It's all been done before... and better.

Rating: 4/10 (10 November 2009)

I was very lucky to get to see this movie before its official airing at a press-release in Riga, Latvia. I was so excited! I had been waiting for this movie since I first heard about its being in production. It has been a while since there was a decent catastrophe-movie. Well, at least not since The Day After Tomorrow (I so loved that one!). So, that was the idea I had bouncing in my head when I trotted down to the theater to see the end of the world in 2012. I got comfortable in my seat as I waited impatiently for the show to start. After all, it is more than two hours long. And finally it started! So, for me this was the peak moment of the movie. From that point on my excitement got deflated. Well, I admit, I might have been over-excited about it. I might have been too caught up in The Day After Tomorrow. It is one of my favorite catastrophe-movies. I was expecting an equally good story. Something new, maybe. I don't know much about making movies - I haven't made one, but I can recognize a good story. That is the key element I am looking for, but didn't find in 2012. In fact, it was a bad reproduction of The Day After Tomorrow. It's greatest problem is the incredibly week storyline. Come on! If you are going to spend millions of dollars on CGI, you might as well come up with a good-enough story to go with that. Something new, maybe This one is so predictable. It does not have a shred of originality and it is filled with clichés, and it is out of balance. I felt like there was the idea of the end of the world, which was not the background situation against which the story took place, but, in fact, the main character itself. I guess, I could say that it was overwhelming. Then there was this whole bunch of other stuff going on which didn't really made me care. It was like Yeah! So? I have seen it before. It was exactly the same. As you might have understood, I was disappointed in it. 2012 had some good actors playing the parts, but the story was all empty and cheesy, and the characters were not developed enough.
However, I must admit that the CGI was awesome. If nothing else, you can enjoy that. And if you sit close enough to the screen (like I usually do), you might almost get to experience the feeling that you are witnessing the destruction of the world right there on the spot and get the sensation of general closure. That is the way it might happen. Any way, don't expect any more of it than the special effects – there isn't. In spite of my disappointment, I strongly believe that people differ and so do their tastes in films. No objective opinion is possible. I'm just expressing my own. If you feel that you might like this movie, go right ahead, and see for your self. Then write your own comment.