Described as 'The Ultimate Disaster Film', more like 'The Ultimate Disaster of a Film'. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!

Rating: 2/10 (18 November 2009)

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!! Better advice could not be given to you, rest assured!!
This is the FIRST film I've ever walked out a cinema from, 40mins before the end no less - the only thing I was grateful for was that I went alone on my day off, meaning I could leave without offending (which I'd find difficult to imagine) a mate or the Mrs.
Why did I go?
A friend at work told me about this film, saying it was 'worth a watch', the 'chase scenes are fantastic' etc...
Effects are great, thats true - the only problem he forgot to tell me of is that a lot of the CGI effects have been reused here from films already been done, and ripped off (EXCEPT the volcano eruption, thats the ONLY CGI scene of originality 'never seen before')...
What my workmate also forgot to mention was that the chase scenes (encapsulating the effects) are pretty much the entire film worth watching (in total about 50 mins worth). Those 50mins are sewn together with pointless, irrelevant, and cliché'ingly bad character building and back plots which take into account the other 2 hours of the film! All the characters in the entire film came across as hollow and inept, without distinction or uniquity, mostly because of the script (or lack thereof) that the cast had to work with, but also partly because of the poor choice of cast used. John Cusak maybe a good comedy actor, but frankly thats all he is, all he ever will be, and thats where he should of been left!! Woody Harrelson is the ONLY character which can actually be perceived as a character and not a cliché, and furthermore is the only one that has the passable amount of deliverability and empathy with his character to successfully pull it off...and laughably, he's barely in it.
This film reminded me a lot of the 'Quantum of Solace', given the overuse of chase scenes and shockingly bad script writing. In fact, I was starting to think that John Cusack WAS James bond after watching him escape an Earthquake, a Volcanic Eruption, fly through falling buildings repeatedly untouched. I think my early departure mean't I missed out on a few more, but I won't lose sleep over it...Dunno what Roland 'lets destroy everything' Emmerich and Dean 'I'm a div' Devlin where thinking when putting together Cusaks character to be honest(which laughably, I can't even remember the name of!)...
You can just imagine their Script/casting development meetings...
Roland "Lets get a character in there who crosses Capt. Chesley Sullenberger III, Lewis Hamilton, and Anakan Skywalker - seeing he must be able to see every crash/near miss before it happens."
Dean "yahh, cool Roland...cinema goers will rave for that!!! I'll just do the disaster CGI, you handle the character development, thats what you're best at.."
Roland "this is true, cheers Dean...we now need a really good & convincing actor to pull it off - who shall we use??? Bruce Willis?? Matt Damon? nahh, not good enough for THIS movie.....I KNOW!! THATS IT!!!! we'll use JOHN CUSAK!!! sign him up Dean, now please..."
Dean "for an audition?"
Roland "nah, no need cause I thought of it, and for that reason It'll work - just sign him up, pay him whatever he wants...".
-----------Its really not funny, I know. Especially having wasted money and an afternoon to see the final result...----------------
Final Conclusion in Summary.
If you want to see mayhem, destruction, and see 10 or so watchable CGI sequences(if somewhat reused/ripped off)which have been sparsed out inbetween unnecessary dialogue and inept character building lasting almost 3 hours, then go see it. Frankly, after 2 hours I simply couldn't be bothered to watch anymore, if you can, then credit to your patience...
However, for the vast majority of you I can save your time and money from my mistake to tell you that you're far better off saving the £8.50 on a ticket, and invest your time by watching/or doing something else - at least until this comes to your TV set for free on Terestial in a couple of years...
Do yourself a favour - DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!