousness about the situation, he appears all the time like a rabid and arrogant subject who acts more. On impulse, apart from the fact that it is very difficult to sympathize with him with that personality, in each scene that appears he shows at all times an extremely arrogant, indifferent, and abusive bully attitude, making fun of even Jackson and everyone when he sees that they cannot be saved, in addition to the fact that his death, which occurs in the blink of an eye, is not emotional but becomes a very tragicomic death.

In addition to having too many characters, the movie is very mean when it comes to presenting the deaths of all the characters since practically none of them make it emotional or tragic except for the deaths of Satnam Tsurutani, Gordon Silberman, and Harry Helmsley.

Pretty garish acting, even from actors like John Cusack, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson,

On top of that, various performances by the supporting characters played by Zlatko Burić, Alexandre Haussman, Philippe Haussman, Johann Urb, and Tseng Chang are terrible, which just don't fit in with the atmosphere they present with the film.

In specific versions of the movie dubbed in other languages, the dubbing for much for the characters feel either out-of-place or forced; this is more noticeable in scenes with Frederick West, Captain Michaels, Dr. Satnam Tsurutani, Yuri, Alec, and Oleg Karpov, respectively.

A rather poorly-written script that sounds like it was written by someone who watched way too many disaster films.

The movie suffers from forty-five minutes of useless subplots that seem to only exist just to extend the pacing; seriously, remove said subplots, and the movie and characters would not be affected whatsoever.

The family seems to have the most plot armor out of all the characters in the entire movie, as they are somehow able to survive every single disaster in the movie, even more so than Indiana Jones ever did. While almost everyone else is screaming and dying, the family is escaping safely.

Multiple bland and clichéd lines throughout the entire movie.

It is pretty much insulting to other nations; even though plenty of Presidents of the United States of America have been creeps, not all of them have been, and the characters can accept a heroic president in this film... but it is insulting to have other world leaders follow him blindly, and have him behave so nobly, going down with his country; the Queen of England is also portrayed as one of the loathsome billionaires buying her way out, which is also insulting considering that the Queen Mum made a point of staying in London during the blitz.

False Advertising: In the second official trailer, it gives the impression that the movie will be horror or will have a philosophical message about life and the planet when in reality the movie is more of a mix between action and catastrophe, which does not have in itself of a thoughtful message.

In addition to the aforementioned, in the trailers themselves it seems that the characters Harry Hemsley, Charlie Frost, Thomas Wilson, and Satnam Tsurutani will have a leading role in the film, when in fact they are secondary characters, which do not appear in more than 12 or 15 minutes of the 158 minutes the movie lasts.

In the official poster of the movie, you can see a Buddhist monk observing how the Himalayas are flooded by a giant wave of water. Although this scene appears in the movie, it does not happen that way, since the monk dies when the wave destroys his house.

In another of the main posters of the movie, you can see Rio de Janeiro devastated by a great flood. While Christ the Redeemer is about to fall on a lot of people, this scene has no importance in the plot other than that it does not happen In the same way that happens in the poster; the only reference is that it is made is when in a news program you can see the Christ the redeemer about to collapse behind the mountain, while Rio de Janeiro is on fire.

There is a use of product placement; such as Froot Loops, All-Bran, Rice Krispies, Shredded Wheat, Raisin Bran, Crunch, and even Randy's Donuts, as well as Chevron logos, are present during the store scene.

Anachronism: The movie is supposed to be set on December 21, 2012, even though there is a presence of things that existed in 2009.

Plot hole: How was the family eventually rescued from the emergency flood control barriers? It never bothered to show footage for that one part.

This movie was responsible for the enormous and abrupt decline of the film genre of destruction in cinema, at the same time, this film was that blatantly overloaded the market, the critics, and the general public with these types of films, causing of now on these types of films will no longer be taken seriously, not forgetting that thanks to 2012 this film genre ceased to be a box office success among the public, becoming disproportionate box office failures and that from the 2010s these films would disappear from the market.

On top of that, this movie can be called a racing killer, as this movie heavily tarnished Roland Emmerich 's image and career, causing 2012 to be his latest box office success, as from now on all his films were box office flops among critics and audiences, in addition to movie 2012 made the studios begin to see him as someone who is not worth investing money.

Not to mention, this movie ruined the careers of actors George Segal, Ryan McDonald, Blu Mankuma, Liam James, Amanda Peet, Jimi Mistry, Zlatko Burić, Beatrice Rosen, Chin Han, and Johann Urb, causing these actors to be bad. seen by the film industry, due in part to this film's poor script, acting, and background, causing major stagnation in their careers.

Good Qualities:

Epic and a fantastic soundtrack that was performed by Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander, especially "The End is Only the Beginning".

The credits songs "Time For Miracles" by Adam Lambert and "Faded like a Photograph" by Filter are very nice.

Charlie Frost's character is likely based off David A. Johnston, a USGS volcanologist who in real life was killed in the 1980 Mt. St Helens eruption, which is a nice touch.

The visual effects are very great, even for 2009 standards.

Its dark tone is surprisingly handled pretty well.

Some action scenes, such as the earthquake destroying Los Angeles, are intense, well shot, and eye-catching.

Reception

Critical Response

The film received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and audiences, with praise for its visuals effects, but criticism of its screenplay and runtime. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holding a 39% critic rating and 47% audience score, based on 244 reviews and an average rating of 5.02/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Roland Emmerich's 2012 provides plenty of visual thrills but lacks a strong enough script to support its massive scope and inflated length."

It had a 5.8/10 on IMDb and a 49/100 on Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews."

Box Office

2012 grossed $166.1 million in North America and $603.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $769.7 million against a production budget of $200 million, making it the first film to gross over $700 million worldwide without crossing $200 million domestically. Worldwide, it was the fifth-highest-grossing 2009 film and the fifth-highest-grossing film distributed by Sony-Columbia, (behind Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Skyfall), however it is well known that it had a combined budget of almost 600 or 650 million due to its huge marketing campaign, which supposedly generated a net profit of almost 180 or 220 million, which according to some Sony leaks they considered 2012 as a bad one investment.

Renewed Hype

In 2020, nearly eleven years after the movie was released, it gained renewed interest during the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming the second-most popular film and seventh-most popular overall title on Netflix in March 2020.

Trivia

The movie was reportedly banned in North Korea. The year depicted in the movie was the 100th anniversary of the birth of their nation's founder, Kim Il-sung; any film depicting the year negatively would be deemed offensive by the North Korean government. Several people in North Korea were reportedly arrested for possessing (or viewing) imported copies of 2012 and charged with "grave provocation against the development of the state".

This film was going to have a sequel/spin-off TV series titled 2013 set to air on ABC. It would've been about the survivors of the supposed 2012 disaster in the film and how they will build a new world and what will it look like. However, the series was scrapped due to budgetary reasons.