The Mayans predict you'll enjoy '2012'

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By Jonathan Specht

Rating: A-

As everyone surely knows by now, the ancient Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012. Capitalizing on the nonsensical fervor being generated by this fact - didn't we just go through this in 1999? - Columbia Pictures has released a film depicting the end of the world as we know in it the title year. It could have been awful, but it's actually quite good.

Check your logic at the theater door, and you'll enjoy 2012. Sure, the science is pure BS, and all the plane and car stunts make the Die Hard films look plausible. Once you get beyond this, however, it's an excellent movie.

The film is similar to, and seems to borrow from, one of my favorite sci-fi films, Deep Impact. (One similarity Deep Impact fans can't accuse 2012 of borrowing - the decision to cast a black US president. When the earlier film cast Morgan Freeman as president, it was pure science fiction. Now it's just reality.)

As in that film, the world's leaders learn that the world is a few years from impending disaster. Instead of comets, however, the coming catastrophe is that a planetary alignment will cause solar flares that will turn neutrinos into microwaves and overheat the Earth's core, causing the planet's crust to shift. (As I said, check your logic at the door.)

In preparation for this disaster, world leaders work together in secret to prepare a way for a portion of the human race to survive. I won't reveal what this plan is, but it's carried out with Chinese labor and financing from billionaires willing to pay to live.

Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), an unsuccessful science fiction writer and part time limo driver, learns of the coming disaster and secret survival plan from a conspiracy theorist radio host (amusingly portrayed by Woody Harrelson.) Most of the rest of the film concerns his desperate attempts to bring his family to safety. It's a long but thrilling ride.

The film has great action, and excellent special effects. Sure, the acting is bad in parts, but it's still quite commendable. 2012 isn't perfect, and at 158 minutes long, it drags on. (Of course, an epic film about a topic like the end of the world couldn't be too brief). Overall, however, I was impressed with this film. I recommend it to all science fiction and action fans.

Originally Published: Issue 824 - November 18, 2009

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